High mileage P38

Doobs too · May 21, 2008

Hello peeps,

Just after a bit of advice really, I'm off to see a '97 P38 with 165,000 miles on soon. It's described as having lots of reciepts rather then FSH. Is there anything I should be looking for specifically owing to the high mileage? I've seen adds for 200k+ P38's so I suppose they are good for it, is this a reasonable assumption. Another assumption of mine is if bore linings were going to slip they would have done so by now, am I a fool?

One last thing, the asking price is £4,500, seems a little steep to me but if the condition is good is this reasonable (it's got a new-ish LPG system fitted). P38 prices seem to be very up and down.

Thanks for your help, even if this one is no good hopefully I'll be a P38 owner soon so I'l lbe picking your brains more, and contributing where I can, in the near future.

v8kenny · May 21, 2008

That's at about two grand too dear for a P38 with that sort of mileage and age - I wouldn't bother unless he half's the price AND it has a FULL service history
There will be plenty more comes up cheaper and/or lower mileage than that

redrenger89 · May 21, 2008

I agree with Kenny,

My 95 was at the top end at 3950 but has FSH and had only done 49000 miles from new. Had a full service at LR dealers 5 months before I purchased and a mini service before I collected it.
Things to look for are perished rubber componets, Leaks from oil and coolant electrics and general condition.
I would keep looking and get one cheaper and with less mileage, get one with as much paperwork as possible, that way you can see what has been changed to later spec. (ie RF reciever,Hevac sensors etc)

Have a look at as many as you can and before you part with any money, check,check and re-check everything, before and after you have taken it out for a long test run.
My tip is not to tell the seller you are coming to see it, that way they can't charge the battery up if its gone flat. A good sign it has been standing for some time or may need a RF reciever.
Look for error messages and ask if they will be corrected before you buy, if not beware of the possible cost to repair.
Check you have two keys no.1 and no.2 as these are expensive, and you have the owners handbook, and jack kit etc.

Good luck
Fred

Pete-M · May 21, 2008

redrenger89 said:
I agree with Kenny,

My 95 was at the top end at 3950 but has FSH and had only done 49000 miles from new. Had a full service at LR dealers 5 months before I purchased and a mini service before I collected it.
Things to look for are perished rubber componets, Leaks from oil and coolant electrics and general condition.
I would keep looking and get one cheaper and with less mileage, get one with as much paperwork as possible, that way you can see what has been changed to later spec. (ie RF reciever,Hevac sensors etc)

Have a look at as many as you can and before you part with any money, check,check and re-check everything, before and after you have taken it out for a long test run.
My tip is not to tell the seller you are coming to see it, that way they can't charge the battery up if its gone flat. A good sign it has been standing for some time or may need a RF reciever.
Look for error messages and ask if they will be corrected before you buy, if not beware of the possible cost to repair.
Check you have two keys no.1 and no.2 as these are expensive, and you have the owners handbook, and jack kit etc.

Good luck
Fred

All that makes sense.

I bought a '95 4.6 HSE with 181k on for virtually pennies (£1500 with £1200 registration included) and it's been pretty bloody good. Needed to replace a radio amplifier and it will need heater o-rings soon, but otherwise it's excellent. I love it to bits.

redrenger89 · May 21, 2008

Hi Pete-M

They are a great car and if you look around and you are lucky you can pick them up at a very good price.

Yours sounds great.

Fred

Doobs too · May 21, 2008

Thanks for all of the info. What about it having LPG, does this add to the price at all? I have read it's about £2k to fit a modern multi point system so it must have some bearing on the value.

I'll look into the RF Transmitter thing, haven't seen that metioned yet. But what about the bore liner slip thing, does it happen within 100k if it's going to or can it happen any time?

v8kenny · May 21, 2008

It would need more than LPG to make it worth the asking price !
Of course it does make it a bit more desirable and therefore adds to how much someone is willing to pay for it , but it's still waaaaay too dear !
Slipped liners usually go by 90,000 if at all

Listen to what people are telling you - it's too dear
Move on and find a cheaper one !

redrenger89 · May 23, 2008

It also depends on what type of LPG and when it was last serviced.

If it's set up incorrectly it can harm the engine.

As V8Kenny said still not worth it but do have a look its good for experience and when you find the right one you will know it's the right one.

Fred

Doobs too · May 24, 2008

Thanks again for the advice. I did have a look and what you all said was right, it was too much money for a too tatty vehicle. It was good experience, I've seen aother since but more about that in a separate thread I'm about to start!!

rick071155 · May 24, 2008

my 97 my hse has 160000 + on the clock and i would gladly put it up against any of these so called low mileage motors ! .
as with any motor maintainace os the key , as for the suggestions about being only worth a couple of grand with this kind of mileage on the clock well i wouldn`t let you sit in my car for 2k !!!!.
my car is used day in and day out every day sometimes short journeys and sometimes long , i would jump in it now and drive anywhere inthe country with complete confidence , ive seen plenty and i mean plenty p38`s with mileage well below mine that i would give 2 bob and a sticky toffee for , so in my opinion high mileage would not put me of any car , inspect the car , see how it performs, ask the seller if he has any parts reciepts , or bills for work carried out , then make up your mind .
i know its not a p38 but many years ago i bought a rover p6 2.2 with 34000 on the clock and service history , on the surface it look stunning , underneath on close inspection it was rotten as a pear , i scrapped it !!!!!! that sort of blows the low mileage theory out the water i reckon .
rick.

Doobs too · May 24, 2008

Rick,

I agree, cars of this age need to be judged on their merits rather then specs. I spent 5 months looking for the correct Z32 four years ago, loads looked good in the add's, only one was OK in the flesh (the one I bought). I saw a 96 P38 with 130K on and the leather was absolutly perfect, couldn't belive it's condiion. The steering linkage / damper / chassis bushes weren't though so it was by-passed. The car I'm on about above was so bad inside I didn't even drive it, wasn't worth it.

To be honest the prices quoted above (i.e. half of 4.5K) are maybe a little optomistic considering what is for sale at the moment. The fact remains the car I saw which I mention above was not 4.5K's worth.

I've seen 3 LPG P38's now, none with any history. Is it so difficult to put reciepts in one place?

Do you fancy trading your car in against my Z? ;-)

rick071155 · May 24, 2008

no sorry my mate im keeping my p38

.
unless you are extremely lucky if you pay less than 3k for a p38 all you get is a money pit , or a codged up piece of sh*te and there`s plenty of them out there

.
when i bought mine 18mths ago or so , i paid just over 3k for it , but it was the spec i wanted , and i could see it had potential .
it had a number of faults the main one being a crappy single point lpg system , this i soon took off and replaced with a sequential system .
since then ive done loads of other work on it ( im a fussy bugger ) it has to be right ................end of , so it probably stands me at around £6500.00 in total , and being realistic its probably worth £4500.00 ish.
but at the end of the day the car is right and performs as it should do , at least i know what ive got for my brass , i could maybe have spent the same amount on a later lower mileage motor , it could have been a good one , but then again ...........................

it could have been a dog .
these cars are expensive to run and maintain and you rarely get owt for nowt in this world , well thats my experiance any way

.
rick.

High mileage P38

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