I bought my P38 in the Summer of 2019 for 1000 pounds. I drove to Bridlington in a Peugot 206 2.0 petrol 5 door. I only had it for a year but was already sick of it. So I met the guy, test drove the P38, and drove off and left my Peugot 206 in his neighbours parking spot. Left it their with a brand new battery, new heavy duty rear springs, new throttle body, and a few other new parts and a list of maintenance receipts in the glove box. I rang a wreckers yard to come and collect it. I was given a check for 145 pounds. I had only purchased it for 500 and it came with a full service history and 3 keys. In a single year I had piled Joinery tools into the back and throttled it everywhere. It got me through and was reliable for the most part, But at the end of the day I hadn't an ounce of sentimentality for the car so I just left it on the side of the road.
As soon as I drove the P38 I knew I was going to love it. Immediate issues where with the steering, far too much play and movement, Lots of rust, Driver window not working, and LEAKS.
I took it in to get an M.O.T. and it passed with a small list of minors. Knowing what was wrong with the car I wasn't surprised with the list.
The first real issue I had was with the Crank Damper failing and making a hell of a noise constantly. I researched how to work on that particular area, as well as watching a bunch of other P38a 2.5d You Tube videos. I think its then when I learned about Landy Zone and was relieved to get great advice from some top members. Besides watching You Tube and listening to a man with an interesting accent fix both of his Range Rover; the information from Landy Zone has done more for my personal gain and capabilities.
I didn't mean to ramble on but I wanted to give an oversight to anyone who is thinking of getting an older P38.
Lets fast forward to Yesterday. I spent the past few days rebuilding, soldering, and diagnosing my EAS air compressor problems. I rebuilt it perfectly, and it was running great, but very hot. I was only doing school drop off and pick up for the last few days so didn't get much use out of the new and improved pump. A couple of days ago I took the boys for a Little drive and a Burger King meal. The next morning we all piled in the car to go to the park and the car wouldn't start. Everything in the instrument panel was lit up normally and no other alerts appeared, but the engine would not fire up. I went straight to the fuse box under the bonnet and checked each one. The one which was blown was the 40amp EAS fuse next to its Relay. I replaced the fuse and the car fired up. Turned the car off and tried to start again and it wouldn't.
So got a fuse back in then drove to Halfords to get more 40amp fuses to find that they don't have any but 35amp fuses. Park trip ruined and drove straight home and sulked for a while and thought about what the hell have I done now.
I ordered a bunch of soldering gear off of Amazon and waited for delivery.
So yesterday I took the Air compressor back out of the car and again ( on my kitchen table) proceeded to perform surgery. I had already replaced all the rubber O rings, and rubber gaskets, and removed and installed new piston ring, and piston sleeve. The thing was a smooth operator and I was well chuffed with my accomplishment. This time However I didn't need to dabble with the other end of the compressor, just the electronic side of things to solder the thermal diode switch thing.
After a good few hours of being very careful and having to drill out the mushroomed flattened aluminium pegs ( which held the circuit board into place) I then removed the circuit board and had to create a new way for the circuit board to be re-fastened. After carefully drilling, and threading a 5mm aluminium peg, then finding the perfect couple of screws, I then started to solder. I am not good at soldering.
I finally get everything soldered rather well in fact, multimeter tested everything and it was sound. It was then that I realized that I had made a mistake. Upon my first rebuild and refit attempt, I had forgotten to re-install a thin, blue-paper-like material which my sudden understanding was to insulate the wires of the brushes from touching the metal outer cylinder case and shorting out the system. Shorting out the system.
Shorting out system!
I put it all back together and installed it back into the car. Replaced the fuse, started car, turned car off, then started again, and it was fine. Pressed a different height selection on the dash and waited for action. Nothing happened. Car was still running fine and EAS wasn't alerting anything. I stood next to the air compressor and felt it to feel any vibration to indicate whether the thing was on or not. It felt like something was happening but not the normal vibration. Then came the smell.
The worst smell ever known as wires and plastic and glue burning and melting. I quickly turned the car off and tried to remove the air compressor but it was boiling hot. I disconnected all the electric plugs and had to wait a minute. It didn't cool down for over 20 minutes. I brought it back into my kitchen table, stunk out my whole house and carefully removed all the bolts again. The whole thing was so hot I couldn't touch it for too long. After removing the back section again and taking out the electric board I couldn't see anything wrong, but the smell was terrible, and still smoking.
