1996 Range Rover 4.6 HSE - Reader's drive.

[Piersman2]

Ok all, I asked a week or so back for you to talk me out of buying a range rover of a certain vintage, namely a P38.

I took on board all your comments to steer well clear, and yet found myself still wanting one.

So.... tonight I took the plunge. My new car !!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

Some of you may have noticed the comment about intermittently overheating and having been stood dead for 6 months until last weekend. No doubt this is giving you all a knowing nod and a giggle. But to me they just add to the character

The car is 22 miles away. I'm hoping to pick it up tomorrow.

So the game for tonight is to place your bets as to how far I get heading home before I have to call the AA out to tow me the rest of the way.

[Geordie boy]

20 miles lol! It will be typical you'll get nearly home and it will be just that little bit to far to push nearly 3 ton of car! Enjoy it!

[Jem0911]

Hate to say but an overheating 4.6 is doomed my friend.
Any fault but that really.
Good luck.

[Piersman2]

Jem0911 said:

Hate to say but an overheating 4.6 is doomed my friend.
Any fault but that really.
Good luck.

Well could be something simple, could be a fked engine. Time, and the journey home tomorrow, will tell

[Jem0911]

Piersman2 said:

Jem0911 said:

Hate to say but an overheating 4.6 is doomed my friend.
Any fault but that really.
Good luck.

Well could be something simple, could be a fked engine. Time, and the journey home tomorrow, will tell

Still remember my P38 loved it.
Keeps us informed.

[BLUETHUNDER]

This is all going to end in tears. You have got of to a bad start,buying one that was overheating. That looks more than likely to be a porus block issue. You were warned.

[Piersman2]

BLUETHUNDER said:

This is all going to end in tears. You have got of to a bad start,buying one that was overheating. That looks more than likely to be a porus block issue. You were warned.

But... but... it only needs a bottom end gasket, how much can one of those be?

Anyways, no contact back from the seller yet, £800 burning a hole in my pocket, all ready to go and collect and no reply yet! I hope he was out on the lash last night and is just having a lie in!

[BLUETHUNDER]

Overheating on a P38 doesn't mean head gasket. But more than likely craked liner. Aka new engine.

[GKP]

Or a blocked rad. Or a fubared thermostat. Online diagnosis is rubbish.

[A.J.M]

Pah, go for it.

If it turns into a horrible steaming lump at the side of the road, break it for parts and you'll likely make a few quid on it.

A.J.M remains optamistic over this.

[Piersman2]

Well to be fair, I have done a LOT of reading about overheating and it could be anything from a blocked pipe to a new engine.

Only one way to find out

Still not heard from seller yet [annoyed now]

[BLUETHUNDER]

GKP said:

Or a blocked rad. Or a fubared thermostat. Online diagnosis is rubbish.

We all know your a RR fan boy. But it would be wise for piersman to listen to people to have actually owned driven a spent most of there time in a workshop getting to know all the problems. Its an e-bay special. Thats why its on there in the first place. There are no cheap P38,s they all cost dearly in the long run.

[Delinquent Man]

Even if you soent £5k putting a new engine in, providing the rest of the car is in good nick, I doubt you'd lose more than you spent. What's the risk? Go for it!

[edc]

There's no way a P38 '96 is worth 5k. One of the problems with these cars is that they are so cheap to buy but can be relatively expensive to run that people run them on the cheap. In all honesty I had my dse for 10 months doing 10k miles and had no real wallet destroying moments but who knows what is round the corner. My biggest expense was 4 x AT tyres when I actually only needed 2 at £550. I'm not sure what price you paid but personally wouldn't pay more than £600 for a 4.6 with known problems when you can get a runner from £1500. I'm also not sure of the proportion of petrol to diesels still running but every RR forum I see has the first half front page of requests for help / problems with their V8. Good luck though.

[edc]

If you do need a tow make sure you have a 5a fuse ready and the fuse box diagram!

[Delinquent Man]

edc said:

There's no way a P38 '96 is worth 5k.

With a brand new engine and a good condition remainder then I don't agree. There are a number around at that price with old engines in them. Condition is everything.

[eliot]

Delinquent Man said:

edc said:

There's no way a P38 '96 is worth 5k.

With a brand new engine and a good condition remainder then I don't agree. There are a number around at that price with old engines in them. Condition is everything.

A 96 with a new engine wouldn't be worth 5k.

I think the OP has paid what its worth, you do have to assume the engine is knackered and has a slipped liner. You may get lucky with a rad, but the easy fixes would of been done long before it was allowed to sell on ebay for £800

That will be the sort of one I buy next time - as I will either replace the engine with a 5.7 chevvy or fix the 4.6 properly.

[Delinquent Man]

eliot said:

A 96 with a new engine wouldn't be worth 5k.

Yes it would.

[Piersman2]

This may all be academic as the seller still hasn't bothered acknowledging any emails or requests to call me.

So not sure what he's doing, he answered an email on Friday asking for more details... but since then nothing.

Seems strange as you would have thought with the auction finishing on Friday evening, and him saying the car should be gone in 48hrs, that he'd have been available this weekend.

SO I don't know what's going on, bloody annoying as I've even gone and got the cash ready.

Maybe he's sold it to someone else... but you would have thought he'd have concelled the auction in that case. Or maybe someone offered him more post-auction end... but that's a bit 'off', to have made the offer and then to have accepted it.

Suppose I've got no choice but to wait for him to respond

[Grandad Gaz]

Piersman2 said:

This may all be academic as the seller still hasn't bothered acknowledging any emails or requests to call me.

So not sure what he's doing, he answered an email on Friday asking for more details... but since then nothing.

Seems strange as you would have thought with the auction finishing on Friday evening, and him saying the car should be gone in 48hrs, that he'd have been available this weekend.

SO I don't know what's going on, bloody annoying as I've even gone and got the cash ready.

Maybe he's sold it to someone else... but you would have thought he'd have concelled the auction in that case. Or maybe someone offered him more post-auction end... but that's a bit 'off', to have made the offer and then to have accepted it.

Suppose I've got no choice but to wait for him to respond

and maybe the engine popped when he took it for a farewell drive and he's stuck with it