P38 DSE Buying Help

Hello all

I’m not unfamilar to owning a P38. I in fact owned a terrible one two years ago nearly.

Anyway I’ve got the bug and I want another.

there’s one local to me. Elderly couple, owned for 10+ years. All the device history etc you’d expect for people who have cared and not scrimped.

car has been off road since 2020 due to them shielding from Covid and then I’ll health.

went to look at the car today and it’s seriously nice.

110k miles. 2001 DHSE

the only issue was when selecting park or reverse it would sometimes stall.

now I would think this is a fuelling issue which potentially could be expensive. However part of me also thinks nearly 3 year old fuel is to play here.

Cold and hot starts are great. I know what a bad engine sounds like and this was super smooth.

in addition there would sometimes be a vibration at idle. No metallic noise or knocking. Just a vibration. And in nuetral if revved it would self Rev to 2500 and then stall?

any input?

Modulation out was the cause on mine.

To add, mine was sorned for 4 yrs with 4 Yr old diesel in it, map pipe was rotted, leak offs mouldy, had the wrong fuel filter fitted. Fixed all that to produce absolutely no difference!
Got a nanocom which showed Modulation at 80%, should be close to 50% on a hot engine. Runs sweet now that's been done. You'll need a good battery, hankok m31 iirc.

It was a right pita trying to get her on and off the trailer
Must have started it 20 times

Flossie said:

It was a right pita trying to get her on and off the trailer
Must have started it 20 times

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This one you can drive. It’s probably every 3rd time that it stalls out. I had a look around, injector pump very clean. No signs of injectors leaking etc.

Should mention the vibration at idle is intermittent.

when idling it was possibly the smoothest diesel p38 I’ve heard

It’s very well cared for.

I’ve had a series which I almost completely rebuilt and a TD5 110 and to this day spending 1/5th of the cost on a P38 scares me more even though I love them!

Not as scared as I was.
I've a thread somewhere on here , something like ' want a p38 but scared '
Search for that and also ' Duchess is in the garage!' Might reassure you maybe...

Nialox said:

Hello all

I’m not unfamilar to owning a P38. I in fact owned a terrible one two years ago nearly.

Anyway I’ve got the bug and I want another.

there’s one local to me. Elderly couple, owned for 10+ years. All the device history etc you’d expect for people who have cared and not scrimped.

car has been off road since 2020 due to them shielding from Covid and then I’ll health.

went to look at the car today and it’s seriously nice.

110k miles. 2001 DHSE

the only issue was when selecting park or reverse it would sometimes stall.

now I would think this is a fuelling issue which potentially could be expensive. However part of me also thinks nearly 3 year old fuel is to play here.

Cold and hot starts are great. I know what a bad engine sounds like and this was super smooth.

in addition there would sometimes be a vibration at idle. No metallic noise or knocking. Just a vibration. And in nuetral if revved it would self Rev to 2500 and then stall?

any input?

Click to expand...

Vibration at idle is not unusual. Stalling may well be modulation but also the MAP sensor or pipe, the MAF, try running with the MAF disconnected. CPS and needle lift sensors should also be checked. There may be bacterial growth in the fuel which is getting into the FIP, check the fuel filter for black slime.
I doubt the problem is anything serious. A couple of litres of petrol in a tank full of diesel cured all sorts of hiccups on my rescue P38.

Datatek said:

Vibration at idle is not unusual. Stalling may well be modulation but also the MAP sensor or pipe, the MAF, try running with the MAF disconnected. CPS and needle lift sensors should also be checked. There may be bacterial growth in the fuel which is getting into the FIP, check the fuel filter for black slime.
I doubt the problem is anything serious. A couple of litres of petrol in a tank full of diesel cured all sorts of hiccups on my rescue P38.

