Buying a P38

Hello, I don't venture in here much but I may be soon, I am looking to buy a P38 or a VERY good nick classic (possibly harder to come by) as a commuter vehicle.

Apart from the normal LR rusty chassis syndrome, what do I have to watch out for with these, I would be looking at a diesel, hopefully not with air suspension (did they come as coil sprung or have they just been retro fitted with springs) also how much are we looking at to put coil springs in and are there any side effects (i.e. computers flashing lights at you etc).

Are there any hidden rust traps that are a common problem on these, and being used to working on the 90 and the Disco what are they like to work on, much of a muchness?

What sort of MPG will one of these return if driven reasonably carefully?

discomania said:

Hello, I don't venture in here much but I may be soon, I am looking to buy a P38 or a VERY good nick classic (possibly harder to come by) as a commuter vehicle.

Apart from the normal LR rusty chassis syndrome, what do I have to watch out for with these, I would be looking at a diesel, hopefully not with air suspension (did they come as coil sprung or have they just been retro fitted with springs) also how much are we looking at to put coil springs in and are there any side effects (i.e. computers flashing lights at you etc).

Are there any hidden rust traps that are a common problem on these, and being used to working on the 90 and the Disco what are they like to work on, much of a muchness?

What sort of MPG will one of these return if driven reasonably carefully?

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As far as the P38 goes you won't need to worry too much about the rustyness issue, the P38 is all aluminium body panels on steel frames. This was a great idea at the time Im sure but you get a reaction between the two metals so instead of rust you get bubbling and white spots where paint flakes off. Annoying but not as bad as rust I guess.

The one part that does rust is the upper tailgate where the number plate lights are, look out for this when buying.

All P38's had EAS (air suspension). You can get kits to convert for around £350 I believe, however, if you maintain and look after the EAS system its very reliable and offers a better ride than standard sprung suspension. When you do a coil conversion you get a little plugin kit thingy to fool the BeCM (main computer) that everything is ok and functioning as normal.

I dont have a Disco or a Defender but working on the P38 is easy in my opinion.

MPG varies depending on the sort of driving being done, I did a mixture of town & country driving today and returned around 22mpg. If you chip it you can boost performance and squeeze a few more MPG out of it. Mine is unchipped at the moment after I drowned the last one so I would usually expect to see that figure at around 24/25mpg. On a long motorway run with a chipped vehicle you can do around 34mpg.

When buying a P38 check EVERYTHING works, play with all the buttons, knobs and switches, they can be an electrical nightmare so everything electrical needs to be in top shape. Try and take someone along who is familiar with them if possible.

The diesel, like its V8 brothers does suffer from engine troubles and this is mainly in the form of a cracked head. Take it out on a long run and keep an eye on the temp needle, make sure it doesnt go past 12 at all. Give the rad hoses a good squeeze after the run as well to make sure that there is no built up pressure in there indicating problems.

-Wills

P.S. If you do get one and get rid of the EAS, drop me a PM, I will be interested in any/all of the left over EAS bits