P38A It has come to pass......

After much discussion with my other half, our bank and taking stock of our financial maladies - the time has come where I can no longer warrant to continued battle with getting the P38 to proper running - she runs, starts and drives, but doesn't like to accelerate or be put under load.

My latest research leads me to suspect (as I had originally done) worn camshaft lobe(s).

Backfires through intake under hard acceleration and high RPM which could indicate worn exhaust lobe(s).

I have a camshaft, I have front cover gaskets, sump gasket, front cover crank seal....etc etc....so I have most parts, but unfortunately work has increased and with two young kids I no longer have the time or the money to continue to repair. It may be the case that the camshaft swap will be the fix and even if it is, we just don't have the money to run the car any longer - with two kids, my other half is now a fulltime stay at home mum and without her income we are seriously restricted financially and running a 14mpg car (even if it is on gas so around 25mpg equiv) we just can't manage it and I cannot be selfish to think I can when I have two young kids and a roof over our heads to provide for.....

That being said, the L322 is going nowhere - I need atleast one Range Rover in my life.....

Oh and I still need to sell the 110.....!!

Once I have got my head around being told by the bank and my other half in the meeting this morning that I need to sell the P38 I will post further details.....

Bear with, I am gutted.

Sell the L322 and keep the easier to fix 110 before that too empties your already depleted bank account.

Datatek said:

Sell the L322 and keep the easier to fix 110 before that too empties your already depleted bank account.

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whilst that would be [financially] sensible....

The 110 is cold, draughty, it leaks, it belches diesel, noisey, rattles and doesn't have isofix mounts for the baby/child seats....so is not child/baby friendly - believe me this has been discussed over and over and we REALLY don't want to sell the 110, but we have to.....I owe money to my dad, and the 110 is the asset..!!

Saint.V8 said:

whilst that would be [financially] sensible....

The 110 is cold, draughty, it leaks, it belches diesel, noisey, rattles and doesn't have isofix mounts for the baby/child seats....so is not child/baby friendly - believe me this has been discussed over and over and we REALLY don't want to sell the 110, but we have to.....I owe money to my dad, and the 110 is the asset..!!

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Sorry to hear of your problems. I still think the L322 should go if you are hard up, sell the lot and get a nice cheap reliable P38 diesel. Obviously none of my business but good luck with whatever you end up doing.

Sell the kids....... (its a thought)

On a more serious note... will a workshop meet help out to get it going as it should?

Not being a multi millionaire does have it's draw backs at times.

Sorry to hear that it's not economically viable for you, that's a real shame.
I'd ditch the more sale-able L322 and keep the other 2 myself, but I can understand your wanting to please as many of the family as you can and keep your kids as safe as possible.
Good Luck Ant'

Sorry to hear this St, I am in a similar boat but with me being the stay at home parent...

If my wife wasn't so clever, therefore in a good job, we'd be screwed.

She knows I will not sell George unless something better comes along.

So until tomorrow, I am stuck driving my sisters old Suzuki Alto 1.1 petrol auto.

When folks ask, "Where's the Range Rover?" I simply tell them, "It's at home, I'm driving the glove box today

Was seriously thinking to get Range Rover lettering on it, then add Glove Box just for hilarity

I can fully understand your thoughts and good luck. Glad you are keeping at least one

Bugger but you gotta do what you gotta do mate

Such a shame...

Atleast you'll still have one RR

Oh and maybe you should consider a nice DHSE P38.

You get economy'ish reliability and the P38 so win win

Thanks to all.....

The L322 stays as it has Isofix mounts for the baby seat and the kid seat....the P38 doesn't have isofix and the girlfriends it too short to reach over and feck about with the seat belt each time she needs to take the baby out....

With the isofix all you have to do is place it in the cradle and it locks in automatically - can be done with one hand.

Also, there is no guarantee I can fix the P38 in any case.....my hunch is it being the camshaft....but it is a job I just don't have the time for now, I have been moved (again) within my role and I am getting snowed under with work, and I have run out of annual leave, I can't do weekends as we have other priorities with the family at the moment, and whilst I have about 80% of the parts and gaskets to do a camshaft swap, I haven't got the time and even if I do fix it and get it running correctly, I can't afford to run it.....

I am currently in a 1.8 3 series BMW that runs on LPG so I am running at a 55mpg equiv in that and still struggling to find money in the last week of the month - doesn't help the amount of money I have had to fork out on the cars the last couple of months.....4 new tyres on the P38, full front suspension and steering arms, bushes, drop links and ball joints on the L322, trying to get the P38 in a running order to get it off the secure site at work.....and still getting nowhere!

I really don't want to have to sell it, but I have a young family to consider - I have had my fun with cars and my other half has been very supportive of my 'need' to drive large capacity V8's either Rangies or Bimmers.....so I can't complain when the bank manager and her both say enough is enough, we can keep the L322, but the P38 has to go.....

Sorry to hear you are now having to put another one of your beloved green ovals up for sale. Hopefully , in a couple of years, when the kids go to school and the OH goes back to work, you can again indulge in a P38. As by then isofix and other 'modern features won't be an issue. You might even get another 110.
Hope you get it all worked out

Sorry Saint but think of the saving on road tax and insurance each month only having two cars to run.

I take it you've already gone down the route of plugs, leads and coils?

Saying that because my car would start and run, but as soon as I put the throttle down to pull away, I was getting massive pops, misfires and even backfires through the airbox (I have LPG so a "mouse trap" flap is built in from when it was originally single point injection).

Anyway, because I left the damn miss for so long (the inner core had been pulled apart from the metal clip that fastens to the top of the plug) that the coil suffered. I made the new leads but found my coil was duff using ignition spark plug testers https://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/tools/hand-tools/laser-ht-lead-ignition-spark-tester

I may not have realised that one plug wasn't firing because of the coil....

Right bank (all 4 plugs)




Left bank, you can see (just) the poor spark at the end there

If you view the vids in my other post, you will see I also have plug testers....mine are Laser, but yes, new leads & plugs have been fitted. It is the original coil as I didn't have a replacement when I needed to put the engine back together in an attempt to get it off the secure site at work....

When you are married with young kids, family comes first, end of. This period in your life will seem to be a mere brief interlude in the future. Owning Range Rovers is a rich mans or single mans pleasure, for everyone else it's a pain. Cut out all your unnecessary expenditure and concentrate on the present. By the time you come back to Rangies, those idiots in Solihull may have designed one that works properly.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

When you are married with young kids, family comes first, end of. This period in your life will seem to be a mere brief interlude in the future. Owning Range Rovers is a rich mans or single mans pleasure, for everyone else it's a pain. Cut out all your unnecessary expenditure and concentrate on the present. By the time you come back to Rangies, those idiots in Solihull may have designed one that works properly.

Col

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^^^This.
Although I wouldn't hold my breath on the last sentence!

You're at the stage where you need reliable family transport that all the baby paraphernalia can fit into & money is tight so anything unnecessary has to go. In my case - early 80s - it was my Reliant Scimitar which was replaced by a capacious but deadly dull Volvo 240.
My eldest is currently in the same position as they are expecting their second & it will be his Megane 225 that goes.
Got into LR ownership in 1994 with my RRC (which I still have) when my eldest (9 at the time) came home from primary school & announced he'd been selected to play the double bass in the school orchestra. Needing a suitable vehicle to fit it (plus I fished & shot) the RRC was top of my list. Sometimes small children can be useful!