Is it true you can't jump start a P38 ?

Hi all , I have just bought a 1996 P38 HSE 4.6 auto .. and the battery was flat after 3 days of no use ... I used my daughters car with jump leads to get it going again ..

I now have a gearbox fault showing .. and no normal drive , forward or reverse.... but if I put it in drive and put my foot down so as to get to 2000 plus revs it will pull forward but at a crawl .

I have been told I should not of used jump leads as this can mess the EDU up and it now needs to be reset , and hope that's all it is

Is this right ?? Don't jump a P38 using leads only a jump pack ?

Look forward to your replies

i jump started my 1996 4.6 many a time with no probs

Am no expert on a P38 (nor any other LR for that matter !)

But I would remove the earth lead on your vehicles battery and carry out a full recharge

Then reconnect lead and start from the vehicles own battery

When you jump started did you allow the doner car to run connected to your battery for about 5 minutes to put a bit of life in your battery or did you simply connect and turn key ?

My thoughts are you didnt give time for all the vehicles ECU to "wake up" and initialise before trying to start vehicle.

Even after charging battery you may still need to have ECU faults read and cleared as no doubt some errors will now be stored

Good Luck !

No it's not true, you can jump start a P38. Just follow the instructions in the hand book. Petrol and diesel methods are different.

what is the motors mileage?

the borg warner box is tough as they come so unless its really high mileage it prob just a low voltage prob as 2000 says. charge her fully and it might be ok or just need faults clearing on testbook

I did it, well JAF (AA) here in Japan did it for me after I abandoned my P38 with a weak battery for a month... As wammer said, everything is written in the user manual.

I carry a Sealey starter pack in the car. Even with updated rf the car still looses its charge if left for a few days (recent new battery too!). So I have to use the starter pack quite often with no problems so far. Just connect the positive first and leave for a few minutes before starting the car, I then leave it connected for a few minutes. But have on occasion especially in bad weather just connect up start and go . The starter pack is also useful for starting other cars too. Whenever possible I also connect one of those trickle chargers that can be connected to the battery without disconnecting it. These are very good and you can leave them connected for months if necessary.
Jump starting is covered in the Owners Handbook.

I jump started mine a couple of times. Also had the gearbox fault come up on dash. Fitted new battery - no more problems. Sounds like your battery is on its way out and Rangeys dont like a weak battery (especially in the winter). Get a decent new one.

If you had an handbook you would know that's rubbish ebay £6

stopover wrote:

I carry a Sealey starter pack in the car.

Click to expand...

I have seen those Sealey starter packs. Do they have enough oomph to start a diesel p38?

dave4x4 said:

stopover wrote:
I have seen those Sealey starter packs. Do they have enough oomph to start a diesel p38?

Click to expand...

I think most of them are for engines up to 2.0 ltr. The one I've got certainly wouldn't jump my 4.6v8.

starblaze61 said:

Hi all , I have just bought a 1996 P38 HSE 4.6 auto .. and the battery was flat after 3 days of no use ... I used my daughters car with jump leads to get it going again ..

I now have a gearbox fault showing .. and no normal drive , forward or reverse.... but if I put it in drive and put my foot down so as to get to 2000 plus revs it will pull forward but at a crawl .

I have been told I should not of used jump leads as this can mess the EDU up and it now needs to be reset , and hope that's all it is

Is this right ?? Don't jump a P38 using leads only a jump pack ?

Look forward to your replies

Click to expand...

A common symptom of low battery voltage, either fully charge your battery and try again or get a decent one, something like an Alphaline 135AH 1000 CCA from Battery Megastore on line. (No affiliation)
No problem jumping a P38 although it's best not too if it can be avoided, sparking lead connections can cause problems and they do lose sync sometimes after a flat battery. A jump pack is no different to jumping from another car.

Thanks all very much for the replies .

Didn't get a handbook with the range ... ( I do have a CD now better late then never ) ... I'm so use to my old series Landies I should of been more cautious with all the electrics in this one .

Although I gave it a while before trying to start it ( after connecting to the other car ) I didn't wait for all the messages to clear

Battery is fully charged now and I will get it to the garage for , hopefully a reset , tomorrow .
Fingers cross I haven't caused any other damage .

Then a new battery is in order .

Paul it has 110k on the clock. if that helps

Range is in the garage , spoke to them today and they haven't put it on the diagnostic machine yet , but one mechanic said they can't get any gears so it looks bad ?????
I told them before it went in that I could get it to go through the gears and they all displayed on the dash BUT could get no drive unless I got the revs up to 2000 or more to get it to start moving forward .

Could it be as simple as lack of fluid but when I checked the fluid if anything it was a bit over full ..... and it ran fine on a 120 mile run only 2 days before the battery went flat and the Gearbox fault came up .

OR is it really bad ???

Thanks all

starblaze61 said:

Range is in the garage , spoke to them today and they haven't put it on the diagnostic machine yet , but one mechanic said they can't get any gears so it looks bad ?????
I told them before it went in that I could get it to go through the gears and they all displayed on the dash BUT could get no drive unless I got the revs up to 2000 or more to get it to start moving forward .

Could it be as simple as lack of fluid but when I checked the fluid if anything it was a bit over full ..... and it ran fine on a 120 mile run only 2 days before the battery went flat and the Gearbox fault came up .

OR is it really bad ???

Thanks all

Click to expand...

First thing you should do is get a decent new battery on it, and take it from there.

Has a good battery on it for a diesel ...

The garage has now said the gear box is knackered .... OMFG

How does a range go from running well doing a 150 mile run on mountains and motorways .... then after a dead battery ... The gearbox is Knackered ???

Can this be right ???

starblaze61 said:

Has a good battery on it for a diesel ...

The garage has now said the gear box is knackered .... OMFG

How does a range go from running well doing a 150 mile run on mountains and motorways .... then after a dead battery ... The gearbox is Knackered ???

Can this be right ???

Click to expand...

I'd want more details, could just be the autobox ECU. Garages are busy filling their boots for Christmas so will go for the most expensive bit
Unusual to lose forward and reverse at the same moment.

Thanks Datatek .. thats my thoughts on the garage also .... And thats before it has even been near the diagnostic computer !!!!!!
I have been looking though all sorts and found a post that says it could be the selector pin ? ...
Any thoughts on that ?