P38A A series of faults

The top of the vam cover has a wire-mesh in it that gets properly coked up.

Grrrrrr said:

The top of the vam cover has a wire-mesh in it that gets properly coked up.

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Yup, cleaned that out thoroughly with paraffin and my ultrasonic cleaning bath filled with carb cleaner when I replaced the cam cover gasket.

There's no restriction blowing back down the breather back into the cam cover either, and there was barely any blowing through the catch can arrangement back into the inlet tract, but I still bypassed the catch can just in case, made no odds, it was still spitting oil out

The emissions check during the MoT went fine and there's no real sign of oil smoke from the exhaust or around the exhaust tail pipe

I am at a complete loss as to what to do with it now, the bodywork and trim are tatty so it has such little worth with all the faults still to fix that essentially it started out with when I got it (oil leaks and broken suspension). The only things about it that are worth anything are the wheels, air springs assuming I haven't wrecked them, and the rebuilt turbo. The rest of it is really only fit for scrap if the engine is shagged enough that it's pressurising the crank case sufficiently spit out the difference between minimum and half way between minimum and maximum on the dip stick over around 20 miles of travel.

Slooby said:

Oil is coming out of the dipstick. Bypassed my catch can and connected the breather directly back to the inlet, still spitting oil out of the dipstick tube.

Changed the EAS valve block controller over to the spare. Cleaned all the earths. Cleaned all the contacts in the engine bay for the EAS. Still no comms with EAS Unlock, just RX reading PP. I'm guessing now I have completely fried something critical.

Engine still will not idle properly, probably the Ronbox I foolishly installed and bricked something else being hamfisted.

Feeling utterly despondent and regretting wasting a year on this bloody thing

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I doubt you have fried anything on the EAS. The RONBOX was not a good idea IMO especially as the car was not in good working order.

Datatek said:

I doubt you have fried anything on the EAS. The RONBOX was not a good idea IMO especially as the car was not in good working order.

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+1^^^^

The upside of the Ronbox installation is that I can simply unplug it to eliminate it as a cause of anything untoward.
It's possible that it is behind the idling issue, but the oil breathing problem pre-existed it being installed and I thought by rejigging the return from my catch can to the intake I had fixed it, which clearly I hadn't. Switching back to the breather going directly from the cam cover into the intake also hasn't done the trick either...which makes me fear for my piston rings...maybe I shouldn't be parting with my spare M57 engine...joke...

As for the suspension: urgh...I have no clue where to go with it...something is bricked in the electronics department and nothing I seem to look at makes one jot of difference

I'm back to hiring the same Hilux i had in February to do moving stuff about this weekend after which I really have no use for the P38, and would rather be putting my effort into getting my Series projects back underway having first completed my machine shop/workshop. Whether I can stomach being defeated by it and getting shot of it, but it is going to have to go at some point after all it was bought to do a job that I have singularly failed in getting it fit to do

A couple of weeks on and I decided to have another look at trying to get my laptop to communicate with the EAS ECU over this weekend, put the battery on charge as I had my suspicions that it had taken a bit of a hammering. Naturally nothing is as simple as 'just' plugging in the charger, first I had to clear a path from the workshop window out to the car out in the Orchard...a path through brambles and ivy...out with the sickle on a broom handle and the leather gauntlets...many hours later and there was finally a clear enough path to run the extension out to the RR and connect up the charger. Decided to leave it charging overnight.

So today I hooked up my laptop and tried various different comm ports, but alas number 5 remains the only one that EAS unlock can find and try as I might FX still reports PP as if the cable is not connected to anything. With nothing to loose I disconnected the battery and decided to go cable and connector chasing. As the suspension had been working for a bit, and I knew that the drivers side foot well had got a soaking from the weaping heater matrix coolant pipes I decided to start there reasoning that perhaps there was a comms issue with the BECM; the carpet was dry, the underlay not so...so I removed the seat, sill and A post trims to lift the carpet and underlay up and get some air in there to help it dry out. Then I turned to disconnecting the BECM (I want to get it out to have a look inside for any water damage) With the front and sill side connectors out I lifed the loom out of the trough (which was dry but full of grit and stones) and started to look at the connectors behind the A post trim...Oh hello...





