Range Rover Classic Questions

Hi All,

I've taken the plunge back into range rover ownership with a 1995 Vogue
SE.

As this one has a few bits of trickery that weren't on any of my
previous rangies, I was hoping that I might find some advice here.

1. ABS Motor - How long should I expect this to run when I first
switch on in the morning? How often should it run when driving? If
it runs too long or often would I be right in suspecting the
accumulator?

2. Air Suspension - Similar questions to above really

3. Leaking Windscreen. Drove home, hit a storm, found water running
down the inside of the screen from the centre (where the wires for the
clever mirror run). It this a common leak and what is the best fix?
(found an old mirror in the boot with water damage, so this is a long
standing problem!

4. Is it possible to get boot floor panels? I see them advertised
for Discos but not the Rangie? Does the Disco one fit?

5. I am wondering if Kickdown is working as it should. but all my
previous rangies were manual so I can't be sure. The Rangie
accelerates fine from slow speeds, but floor it a 60 (say for an
overtake on the motorway, when the outside lane is full and fast) and
it does not change down. I have heard that the transmission 'locks
up' at speed for efficiency. Is this right? Knocking it down to 3rd
produces the desired effect, but should I have to do that?

Other than the above, I am glad to be back into the King of 4x4s,
albeit I know that the next job is to get all the known weak spots
welded. At least the bonnet and tailgates are good!!

MW

In article <[email protected]>,
mike whiskey <[email protected]> wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>I've taken the plunge back into range rover ownership with a 1995 Vogue
>SE.
>5. I am wondering if Kickdown is working as it should. but all my
>previous rangies were manual so I can't be sure. The Rangie
>accelerates fine from slow speeds, but floor it a 60 (say for an
>overtake on the motorway, when the outside lane is full and fast) and
>it does not change down. I have heard that the transmission 'locks
>up' at speed for efficiency. Is this right? Knocking it down to 3rd
>produces the desired effect, but should I have to do that?

Both the boxes I've had in mine ('90 RR 3.9 auto - first box was
the one it came with[1], second a fully recon'd replacement from
Ashcroft) do that. Once it's picked up lock-up top it's very
reluctant to kick down. This seems to be quite common with
the first generation of lock-up overdrive autoboxen: the F*rd
Scorpio box that I had retrofitted into the Scimitar I had
before did the same thing.
You can get it to shift (sometimes) if you stamp the pedal
right into the floor and hold it there for entirely too long,
but it's much easier to tug it back into 3rd.

[1] Which eventually decided that it liked being in 1st and
wasn't going to change out of it, dammit.

--
Andy Breen ~ Not speaking on behalf of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Feng Shui: an ancient oriental art for extracting
money from the gullible (Martin Sinclair)

> 5. I am wondering if Kickdown is working as it should. but all my
> previous rangies were manual so I can't be sure. The Rangie
> accelerates fine from slow speeds, but floor it a 60 (say for an
> overtake on the motorway, when the outside lane is full and fast) and
> it does not change down. I have heard that the transmission 'locks
> up' at speed for efficiency. Is this right? Knocking it down to 3rd
> produces the desired effect, but should I have to do that?


Don't know much about RR's but have been asking questions on this group
so hope I can give something back!!
As I understand it the lock-up facility you refer to on most automatics
is the lock-up clutch part of the fluid flywheel (torque convertor),
which means that above a certain speed in top gear(?) a physical "lock"
is made so that it becomes like a normal manual clutch. This is
supposed to improve fuel efficiency etc. due to the more direct drive.
AFAIK it should have nothing to do with the kickdown. Certainly this
was the case on my old BMW 635. I would guess there is some kind of
adjustment for when the kickdown comes in but others more knowledgable
will have to answer this. Interestingly I recently drove my brother's
auto Pajero, and it seemed to refuse to kick down above a certain speed
as well (far worse than a normal auto car) so maybe it's just a big
vehicle / low power thing.

