New P38, first jobs brakes & tyres

emoose said:

So I've taken the plunge and acquired a 1998 2.5 DSE, plenty of jobs to do on it but the important safety ones are getting the brakes & tyres sorted.

Brakes, looking at getting front & rear disc/pad sets from Island 4x4, britpart discs & mintex pads. Do these sound OK?


Tyres, the front ones are barely road legal so need swapping (rears are some budget brand but plenty of tread at the moment). Will be using it pretty much exclusively https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=...w16XSCg&ved=0CCUQvwUoAQ&q=exclusively&spell=1on the road but still want to be able to get around if we have some more snow this year (its got 18" wheels by the way).

Popular choices seem to be:
General Grabber A/T (over the top for just road use?)
Goodyear wrangler hp
Toyo Open Country AT (seen them for a good price)
NEXEN ROADIAN HP
Pirelli Scorpion ST or Zero (but no STR, tramline apparently)

Also planning to flush the coolant and do an oil & filters service. Later do the transmission oil & filter, any other urgent jobs that people would recommend?

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Druim said:

Transfer & diff oil, grease U/J's & Prop shaft
Do the tranny oil/filter sooner rather than later
Don't buy cheap discs/pads
Goodyear Wrangler HP works a treat for me - good in snow
Check your steering damper, sorted my tram lining together with new tyres
Check your battery & alternator is in good condition
Check the RF receiver is latest model or you may have massive issues
Search on here - most have been sorted many times
Talk with Data if you have airbags
Check for wet damp carpet drivers side before changing coolant - may need new heater core o-rings

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emoose said:

Thanks for the feedback.

Are you saying to avoid those discs/pads? Can you point me towards ones that you would recommend?

Checked the carpet when I first viewed it, seems nice and dry with no stains.

"grease U/J's & Prop shaft", do you mean to apply a good amount of grease to the joints of these or is there a specific grease insertion point?

Checked the RF red indicator light went out OK and stayed out last night, will check the physical receiver as well though.

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Druim said:

RF receiver should have Green dot, any shade of blue should be avoided - if you have a blue disconnecting the antenna blue wire helps but remote only works very short distance.

There's actual or should be grease nipples on the U/J's 1 on each = 4 + 1 each prop = 2 so 6 in all - good quality Lithium based grease must be used

Inspect the carpet closely just above the left foot rest on the tunnel, must be bone dry

As for the discs and pads go with what others here has positive experience with - i have none with the Rangie but bad experience from other auto

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emoose said:

More great info thanks!
I have a can on Lithium grease thats already stopped one of the doors squeaking, Halfords | 3-IN-ONE Professional White Lithium Grease 400ml is this good enough?

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aerofabrique said:

Its the diesel version of the engine management light.

As per owners handbook

If it stays on it indicates a fault. With diesels the trend is for it to flash between gear changes/overrun which maybe linked to an old FIP or faulty number 4.

On start might indicate your injectors are sticking. Flush through with a couple of bottles or redex or similar on your first fill ups (avoiding supermarket fuel) and thrash it out...assuming thrashing won't bend or break or crack anything else

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emoose said:

One thing I missed when I was first looking at it (or it didn't do it) was this funny orange 'laser' symbol on the dash when starting.

Starts fine(even when warm) and goes away once started. Can't see it in the manuals anywhere though.

Full image here http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll78/emoose_bucket/Dashlight.jpg

Any one know what it is?

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