I got some pliers and tried to turn the shaft of the motor and it wouldn't turn properly, I flipped it upside-down and tried and thats when I felt and heard things moving that shouldn't be moving or making noise.
The piston arm had snapped and the piston was stuck rattling around the air intake section of the air compressor.
So what had happened was while fixing everything beautifully and spending a good chunk of money on parts and equipment, The piston was dead to begin with, and me rebuilding everything and having to remove the piston and install new piston ring has been the straw that broke its back really.
The motor was spinning and wasn't able to, which caused the motor and brushes to heat up and melt the whole motor. I spent 3 days fixing and rebuilding for nothing.
Yesterday I was able to find a brand new Air compressor for 146 pound which should arrive on Thursday.
Should I have just bought a new one to begin with?..........maybe so, but the whole thing about these Range Rovers is to keep them alive and be resourceful and not live in this throw away society.
I do struggle a lot while Im doing repairs or maintenance on my P38 and that is because it is old and rusty and nothing wants to be unscrewed or taken apart on it.
I think I have spent approximately 5-6 grand on my P38 and that includes purchase price.
Quick list: Water pump, Crank Damper, thermostat, belts, oil cooler radiator, oil cooler lines, Radiator, A.C. radiator, all new rubber hoses under the bonnet, intake and turbo hoses, a couple of airbags, new shocks, all front end ball joints, tie rods, and steering arms, steering damper, brakes, 5 tyres, door lock, widow motor, abs leads, glow plugs, no 4 fuel injector, map/ maf sensor, turbo solenoid, diff oil, auto transmission service, 2 engine services, and last but not least a new Air Compressor.
Thats all I can think of Im sure there are a few more ive missed.
Anyway.....what I had done was getting into a commitment with a car. Now I dont want to let it go and I am doing anything and everything to keep it going. I dont want a new car or newish car either. I can chuck my kids in, while having a boot fully loaded with tools, and go anywhere ( most of the time)
The only catastrophic thing thats happened has been when ive had to fix something else and while doing so something else has broken along the way.
So yes I will continue to fix my P38 cause I love it. I cant imagine having a newer one and having my boys spilling everything they eat and drink all over it, and kick it all over and throw stones at it and scratch it, etc. My P38 still looks great and it just keeps getting better with all of these upgrades and repairs i will always do as long as i can anyway.
Thank you for reading if you have. I just wanted to express to any who cared thats all.
As soon as I drove the P38 I knew I was going to love it. Immediate issues where with the steering, far too much play and movement, Lots of rust, Driver window not working, and LEAKS.
I took it in to get an M.O.T. and it passed with a small list of minors. Knowing what was wrong with the car I wasn't surprised with the list.
The first real issue I had was with the Crank Damper failing and making a hell of a noise constantly. I researched how to work on that particular area, as well as watching a bunch of other P38a 2.5d You Tube videos. I think its then when I learned about Landy Zone and was relieved to get great advice from some top members. Besides watching You Tube and listening to a man with an interesting accent fix both of his Range Rover; the information from Landy Zone has done more for my personal gain and capabilities.
I didn't mean to ramble on but I wanted to give an oversight to anyone who is thinking of getting an older P38.
Lets fast forward to Yesterday. I spent the past few days rebuilding, soldering, and diagnosing my EAS air compressor problems. I rebuilt it perfectly, and it was running great, but very hot. I was only doing school drop off and pick up for the last few days so didn't get much use out of the new and improved pump. A couple of days ago I took the boys for a Little drive and a Burger King meal. The next morning we all piled in the car to go to the park and the car wouldn't start. Everything in the instrument panel was lit up normally and no other alerts appeared, but the engine would not fire up. I went straight to the fuse box under the bonnet and checked each one. The one which was blown was the 40amp EAS fuse next to its Relay. I replaced the fuse and the car fired up. Turned the car off and tried to start again and it wouldn't.
So got a fuse back in then drove to Halfords to get more 40amp fuses to find that they don't have any but 35amp fuses. Park trip ruined and drove straight home and sulked for a while and thought about what the hell have I done now.
I ordered a bunch of soldering gear off of Amazon and waited for delivery.
