p38's are officially rubbish....dont ever buy one

Hi guy's

Well I'm new here and have to agree with most of what is said. I bought a 2001 P38 and its spent more time in the garage than on the road. So far in the 4 weeks I have had it the following faults have developed:

Air con didnt work when I picked it up (hole in condensor and paid for by the bloke I bought it from)
Central locking has a mind of its own and decides itself when it will lock / unlock the car.
Run fine on LPG but rubbish on petrol (coughs and splutters with no power)
PAS is noisey (changed pump and no joy so steering box next on the list to change)
Heated seats dont work any more ( we played with them trying them out and then they broke)

all this in 4 weeks so its not fairing too well at the moment. However I had a Mitsibushi GTO twin turbo before which cost about the same new and cost me another £8k getting reliable and to show standard so in the scheme of things they are about the same.

At the end of the day I think you have to put it down to the more you have in a car the more there is to go wrong. And the more expensive the car the more you have to pay to keep it going. So although I have a car that is about as likely 'to be reliable' as 'me coming home from the pub at 10pm' I still think its great.

Anyway, anyone help me with my problems on the car

Cheers
Dave

dave_r said:

Air con didnt work when I picked it up (hole in condensor and paid for by the bloke I bought it from)
Central locking has a mind of its own and decides itself when it will lock / unlock the car.
Run fine on LPG but rubbish on petrol (coughs and splutters with no power)
PAS is noisey (changed pump and no joy so steering box next on the list to change)
Heated seats dont work any more ( we played with them trying them out and then they broke)

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Well I assume the A/C is fixed then as you say the bloke paid for the new condenser so we can ignore that??

Central locking will be a dodgy door lock on one of the doors, when locking and unlocking do all the door locks work ok?? Any errors about open doors when they aren't??

I have a diesel P38 so I cant offer any help with the LPG thing - the advice I have picked up online though seems to always say take it to someone who knows about LPG and dont mess with it yourself otherwise this could spell trouble.

PAS - How noisy is noisy?? What sort of noise?? Grinding, that sort of straining sound it makes when it gets to the end of its travel?? Need more info on that.

Heated seats are a super common failure area, not too difficult to put right but very time consuming unless you have the right tools and even then its still time consuming.

Have a read over at Range Rovers to see lists of common faults and fixes for them - welcome to P38 ownership

-Wills

Shame. That is the attitude of a typical Toyota driver over here in South Africa. Always badmouthing Landy's. I get daily flack over my vehicle and parts are a nightmare, but I wouldn't change it for the world. If your P38 is realy that dab, go and get Jap-Crap.

Well I assume the A/C is fixed then as you say the bloke paid for the new condenser so we can ignore that??

Central locking will be a dodgy door lock on one of the doors, when locking and unlocking do all the door locks work ok?? Any errors about open doors when they aren't??

I have a diesel P38 so I cant offer any help with the LPG thing - the advice I have picked up online though seems to always say take it to someone who knows about LPG and dont mess with it yourself otherwise this could spell trouble.

PAS - How noisy is noisy?? What sort of noise?? Grinding, that sort of straining sound it makes when it gets to the end of its travel?? Need more info on that.

Heated seats are a super common failure area, not too difficult to put right but very time consuming unless you have the right tools and even then its still time consuming.

Have a read over at Range Rovers to see lists of common faults and fixes for them - welcome to P38 ownership

Click to expand...

Yep the AC is now sorted
Locking, the passenger door lock makes alot of noise so am going to investigate that.
The LPG / Petrol issue is beyond me. Its with Country Rovers in Taunton being looked at today.
Steering, the noise is identical to a worn pump but have replaced that with a brand new one and its still there. It sound like air in the system (have bleed the box) and is only there once its warmed up after a few miles. The noise comes when you turn the wheel at a low speed / stationary. If you turn the wheel slowly its not there, you can also feel the noise (I know its sounds strange) through the PAS hoses.
Will investigate the seats but its not on top of my list at the moment.

And thanks for the welcome, its nice to be here

Well another one sorted by the look of it.

The poor running was apparently down to someone before me fitting new lambda sensors but not calibrating them or reseting etc. The garage lost me after 30 secs but it now runs really well on LPG or petrol.

So faith is restored in RR's until the list grows again at least

My '95 4.0 has got a slipped liner on No. 6. Guess what I'm going to do ... buy another ! Looking for a V8 with EAS.