On 24 Aug 2006 06:09:15 -0700, "mike whiskey"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I've taken the plunge back into range rover ownership with a 1995 Vogue
>SE.
>
>As this one has a few bits of trickery that weren't on any of my
>previous rangies, I was hoping that I might find some advice here.
>
>1. ABS Motor - How long should I expect this to run when I first
>switch on in the morning? How often should it run when driving? If
>it runs too long or often would I be right in suspecting the
>accumulator?
>
On my P£8 it runs for 30s to a minute when first switched on, then for
a second or 2 after every one or two brake applications. Think that is
normal.
>
>5. I am wondering if Kickdown is working as it should. but all my
>previous rangies were manual so I can't be sure. The Rangie
>accelerates fine from slow speeds, but floor it a 60 (say for an
>overtake on the motorway, when the outside lane is full and fast) and
>it does not change down. I have heard that the transmission 'locks
>up' at speed for efficiency. Is this right? Knocking it down to 3rd
>produces the desired effect, but should I have to do that?
>
My 1986 classic used to kick down relatively easily at motorwayspeeds,
and would then hold 3rd all the way up to 90+. Yours does not sound
right.

HTH

David

mike whiskey wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I've taken the plunge back into range rover ownership with a 1995 Vogue
> SE.
>
> As this one has a few bits of trickery that weren't on any of my
> previous rangies, I was hoping that I might find some advice here.
>
> 1. ABS Motor - How long should I expect this to run when I first
> switch on in the morning? How often should it run when driving? If
> it runs too long or often would I be right in suspecting the
> accumulator?

Like the other respondant, about 20/30 seconds from start. Never
noticed it during normal driving.

> 3. Leaking Windscreen. Drove home, hit a storm, found water running
> down the inside of the screen from the centre (where the wires for the
> clever mirror run). It this a common leak and what is the best fix?
> (found an old mirror in the boot with water damage, so this is a long
> standing problem!

I had water pouring out of the ultra-sonic sensors above the mirror -
discovered missing and loose screws securing the roof panel.
Replace/tighten and (touch wood) all's still dry.

On or around 24 Aug 2006 06:09:15 -0700, "mike whiskey"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>5. I am wondering if Kickdown is working as it should. but all my
>previous rangies were manual so I can't be sure. The Rangie
>accelerates fine from slow speeds, but floor it a 60 (say for an
>overtake on the motorway, when the outside lane is full and fast) and
>it does not change down. I have heard that the transmission 'locks
>up' at speed for efficiency. Is this right? Knocking it down to 3rd
>produces the desired effect, but should I have to do that?

nope.

check the kickdown cable, and the throttle cable. Throttle cable first,
have an assitant floor the pedal (engine off) and check under the bonnet
that the throttle does in fact open fully. Adjust the cable if necessary.

then find the kickdown cable which is attached to the throttle linkage in
some fashion, and leads down to the passenger side of the 'box. With the
throttle to the floor, make sure the kickdown cable is suitably pulled. If
you can pull it more by finger pressure on the end of the cable it's
probably too slack - it does need a small amount of slack though. Try
pulling the cable with the throttle released - you should be able to pull it
against an internal spring, then it seems like it's reached the end of it's
movement but if you pull harder it goes further, then stops. If it behaves
like that, then the mechanical part of the kickdown should be working.

The following is NOT the "book" method for adjustment, it's my theory having
owned one...

You want the full-welly position of the pedal to pull it almost all the way
out - with just enough slack in it that pressing the thottle pedal can't
make the kickdown cable come tight at the end of the throttle movement. In
other words, you want to be able to pull the kickdown cable say about 1mm
more even when the throttle cable is on the maximum stop. This is to avoid
damage to the gearbox internals or the cable.

Set up right, if you floor the pedal at about 55 it should kick down to 2nd,
presuming engine is up to it, and take of quite smartly. It should upshift
to 3rd soon after (about 60-65 IIRC). Kickdown into third works up to about
80 I think. I have the test procedures somewhere if you want, but some of
them are scary...
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Quos deus vult perdere, prius dementat" Euripedes, quoted in
Boswell's "Johnson".

Thanks all for the advice so far. Mind now at ease over the running
of the ABS pump. Kickdown now works, and the beast did 0-60 in about
13 seconds, which seems pretty good to me! Also is much more
responsive when applying power for an over take type manouvre.