They actually look cleaner in the photos than they are, and the corrosion is worse on the back of each connector block. Contact cleaner did a little, but not much, so I remembered the 'Vinegar and Salt' bath trick for getting oxidation off copper, one kitchen raid later and I was back with a ziplock bag containing the mild acid, along with another containing bicarb-water solution to nutralise the reaction once done. Worked a treat, no more green and white corrosion residue. Running out of time I completed removing the BECM (drivers seat now lying on the back seats plus evidence that someone had been there before) and made a start on the passenger side, only getting to the suspension module before having to pack up for the day.

I had also checked all the fuses and connectors on the BECM which all looked ok, but haven't got inside it yet to see if there's any water damage. Similarly the Relay and fuses under the bonnet for the EAS looked clean, although I could smell hot electrics in the under bonnet fuse box when I looked inside after sitting with the ignition on for a bit and there being lots of ticking going on. Possibly of note was that the EAS and ABS relays have both been replaced with aftermarket Tyco (so decent quality make) units. The EAS Timer Relay under the passenger seat was OEM Land Rover and all seemed dry and clean there. I had looked at the white connector on the passenger side A Post previously, and it looked ok back then, but we are talking back in the cold and wet of January...

If the fuse box smells of burning, it's toast. Good tip for cleaning the connectors

If you haven't already, do the Vinegar & Salt trick on the Left / Passenger footwell connectors as well. C104 & C204 are the pair that contain the EAS diagnostic lines.

pwood999 said:

If you haven't already, do the Vinegar & Salt trick on the Left / Passenger footwell connectors as well. C104 & C204 are the pair that contain the EAS diagnostic lines.

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Or just cut them out and solder and heat shrink the wires together,the connectors are only for initial assembly.

Datatek said:

If the fuse box smells of burning, it's toast. Good tip for cleaning the connectors

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It wasn't a strong smell, just that wiff of electrics that had got warm (potentially Ozone). I've convinced myself that it would be worth taking a peak underneath the fuse box, much like inside the BECM, for signs of corrosion/heat/water damage as well though

pwood999 said:

If you haven't already, do the Vinegar & Salt trick on the Left / Passenger footwell connectors as well. C104 & C204 are the pair that contain the EAS diagnostic lines.

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That's my intention as it only takes a couple of minutes to do once the trim is off, I'll probably give the OBD connector a going over as well.

tomcat59alan said:

Or just cut them out and solder and heat shrink the wires together,the connectors are only for initial assembly.

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I did consider it, even got myself the funky wire holder tool thingy, but the Vinegar/Salt trick appears to have done such a nice job on the driver's side that unless things are falling apart (which they weren't in January) it's fairly effortless to clean the existing connections without me doing battle with a soldering iron in the footwell (I have a 'familial essential tremor' aka the shakes, which makes detail work tiresome).

Another weekend and a few more hours speant glowering at P38 wiring...

First job, checked the drivers side footwell underlay to see if proping it up to let the air circulate had allowed it to dry out; it hadn't, so out with the stanley knife:





Left it on the roof of the car to dry out

Then on the the passenger side footwell to look at the connectors in the dry, warmth and daylight...







They got the salt n'vinegar, bi-carb and switch cleaner treatment and came up nicely, also repeated on the OBD2 connector too just in case

With those connectors tackled I moved on to cracking the lid off the BECM and taking a look inside, the lower board had clearly seen some water at some point:









So it was out with the 99.9% IPA to clean off the salt deposits

BECM done, I turned my attention to the underbonnet fuse and relay box...finding this:





Middle socket on the right side had got warm at some point as there was a hint of brown around the plastic, again salt n'vinegar etc did the job of cleaning it up

With the board extracted from the case you can see where the corrosion got to:







Cotton buds soaked in my salt n'vinegar then neutralisation with 'buds soaked bi-carb did a good job removing the corrosion, also allowed me to remove the same between the board sandwich, all washed down with IPA leaving:



Note the light scorching around the middle right blade corresponding to the same on the connector. Certainly didn't get hot enough to melt anything, thankfully. The main power connection to the board looked good and clean, no sign of heat damage on the board.