Having bought an 8 year old P38 recently, well aware of the reliability problems, I have been pleasantly surpised that it took 8 months to come up with a problem, which of course is costing a couple of thou to resolve (EAS and exhaust), but that is only equivalent to 4 months lease-hire costs for my previous cars all Volvos all sold on after 4 years, and all 100% reliable. I needed that reliabilty in my job as a GP, but now I only work part time and don't need a car for work, I can tolerate the odd problem

Well lads, that's it. I've read this lot and like the good doctor used to need a reliable wagon, I still do.

To all you fellas with time on your hands, money in the bank and dirt under your nails, enjoy your toys.

I'm getting rid of the p38. Hello Volvo, I'm back. I've learned from my mistake. RR DSE 'not of merchantable quality'. You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

Goodbye

We have a 1997 R reg P38. It has it's faults and niggles and probably always will. But you know what, I love it!! I won't let my hubby part with it. Would definately have another one.

Dave r what was the cost for the condenser replacement? I have just been quoted £376 job and finish.

Glad to see some folks are seeing the light ! The P38 has got to be the biggest blot in the land Rover copy book. Avoiud it like the plague !!!

nephro

Dave r what was the cost for the condenser replacement? I have just been quoted £376 job and finish

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Not too sure on the cost in total as the guy I bought it from paid for the work on the air con. But the condenser was £120 (I think they are alot more from LR but do a search on the net), £40 for re-gas and about an hours work so I think it must have cost him about £200ish.

Oh happy man am I! The Rangie is gone, gone into the painful history of experience. I've had a Rangie and loved it, but! The so and so bit me hard and so I killed it, DEAD! The swine should never have been born and now I am the happy owner, once more, of a reliable, fast, capable, comfortable, well screwed together, safe, VOLVO!

Range Rover..Get your ruddy act together! Either make something that works or give up! You charge enough for these huge piles! I drove a 1970's escort which was more trustworthy!

Sooner or later the guys with spanners, duck tape and WD40 are gonna wise up and see the Range Rover for the over priced piece of oomphgah that it is!

What happened to it?
Did you sell it or trade it in?

I handed it back to the dealer Dr W. ' Not of merchantable quality' Great shame. I really loved the Rangey but it was just useless and I mean useless!

still think you should have gorra depender

As a work horse they are brilliant as a limo ditto where else do you get so much classless timeless versatility for the money. Sure you get a few probs but if you dont want to fix them well buy a new one with a warranty either way cant see the problem

OK, patiently read all posts and was amazed that the owners that were complaining about their P38's seem to be under the impression that other vehicles have no problems, especially Volvo. A quick search on Google brings up a large number of Volvo forums all with users complaining about how rubbish they are now. Personally I find my own P38 a joy to own, I havent had any of the issues commonly listed for the P38, prevention is always better than cure. My 97 4.6 HSE is just short of 150,000 miles, no slipped liners, no cracked block, no failing head gaskets. Air suspension has been overhauled prior to any problems occuring through wear & tear. Sure I have had issues, replaced drivers door lock, air con condensor, water pump and viscous unit but considering the miles this is more than expected. There is no car currently on the market that is 100% reliable regardless what people say, all manufacturers have their failings and recalls. Just take a trip down any motorway and you will see a mixture of makes stranded at the side of the road for one reason or another. My P38 is good, someone else's maybe not so, same can be said for Volvo, VW, Audi, Ford, etc, etc. The joys of motoring for any of us will result in something going wrong at some point, even if it's just a puncture. Most faults are picked up during routine servicing with the owner never actually being aware that an issue has been found. Land Rover offer VIP servicing packs for Range Rovers these days, the chance to pay a single fee at point of purchase to cover all servicing costs for 5 years, if they thought this would not be cost effective they certainly wouldnt offer it, they have faith in their product and so do I.

As a side note when did bighammer fan become the "official" spokesperson for Land Rover?

It's funny - have a look at the "what rangie is best poll" and the P38 is miles in front (must admit I thought the classic would walk that, but never mind ) - it goes to show all P38's can't be bad !
As with most forums you usually only hear about the bad cars, of which I have no doubt there are many, but they are by no means ALL bad
I started a thread ages ago about who wasn't having problems and it was quite heartening how many owners were not having any issues bar wear and tear and servicing which you have with any car


So bottom line is a big thumbs up for P 38's from me !