Hello
I'm new to Land Rover having recently bought myself a very cheap high mileage P38 Diesel as a tow car. It was meant to be a project, we have an old Jeep Cherokee and the idea was that when the Range Rover is complete it will replace the Jeep. I gave myself 2 years to complete things. The car was in a sorry state with a leaking power steering pump and the selector for the low gears not working. My guess was that the low gear repair would cost a fortune so it would take me 2 years to get the cash together to get it all fixed but in the meantime I would have the fun of a project.
Well, it has turned out to be a rubbish project. The first thing I did was get all the fluids changed and the steering pump replaced at a local garage. Then the exhaust needed welding and I bought a leather interior with walnut door cards on ebay. I fitted new tyres, the old ones were terrible and too wide for the basic rims fitted to the car. Once all that was done, and not too expensively, the car was running great and I was able to take it out on the road.
So with nothing much else to do, last week I took it to a Range Rover main dealer to get the bad news on the low gear selection. I live in Italy and there aren't any independent Range Rover specialists. So it was a main dealer with crazy prices or nothing. The car cost 1000 euros which while not particularly cheap for UK is ridiculously cheap for here, all because of the problem with the low gears.
I heard nothing from the dealership for a few days so I called and they said the car had problems and that I needed to come down to the dealership to discuss things with the mechanic. I had asked them to quote on the low gear selection, check that the 4x4 worked ok and to look at the engine as it revs a bit high. So I went to see them, ready for the bad news. I knew the car had problems, that's why I took it to them. I was prepared to get some but probably not all of the work done.
Anyway, the reason they wanted to see me was to explain that the low gears had been repaired, or at least modified, by a previous owner. Someone had put a couple of wires to the selector motor then wired it up to one of the switches on the dash. So the low gears actually work by pushing 2 buttons rather than one. The mechanic said it had been really well done and as long as I don't try selecting low gear whilst moving etc it should be fine. He also said that it revved high because someone had modified it to avoid a warm start problem but it was actually ok and that the engine runs really well. They were very amused that the dodgy used car dealership who sold it to me didn't know that the low gears were actually working.
So 100 euros later it seems that my Range Rover is completely serviceable with no more work to do. I can't imagine that the dealership have ever let a customer out of there for such a low price.
All in all, though, its been a rubbish project. The car is fantastic, I couldn't get the grin off my face on the drive back home, but its taken 3 months to sort out not 2 years and now I need another project!
Has anyone got any opinions or comments on this type of modification to the low gear selection? I've seen that its quite common to change the air suspension for springs and set up the engine for the warm start issue but the low gear thing seems to be quite rare?
Regards
Mauro
I'm new to Land Rover having recently bought myself a very cheap high mileage P38 Diesel as a tow car. It was meant to be a project, we have an old Jeep Cherokee and the idea was that when the Range Rover is complete it will replace the Jeep. I gave myself 2 years to complete things. The car was in a sorry state with a leaking power steering pump and the selector for the low gears not working. My guess was that the low gear repair would cost a fortune so it would take me 2 years to get the cash together to get it all fixed but in the meantime I would have the fun of a project.
Well, it has turned out to be a rubbish project. The first thing I did was get all the fluids changed and the steering pump replaced at a local garage. Then the exhaust needed welding and I bought a leather interior with walnut door cards on ebay. I fitted new tyres, the old ones were terrible and too wide for the basic rims fitted to the car. Once all that was done, and not too expensively, the car was running great and I was able to take it out on the road.
So with nothing much else to do, last week I took it to a Range Rover main dealer to get the bad news on the low gear selection. I live in Italy and there aren't any independent Range Rover specialists. So it was a main dealer with crazy prices or nothing. The car cost 1000 euros which while not particularly cheap for UK is ridiculously cheap for here, all because of the problem with the low gears.
I heard nothing from the dealership for a few days so I called and they said the car had problems and that I needed to come down to the dealership to discuss things with the mechanic. I had asked them to quote on the low gear selection, check that the 4x4 worked ok and to look at the engine as it revs a bit high. So I went to see them, ready for the bad news. I knew the car had problems, that's why I took it to them. I was prepared to get some but probably not all of the work done.
Anyway, the reason they wanted to see me was to explain that the low gears had been repaired, or at least modified, by a previous owner. Someone had put a couple of wires to the selector motor then wired it up to one of the switches on the dash. So the low gears actually work by pushing 2 buttons rather than one. The mechanic said it had been really well done and as long as I don't try selecting low gear whilst moving etc it should be fine. He also said that it revved high because someone had modified it to avoid a warm start problem but it was actually ok and that the engine runs really well. They were very amused that the dodgy used car dealership who sold it to me didn't know that the low gears were actually working.
So 100 euros later it seems that my Range Rover is completely serviceable with no more work to do. I can't imagine that the dealership have ever let a customer out of there for such a low price.
All in all, though, its been a rubbish project. The car is fantastic, I couldn't get the grin off my face on the drive back home, but its taken 3 months to sort out not 2 years and now I need another project!
Has anyone got any opinions or comments on this type of modification to the low gear selection? I've seen that its quite common to change the air suspension for springs and set up the engine for the warm start issue but the low gear thing seems to be quite rare?
Regards
Mauro