Gave everything a good hoover out, then some ACF50 on the drivers side cable trench to kill off the rust, before putting everything back together checking all the connectors were in properly, hooked up the battery, reset the windows, got the laptop out and...

RX says PP

Arrrggrgrgrggrgrgggggh!



I think I need to find an older laptop, with a Serial Port running Windows XP...

Slooby said:

Another weekend and a few more hours speant glowering at P38 wiring...

First job, checked the drivers side footwell underlay to see if proping it up to let the air circulate had allowed it to dry out; it hadn't, so out with the stanley knife:

Left it on the roof of the car to dry out

Then on the the passenger side footwell to look at the connectors in the dry, warmth and daylight...

They got the salt n'vinegar, bi-carb and switch cleaner treatment and came up nicely, also repeated on the OBD2 connector too just in case

With those connectors tackled I moved on to cracking the lid off the BECM and taking a look inside, the lower board had clearly seen some water at some point:

So it was out with the 99.9% IPA to clean off the salt deposits

BECM done, I turned my attention to the underbonnet fuse and relay box...finding this:

Middle socket on the right side had got warm at some point as there was a hint of brown around the plastic, again salt n'vinegar etc did the job of cleaning it up

With the board extracted from the case you can see where the corrosion got to:

Cotton buds soaked in my salt n'vinegar then neutralisation with 'buds soaked bi-carb did a good job removing the corrosion, also allowed me to remove the same between the board sandwich, all washed down with IPA leaving:

Note the light scorching around the middle right blade corresponding to the same on the connector. Certainly didn't get hot enough to melt anything, thankfully. The main power connection to the board looked good and clean, no sign of heat damage on the board.

Gave everything a good hoover out, then some ACF50 on the drivers side cable trench to kill off the rust, before putting everything back together checking all the connectors were in properly, hooked up the battery, reset the windows, got the laptop out and...

RX says PP

Arrrggrgrgrggrgrgggggh!



I think I need to find an older laptop, with a Serial Port running Windows XP...

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Cleaning the white connectors with salt n vinegar may have made them look all bright and shiny but it does not mean that afterwards they make good contact. Metal will have been lost from corrosion and the treatment, also they lose tension, so there may still be bad connections. Cut and solder is the only sure way.

If your corrosion is anything like mine was, the salt & vinegar will clean the copper wire nicely, but not the contacts inside the connector. Better to cut them off and then solder & heatshrink the wires together.

As a test, I tried several different "contact cleaners" on those connectors after removing them, but never found anything that works properly. Same issue with connectors on son's Z3 Roadster.

Ok, I guess I have nothing to loose but time in soldering them all up.

Question is though; what to do with the OBD port to ensure contact there too?

Let alone any of the other connectors to things like the BECM that uses exactly the same size pins and sockets on all of its connections

Slooby said:

Ok, I guess I have nothing to loose but time in soldering them all up.

Question is though; what to do with the OBD port to ensure contact there too?

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Fit a new one £5.95 delivered https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153753520988

nigelbb said:

Fit a new one £5.95 delivered https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153753520988

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Ta, have order one

I predict soldering this weekend...

Spent a bit of my weekend removing the drivers side A pillar white connectors and soldering the wires directly to their counterparts one pin and socket at a time, my shakes were properly hindering me, plus there really isn't the greatest access. Also took the white/green and white/purple heavy duty power connector apart and found that the copper has been heavily oxidised (blackened), going to be having to do a lot of acid dipping to get the exposed ends clean enough to take solder (first attempt really did not flow at all well) may even need to crack out a seriously heavy duty electric soldering iron to get enough heat into the copper to get it sufficiently wetted.

Have yet to get near the passenger side, and my searching for my old XP running Dell Lattiude has so far yielded the docking station with serial port, but no laptop...if that can't talk to the blasted thing then it's out with the Learnabout Garages Ladybird Book Meme....

There’s these grip things the guys use like 2 arms hold the wires for you. Only couple quid. Many get them to do the a pillars even without the shakes because its like having a 2nd pair of steady hands in a tight space. Not sure what they are called?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255269015107?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

brianp38dse said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255269015107?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

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I like those, I wonder if I can find them over here.