Been doing some greenlaning in my CRV after buying it about 18 months ago, turned out to be fun for all the family. So after some thought, I decided to sell my Yamaha FS1E I had had for circa 28 years. Was in need of total resto but brought in £1800 on Ebay.
Now flushed with some readies, the hunt was on for a Disco, 3.9V8. After ad upon ad of and review after review of rust, serious rust woes, I set my sights on a V8 P38, always fancied a Range Rover anyway so seem the obvious choice. Excellent off road abilities, plus loads of interior space and luxury.
Of course, as most will know, the P38 is a fickle beast and certainly not without drama, lots of drama. I know this.
So, happened upon a 4.6HSE local to me, looked great, ran well and seemed well looked after, despite no history and 12 owners
£1300 later it was on my drive.
With the change left over I looked at tyres, the General Grabbers on 18's looked nice and have plenty of tread but were going to be of no use in the mucky stuff, one outing out with these proved correct after getting stuck in just 2" of slick mud.
Ebay came up with a set of 4, 16" Disco steel wheels rolling on aggressive Insa Turbo Special Trak mud tyres, £360 later and a free spare added to the deal they were mine. Once fitted, the off road abilities of the RR were transformed. It will go very nearly anywhere, without fuss
I say without fuss, this is not strictly true, when its running, oh yes, it will go anywhere, keeping it running is the tricky bit.
Drama number 1)
Went for a drive and decided to follow the Ridgeway, middle of the summer so most sections open. Now i am a plod along green laner, we all enjoy the sights and scenery of the countryside not just driving flat out out down tracks so don't drive much more than 10 mph on average. However, this particular day was boiling hot, obviously the aircon doesn't work (probably just needs a regass...yeah right!) and we were happily driving along when I noticed my temp gauge bending into the red, stopped and yep, boiling over like a bastard. Shit. Did not have spare water with me. So, we had a picnic and left the RR to cool down, the only fluid I had was orange squash, so poured all this in. It didn't really work. We managed to get about 4 miles on it but was boiling over again. In short, managed to find a layby and my boy and I set off to find a field with sheep, find sheep, find a Welshman, well ok maybe not the Welshman but we did find a water trough.
Armed with several litres of water I filled it back up, uopn starting it again, the starter motor solenoid got stuck, few strikes with a knocking tool soon had it turning again. So we set off again, managed about another 3 or 4 miles and it boiled over again. Now i am thinking I have blown head gaskets or done some serious damage, its sounded terrible. Then just had to abandon it in another layby and get a taxi home, which proved difficult at 4 pm on Fathers Day.
Returned later in the evening when the engine was stone cold and just got home as it was boiling up again.
After a bit of research (thinking the engine will never run again) I checked a known over heating cause, blocked breather running into the head tank. And yes, there it was, a small blob of blue gasket sealant blocking said tube. This had came from the new water pump that was fitted shortly before I bought it.
Filled the coolant back up, turned the key and it fired right back up like nothing had happened, and hasn't overheated since.
Drama number 2)
The starter motor I mentioned above, well this decided to really be a bastard a week later outside Tesco and just refused to run. Took an hour of hitting and swearing before it spun over.
Once home I pulled up to hear the starter still spinning after I turned off the ignition. Disconnected the battery to stop it.
While trying to figure things out, this required disconnecting the battery a few times.
Second hand starter aquired, and fitted in about 20 minutes (despite the internet saying what a swine it was to get to)
Father in Law bought me an Official Land Rover Range Rover workshop manual for it which is brilliant, not cheap but worth every penny.
Drama number 3)
I mention above disconnecting the battery several times, well, they don't like this and the computer locked me out. Engine imobilised, great.
Drama number 4)
The key fob packed up when trying to fix the above. New battery fitted I then had to sync the key to the car.
I then had to find my keycode, no history you will remember, and after much internet horror stories I happend upon a foreign website where I guy said some P38s had the code under the brake pedal rubber, yay mine did
However, to enter the code is not easy, it has to be done in sequance through the drivers door key lock, x to the right x to the left etc. After many many attempts, where by you get key code lock out for half hour every time, finally the door locks popped up which meant the key was now in sync and the computer recognised it. I then had to put the key in the ignition in a specified time for the computer de immobilise the engine, which it did. This whole saga took around 3 weeks to fix
Part of the problem was slightly low charge in the battery, if a P38 has anything less than a 100% battery, you will get errors and fault codes.
Drama number 5)
While out one Sunday, I noticed an odd squeak from underneith the car. Having got down on the floor I couldn't see much wrong, but the squeak was getting worse.
Stayed out for the day anyway. Once at home, and had a quick Google, concensus was probably prop UJ's. Got under mine for a closer look and sure enough, once I removed the prop, it was obvious a UJ was wrecked. It was then i leanred that the JUs have grease points. I did not know this, and what with all the water it had been subjected too, it had probably washed the remainder out. Purchased another UJ and duly fitted it, very pleased with myself because UJ refitting is not the easiest of tasks to do. Upon refitting the prop I became aware the UJ on the other end of the prop I left on the car was also broken, what a twat, I should have checked first time around. Another UJ purchased and promptly exploded as I squeezed it back togther, damn school boy error I had dislodged a needle which blew the end cap off in a shower of metal fragments
F uck it, bought a second hand prop for £30 and fitted that instead!
Drama number 6)
Yet to diagnose, but have developed a slighlty rough idle and an odd noise coming from the engine. Part of me thinks this could be a blown head gasket, this is recent so not sure yet.
It goes in for MOT on Thursday so will get that out of the way and then try to sort out the idle. Runs fine though once on the road and driving along.
Part of me hopes it fails on emissions as currently average 10mpg, I have been told this could be my lamda sensors need replacing, it would explain the mpg. It will never be great, but I should average at the least 15-18 when out on the tracks.
On the whole though, and depite the dramas, I love it, my wife loves it and do my boys, it really is an excellent car.
Here is something, just over ten years ago I posted this on here, some will remember, my boy being born......
Here he his now ten years later......
Hope you enjoyed the little write, being a P38, the dramas are unlikely to end
PS, it is called Voldemort on account of the free private plates that came with it.
