Hi Guys and fellow P38 Turbo diesel owners out there. Well its been 4 weeks now since i bought my 2002 02 plate Westminster TD from the selling dealer in Northampton. When i test drove it, it was sluggish but she drove and did not emit any unusual smoke out the back on the way home. After negotiating with the selling dealer i bought the car and drove her home back to Swindon which was about 70 miles in total and there she sat on my driveway for 1 whole week as i cleaned her and polished her and added all the new bits i had ready for her bling wise.
This car in 2017 had £8000 spent on her at Turner Performance in Hemel Hempstead who are a specialist tuning firm dating back from 1970 to present day. As far as i know they are excellent in what they do and they did a lot to my car for the last owner to the tune of £8000. Invoices for new F.I.P, suspension items, new ABS pump and ECU etc etc as well as a stage 1 re-map with EGR still left in place. The car has now done only 106k miles from new with a full history and only 5000 miles done since all the works in 2017.
The owner traded it back to the selling dealer who i bought it from who told me has had it dry stored in his hanger for the last 2 years.
Nearly 3 weeks ago now we took it out for a drive and she lost power and started juddering and smoking out the rear. She starts perfectly and will sit and idle all day long and rev up fairly easily and settle down perfectly all day long. As soon as you drive her she struggles to gain power and smokes out the rear. All the gauges are perfect as are all the fluid levels too.
I have had all the injectors ( 6 ) fully refurbished and refitted. It did not cure the problem sadly.
I have fitted a new air flow sensor. it has not cured the problem albeit she has improved slightly in terms of drivability but still struggles power wise and smokes.
I have carried out a full lubrication service and changed oil, fuel and air filters as well as pollen filters and still she runs rough and smokes.
She starts first time from stone cold too and quickly reaches normal temperature and stays there bang in the middle all day long.
My local Landy mate ran a scan on her and there were no fault codes or stored fault codes. I have bought a new Hawkeye and used it today and again no codes are showing or stored. There are also no warning lights showing on the dash and all the lights come on with ignition on and they all go out after she starts up including the glow plug light after about 2-3 seconds.
I have put diesel fuel additive in a quarter of a tank of fresh fuel and ran that through and she has had a good half tank of fresh fuel run through her too since the day i drove her home from Northampton. The dealer put £20 in too and i added another £40 at the garage taking her over 1/2 full. All that fuel has been run through now and she has about 1/4 of a tank in there now as i have been adding a fresh gallon at a time.
When you drive her hard under acceleration you can hear a metallic clattering sound but as soon as you easy off the gas pedal it goes and she drives albeit sluggishly and smokey out the rear end.
I am thinking Turbo gone and the clattering sound is the actuator rod trying to compensate maybe for lack of Turbo boost power albeit i could be wrong ???? but i have not yet took the intercooler pipe off the rear of the turbo yet to check the vanes for excessive play which i am planning on doing tomorow if i can.
To add insult to injury the so called " new battery " the selling dealer fitted is a duff one and it has lost all its charge and wont charge up so i have a C-tek connected at the moment just to keep the car alive until a new battery arrives hopefully tomorow. Its so frustrating and upsetting as owning a P38 diesel was a dream of mine and now its turning into a nightmare 4 weeks in to ownership. I served 25 years in the Army and always said i would treat myself one day to a last off the line P38 which i have now done albeit is currently no fun at the moment.
I live just outside Swindon and i have booked my car in to Greg & Dudley @ G&D in Minety who are both Landrover/ Range Rover experts to see if they can solve it for me. Sadly they cannot take her in until the 18th of November so the car is stuck on my driveway as an ornament to look at albeit i am slowly still adding new bits i have bought for her and applying plenty of TLC and polish even though she continues to keep kicking me in the balls each day instead of feeling loved and pampered and looking after me in return.
I am determined to get her running right but i have now reached the end of what i personally can do so have to hand her over to the experts for proper diagnosis and repair.
If there are any P38 diesel experts locally to me ( Richard @ Ridgeway 4x4 is not available currently and he recommended G&D to me ) then i would be grateful for any further assistance.
Due to ill health issues from Army life my skills these days are very limited and i can only do a few hours of basic stuff now until i have to stop before i keel over so to speak.
My gut feeling is the Turbo is on its way out albeit the lumpy running sort of makes me think its a fueling issue maybe??? i just don't know anymore guys.
On a positive note the selling dealer agreed to pay me back £2000 which he has done today to hopefully cover the costs of repairs. It was either that or i drive it through his showroom front doors i told him as messing or trying to do over a retired veteran would not be good for his business or reputation long term. I think he saw sense in the end bless him.
Range Rover P38 ownership is a new venture for me so please keep the tech spec speak to a level i can understand please if you would as i don't understand all this BECM and other terms i have read along the way.
Cheers in advance, Brendan ( Swindon )