So yesterday I took the Air compressor back out of the car and again ( on my kitchen table) proceeded to perform surgery. I had already replaced all the rubber O rings, and rubber gaskets, and removed and installed new piston ring, and piston sleeve. The thing was a smooth operator and I was well chuffed with my accomplishment. This time However I didn't need to dabble with the other end of the compressor, just the electronic side of things to solder the thermal diode switch thing.
After a good few hours of being very careful and having to drill out the mushroomed flattened aluminium pegs ( which held the circuit board into place) I then removed the circuit board and had to create a new way for the circuit board to be re-fastened. After carefully drilling, and threading a 5mm aluminium peg, then finding the perfect couple of screws, I then started to solder. I am not good at soldering.
I finally get everything soldered rather well in fact, multimeter tested everything and it was sound. It was then that I realized that I had made a mistake. Upon my first rebuild and refit attempt, I had forgotten to re-install a thin, blue-paper-like material which my sudden understanding was to insulate the wires of the brushes from touching the metal outer cylinder case and shorting out the system. Shorting out the system.
Shorting out system!
I put it all back together and installed it back into the car. Replaced the fuse, started car, turned car off, then started again, and it was fine. Pressed a different height selection on the dash and waited for action. Nothing happened. Car was still running fine and EAS wasn't alerting anything. I stood next to the air compressor and felt it to feel any vibration to indicate whether the thing was on or not. It felt like something was happening but not the normal vibration. Then came the smell.
The worst smell ever known as wires and plastic and glue burning and melting. I quickly turned the car off and tried to remove the air compressor but it was boiling hot. I disconnected all the electric plugs and had to wait a minute. It didn't cool down for over 20 minutes. I brought it back into my kitchen table, stunk out my whole house and carefully removed all the bolts again. The whole thing was so hot I couldn't touch it for too long. After removing the back section again and taking out the electric board I couldn't see anything wrong, but the smell was terrible, and still smoking.
I got some pliers and tried to turn the shaft of the motor and it wouldn't turn properly, I flipped it upside-down and tried and thats when I felt and heard things moving that shouldn't be moving or making noise.
The piston arm had snapped and the piston was stuck rattling around the air intake section of the air compressor.
So what had happened was while fixing everything beautifully and spending a good chunk of money on parts and equipment, The piston was dead to begin with, and me rebuilding everything and having to remove the piston and install new piston ring has been the straw that broke its back really.
The motor was spinning and wasn't able to, which caused the motor and brushes to heat up and melt the whole motor. I spent 3 days fixing and rebuilding for nothing.
Yesterday I was able to find a brand new Air compressor for 146 pound which should arrive on Thursday.
Should I have just bought a new one to begin with?..........maybe so, but the whole thing about these Range Rovers is to keep them alive and be resourceful and not live in this throw away society.
I do struggle a lot while Im doing repairs or maintenance on my P38 and that is because it is old and rusty and nothing wants to be unscrewed or taken apart on it.
I think I have spent approximately 5-6 grand on my P38 and that includes purchase price.
Quick list: Water pump, Crank Damper, thermostat, belts, oil cooler radiator, oil cooler lines, Radiator, A.C. radiator, all new rubber hoses under the bonnet, intake and turbo hoses, a couple of airbags, new shocks, all front end ball joints, tie rods, and steering arms, steering damper, brakes, 5 tyres, door lock, widow motor, abs leads, glow plugs, no 4 fuel injector, map/ maf sensor, turbo solenoid, diff oil, auto transmission service, 2 engine services, and last but not least a new Air Compressor.
Thats all I can think of Im sure there are a few more ive missed.
Anyway.....what I had done was getting into a commitment with a car. Now I dont want to let it go and I am doing anything and everything to keep it going. I dont want a new car or newish car either. I can chuck my kids in, while having a boot fully loaded with tools, and go anywhere ( most of the time)
The only catastrophic thing thats happened has been when ive had to fix something else and while doing so something else has broken along the way.
So yes I will continue to fix my P38 cause I love it. I cant imagine having a newer one and having my boys spilling everything they eat and drink all over it, and kick it all over and throw stones at it and scratch it, etc. My P38 still looks great and it just keeps getting better with all of these upgrades and repairs i will always do as long as i can anyway.
Thank you for reading if you have. I just wanted to express to any who cared thats all.