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Thanks for the pointers. Likewise I'm fairly certain it's a non issue. The fuel is extremely old and the whole vehicle has been sat. It's genuinely a spotless car. I'll keep you all updated

Nialox said:

Thanks for the pointers. Likewise I'm fairly certain it's a non issue. The fuel is extremely old and the whole vehicle has been sat. It's genuinely a spotless car. I'll keep you all updated

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I forgot to mention the EGR valve, it may well be sticking. Clean it up and remove the vacuum pipe from the actuator to stop it operating. The pipe can be put back if necessary for the MOT.

Datatek said:

I forgot to mention the EGR valve, it may well be sticking. Clean it up and remove the vacuum pipe from the actuator to stop it operating. The pipe can be put back if necessary for the MOT.

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I'm assuming it wants to be left in the closed position. Does this affect running in any way?

Nialox said:

I'm assuming it wants to be left in the closed position. Does this affect running in any way?

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With the pipe removed, the valve stays closed stopping all the shyte from the exhaust clogging up the inlet manifold.

Datatek said:

With the pipe removed, the valve stays closed stopping all the shyte from the exhaust clogging up the inlet manifold.

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Passed MOT - Garage rang me to say they've checked all the oil levels including gearbox and after a drive around the block it's much better

Think I'm going to go for it

There’s a clear pipe going from fuel filter to FIP, if you clean it up you can see the state on fuel entering the system, what you don’t want is air bubbles in it after standing. Probably just needs a trickle charge and good run clear it out. They can run quite rough like an agricultural sound if it’s quiet is good sign.
Getting rid of EGR is improvement

Datatek said:

I forgot to mention the EGR valve, it may well be sticking. Clean it up and remove the vacuum pipe from the actuator to stop it operating. The pipe can be put back if necessary for the MOT.

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Agree on both @Datatek points
1) Depending on the previous owners knowledge, the EGR could be gunked up and never been cleaned. A tin of carb cleaner spray and be surprised what comes out
2) The magic trick of a couple of cups of petrol in a tank will burn all sorts of S####e out. Cheapest and best mechanical fix you can do to a doosel..
3) If there is an issue with gearing, make sure the garage checked the auto box level with it running. Many don't and it can miss up to a litre of fluid, which causes all sorts of stalling and clunking.

Bagshot said:

Agree on both @Datatek points
1) Depending on the previous owners knowledge, the EGR could be gunked up and never been cleaned. A tin of carb cleaner spray and be surprised what comes out
2) The magic trick of a couple of cups of petrol in a tank will burn all sorts of S####e out. Cheapest and best mechanical fix you can do to a doosel..
3) If there is an issue with gearing, make sure the garage checked the auto box level with it running. Many don't and it can miss up to a litre of fluid, which causes all sorts of stalling and clunking.

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Cheers Guys.

off to collect it at 5pm I’ll report back

Hi guys.

Back home. Uneventful journey, forgot how slow these are but then again I’ve been daily driving a 944 for 2 months!

Drove home zero issues, everything working, MAP vaccum line looked to of fallen off and that sped things up.

airsprings will definitely need replacing. It had a new pump, valve block refresh and springs 5k miles ago. Unfortunately those miles occurred over 8 years! So the springs are perished

Here’s some photos

Quick question also guys.

I’m not worried about the EAS at all. I actually work funnily enough for the company that makes the defender air suspension kits (On Air Suspension)

I am however slightly hard of hearing. Does anything signify the compressor running apart from listening for the noise?

just because I’ll use the time between it kicking in as queues to the state of the suspension

No there are no lights or indicators. It just does its thing on its own. Wouldn't be a bad move to have the pump refurbished as a peace of mind anyway. Kits are cheap and it's not a hard job.
That and new springs..90% sorted.

Bagshot said:

No there are no lights or indicators. It just does its thing on its own. Wouldn't be a bad move to have the pump refurbished as a peace of mind anyway. Kits are cheap and it's not a hard job.
That and new springs..90% sorted.

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Just looking through history, pump was a brand spanker in 2019. Since 2019 according to mots it’s done 3 miles. So hopefully just springs and I’m done!

Looks good and the bestest colours