Rained heavily here last night, and no leaks from the screen, seems to
be linked to driving, which i why i am thinking that the screen seal at
the top is bad. Probably just bead it with silicon unless there are
better suggestions.

Any ideas on the air suspension pump or the boot floor panel?

MW
Austin Shackles wrote:

> On or around 24 Aug 2006 06:09:15 -0700, "mike whiskey"
> <[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:
>
> >5. I am wondering if Kickdown is working as it should. but all my
> >previous rangies were manual so I can't be sure. The Rangie
> >accelerates fine from slow speeds, but floor it a 60 (say for an
> >overtake on the motorway, when the outside lane is full and fast) and
> >it does not change down. I have heard that the transmission 'locks
> >up' at speed for efficiency. Is this right? Knocking it down to 3rd
> >produces the desired effect, but should I have to do that?
>
> nope.
>
> check the kickdown cable, and the throttle cable. Throttle cable first,
> have an assitant floor the pedal (engine off) and check under the bonnet
> that the throttle does in fact open fully. Adjust the cable if necessary.
>
> then find the kickdown cable which is attached to the throttle linkage in
> some fashion, and leads down to the passenger side of the 'box. With the
> throttle to the floor, make sure the kickdown cable is suitably pulled. If
> you can pull it more by finger pressure on the end of the cable it's
> probably too slack - it does need a small amount of slack though. Try
> pulling the cable with the throttle released - you should be able to pull it
> against an internal spring, then it seems like it's reached the end of it's
> movement but if you pull harder it goes further, then stops. If it behaves
> like that, then the mechanical part of the kickdown should be working.
>
> The following is NOT the "book" method for adjustment, it's my theory having
> owned one...
>
> You want the full-welly position of the pedal to pull it almost all the way
> out - with just enough slack in it that pressing the thottle pedal can't
> make the kickdown cable come tight at the end of the throttle movement. In
> other words, you want to be able to pull the kickdown cable say about 1mm
> more even when the throttle cable is on the maximum stop. This is to avoid
> damage to the gearbox internals or the cable.
>
> Set up right, if you floor the pedal at about 55 it should kick down to 2nd,
> presuming engine is up to it, and take of quite smartly. It should upshift
> to 3rd soon after (about 60-65 IIRC). Kickdown into third works up to about
> 80 I think. I have the test procedures somewhere if you want, but some of
> them are scary...
> --
> Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
> "Quos deus vult perdere, prius dementat" Euripedes, quoted in
> Boswell's "Johnson".

mike whiskey wrote:

> Rained heavily here last night, and no leaks from the screen, seems to
> be linked to driving, which i why i am thinking that the screen seal at
> the top is bad. Probably just bead it with silicon unless there are
> better suggestions.

Screen seal or roof seal?

My money would be on the roof seal and it's not too difficult to drop
the headlining front corners to gain access to the roof panel screws.

"mike whiskey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thanks all for the advice so far. Mind now at ease over the running
> of the ABS pump. Kickdown now works, and the beast did 0-60 in about
> 13 seconds, which seems pretty good to me! Also is much more
> responsive when applying power for an over take type manouvre.
>
> Rained heavily here last night, and no leaks from the screen, seems to
> be linked to driving, which i why i am thinking that the screen seal at
> the top is bad. Probably just bead it with silicon unless there are
> better suggestions.
>
> Any ideas on the air suspension pump or the boot floor panel?
>
> MW

Mike:

A local dealer friend tells me the Disco I and RR LWB's share the same frame
and sub assemblies. Also tells me that the disco floor boards will indeed
work.

As for the pump... check all lines going to the air bags for leaks. Sounds
like you have a slow leak. Also check the air bags. I found that the front
MKII hoses receive the worst abuse being under the hot bonnet.

Good Luck.

On or around Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:11:33 -0400, "Jack" <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>A local dealer friend tells me the Disco I and RR LWB's share the same frame
>and sub assemblies. Also tells me that the disco floor boards will indeed
>work.

RR normal length, in fact. I always thought they should have made a disco
LSE, with the extra wheelbase and more space inside. In fact, that's more
or less what the latest disco is...
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Festina Lente" (Hasten slowly) Suetonius (c.70-c.140) Augustus, 25