P38A Moving the Gearbox Oil Radiator - 2.5D 2000

Salisbury Nick · Feb 25, 2020

Why?

Because the Gearbox Oil Radiator is located low down just behind where you would expect a fog light to be. This is fine unless you are stupid enough to go green laning in a Range Rover P38 in which case it gets caked in mud and stops working.

So - we thought we would move it. 'We' is myself and my friend and co-owner and co-fool - each of us egging the other one to go that little bit further.

This is how we did it.

This is not how you should do it, it is not the best way to do it, this is not how I recommend that you do it. This is just how we did it. And I don't know of it works yet either

This is the offending article in situ.

Step 1

Jack the car and place on AXLE STANDS or other solid supports - I used 3Tonne axle stands.

Remove nearside front wheel and the wheel lining ro gain decent access from the back.

Step 2

remove the fan if you have one. Ours was attached with four bolts - three of which sheared off no matter how gentle I was.

This fan had a botched electrical cable join near the fan so I just cut through that to disconnect the cable.

Step 3

Crimp the hoses leading from the gearbox sump - see below.

Once these are clamped you are ready to cut the hoses/pipes.

I chose to cut the metal pipes because I thought it would be easier to crimp new hoses to the ends of the metal pipes than to connect two rubber hoses together.

I tried to find a pipe cutter to do this with - but there is not room to wield an adjustable cutter and I could not find one for this diameter pipe - so I bit the bullet and used an angle grinder.

This is entertaining - sparks every where and gearbox oil is flammable so you also get a little bit of fire

Salisbury Nick · Feb 25, 2020

Probably should have mentioned that as well as some fire you will also get about a half litre of oil draining out - so a bucket is a good idea too!

Now ready to remove the rad'.

There are three mounting bolts - two at the top, one at the bottom.

Two you get to from the back - one from the front - so sockets and socket extension will do the trick.

This is what ours looked like from the back. I had to clean it a bit to get to the bolts.

Salisbury Nick · Feb 25, 2020

I dropped the assembly onto a crate to support it while I took photo's of the sensors and to enable easy access to the sensors to remove them.

Once photographed for future reference I unscrewed them and whammy - rad removed.

Once off I had to drill out the sheared off bolts retaining the fan and then remove the fan.

Finally revealed the muck on the rad'.

Gave the rad' a really good clean.

HINT - the bloody thing is still full of oil - and its bloody fine - and it leaks bloody everywhere - if I did this again I would know to drain the rad' after removing!

Then ready to think about re=locating and re-connecting.

To re-connect I bought 4m of J30R6 16mm internal diameter rubber hose.

This was the wrong hose. As it turned out I actually needed 1/2" - 12.7mm equivalent.

Found this out when I tied to fit it and it way to big. Measured the pipes and realised my mistake - I had ordered by researching on here and found another post about modifying the rad' which had required 16mm internal hose.

Lesson - check your own sizes before you order, not mine nor anyone else's!

before you can re-connect anything you have to mount the rad' somewhere.

We found this convenient big space in the engine bay behind the EAS;

However, to stick it there you need to make a mounting bracket.

We designed....(Ok, Mike designed and made a bracket), that would fit on this convenient mounting post and perfectly fit the rad' in the space.

More to follow shortly - moving from the pub to home for remainder of post....

Salisbury Nick · Feb 25, 2020

Once the rad is mounted the rest is...maybe easy..depending.

Having filed down the rough edges of the metal pipes we connected the bottom hoses using crimps and threaded them up through the bodywork and ran them along the inner wing to the radiator.

View from underneath looking up at the route for the hoses.

And from the top running along the wing.

Then do the same for the radiator fan cable, and the sensor cables

Now comes the sticky bit.

Release the clamps keeping the gearbox sump oil in the sump.
Using a funnel - full up each of the two hoses while trying to manipulate them to remove air bubbles.
Fill up the rad' similarly,

Connect your hoses to the rad'.

Job done!

Caveats:

I don't know if this has worked yet.
I don't know that we will be able to drain the gearbox sump and refill whilst the rad is connected - guess we might need to clamp the hoses for an oil change.
Not sure that the re-located rad will sufficiently cool the oil.

See future posts for a success rating!

RangeRoller dt · Feb 26, 2020

I presume it’s not actually on the bulkhead as the heated air needs somewhere to go?

Salisbury Nick · Feb 26, 2020

Correct - it's on a bracket making it free standing in the engine bay.

Datatek · Feb 26, 2020

I hope that there is not too much heat transfer to the EAS box from the pipes.

RangeRoller dt · Feb 26, 2020

Could use a duct pipe to feed it cold air

Salisbury Nick · Feb 26, 2020

Datatek said:
I hope that there is not too much heat transfer to the EAS box from the pipes.

Hmmm. Did not think of that. The hot pipe will be at 90 deg ish...

I guess I'll know if I start seeing weird behaviour from the EAS?

Salisbury Nick · Feb 26, 2020

RangeRoller dt said:
Could use a duct pipe to feed it cold air

If it is an issue I can re-route the hose. Plenty of room to avoid the EAS.

Salisbury Nick · Feb 26, 2020

Im a bit worried that the temperature sensors on the radiator being very close to the air intake manifold, and I'm not sure how warm eh manifold gets in use.

Grrrrrr · Feb 26, 2020

So the rad and pipes are now higher than the gearbox and will drain back into it when the gearbox oil pump isn't running?

I am not sure if that will cause issues or not. Guess we'll soon see.

EAS is in its box so shouldn't get that hot.

Datatek · Feb 27, 2020

Grrrrrr said:
So the rad and pipes are now higher than the gearbox and will drain back into it when the gearbox oil pump isn't running?

I am not sure if that will cause issues or not. Guess we'll soon see.

EAS is in its box so shouldn't get that hot.

If the pipe gets to 90C, there will be plenty of heat transfer to the EAS box which in turn will transfer to the interior. The driver pack is heat sensitive.

tomcat59alan · Feb 27, 2020

Salisbury Nick said:
Im a bit worried that the temperature sensors on the radiator being very close to the air intake manifold, and I'm not sure how warm eh manifold gets in use.

Lock the bonnet in service mode and drive with your head out of the window,or stop getting it so filthy , sorted.

Rubberknees · Feb 27, 2020

Like the photos. Reminds me of that old song, Mud, Mud glorious Mud. Forgot who sang it

tomcat59alan · Feb 27, 2020

Rubberknees said:
Like the photos. Reminds me of that old song, Mud, Mud glorious Mud. Forgot who sang it

Flanders and Swann. Hippopotamus song.So my grandfather told me.

Datatek · Feb 27, 2020

If it were me, I would have left the rad low down and just turned it from vertical to flat with the fan topside running all the time to deflect mud and water from the under side. Perhaps a baffle in front of the fan again to deflect water etc.
I have the feeling that this experiment is going to end in tears.

Rubberknees · Feb 27, 2020

tomcat59alan said:
Flanders and Swann. Hippopotamus song.So my grandfather told me.

Many thanks. Always thought mud was for cooling the blood and not gearbox oil

RangeRoller dt · Feb 27, 2020

Just have to cut few air vents in the bonnet worst case

Salisbury Nick · Feb 27, 2020

Datatek said:
If it were me, I would have left the rad low down and just turned it from vertical to flat with the fan topside running all the time to deflect mud and water from the under side. Perhaps a baffle in front of the fan again to deflect water etc.
I have the feeling that this experiment is going to end in tears.

It’s a strong possibility! I don’t dispute it.

P38A Moving the Gearbox Oil Radiator - 2.5D 2000

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