P38 Rolling Resto

Recently bought our 1998 (R) 4.6 HSE.
It's red with biscuit coloured leather. It's got 155k miles.
We have just had it converted to lpg £1800 which brings the fuel cost down from 33p/mile to 20p/mile, it has an 85l tank and costs £30 to fill which has so far given us 150ish miles.
The car obviously has faults which is the air con doesn't seem to work along with the remote locking despite trying to re sync the key and a sagging roof lining.
I have bought new discs and pads all round, new genuine spark plugs and leads, headlight wiper blades, second hand genuine side steps, 20" sport alloys which I have had refurbished along with new nuts etc.
My plan is to get the mechanicals spot on I have changed the oil and filter, axle fluids , will also change auto box and transfer box fluids ( I have auto box filter), and change anti freeze and steering fluid soon.
Have also bought a sport type front grille specially made for the p38.
Love the sound of the engine so would love to get a Janspeed exhaust and try to make the car a bit more powerful as the engine seems to have so much to offer but delivers very little. Any recommendations as to get a bit more out of it

The Janspeed is a good system. Have it on mine. With a straight pipe on it's a little too loud (TVR) but with the centre box on it's perfect. No real change in power though. Providing the cam is ok then new plugs & leads may give you some improvements. I have the Kent 180 cam in mine since top hat engine rebuild & very pleased with lower rev performance although tends to run out of steam at the top end (but then again it's a RR so rarely find the need to even go above 3k rpm).

So are you saying your 85l of gas has managed 150 miles and its gone? By my working that is 8mpg on gas?
Remote locking, have you changed the battery's in the fob? Do you have one or two keys?
Make sure you change the pollen filters as well as they often missed.
As for the Aircon not working, do you mean the rest of the HVAC is OK and the aircon does not blow cold or you have problems with the fans/direction control no heat etc

Didnt notice that.
Mine has a 95ltr tank & i can get 330 miles from a full tank.

It says so far not that the tank is empty

Well either way, working on the cost per mile mentioned he can let us know in 14k miles or so if he's broken even!

I must get round to fitting my LPG kit, £1800 bloodyhell I paid 250 for mine 2nd hand

Maybe my maths isn't that good but £30 of gas got us about 150 miles but we did tow a caravan with it for about 60 of those miles so maybe not a fair way of measuring it.
I was looking at second hand lpg kits on Ebay but didn't want the hassle of trying to get parts which may be missing then obviously all the components will be old and then trying to get it to work with the car , and then the safety aspect of it all, I just didn't want the hassle and grief plus we want to keep the car long term so considered it an investment plus we have a 2 year warranty and it's properly registered.

Only got one key . tried new batteries but no difference.
The heater display is all good no missing pixels or bars, but does have the book symbol showing. Haven't looked at the pollen filters yet . Cold and warm work but doesn't get ice cold so was thinking maybe a regas unless you know different.
Thanks for the input.

jerry3 said:

Only got one key . tried new batteries but no difference.
The heater display is all good no missing pixels or bars, but does have the book symbol showing. Haven't looked at the pollen filters yet . Cold and warm work but doesn't get ice cold so was thinking maybe a regas unless you know different.
Thanks for the input.

Click to expand...

If the cold and warm work on both sides and on the screen etc its a good sign. Often the condenser fails and you end up with a sieve effect. I had this on my last P38, I took it to an aircon regas place who had an adapter on an airline and they just filled the aircon system with compressed air to see if the compressor would click in as a test and to listen to leaks. They didn't charge me which was brilliant but it saved them the effort of trying to gas it and it all leaking away. So I would start with a pressure test, if it holds pressure then that's good but if the compressor doesn't click in there is a problem there.

The book symbol denotes there is a system fault but as far as I have seen lack of gas in the system is not considered a fault mainly as my last one had no book symbol but the aircon had failed as mentioned, current one the aircon works great but a book symbol for a stuck blend motor, (Tony if you read this I havn't forgotten just had a manic couple of weeks will call you soon!). In order to read the faults you will need something like a nanocom or something designed with a range rover in mind, no "normal" code read (even snap-on etc) will touch it.

As for the key, when its got fresh batteries does the LED work when you press a button? Obviously it starts and runs OK at the moment, I would be very careful as if the vehicle battery goes flat you will struggle to get it unimobilised unless its been disabled. I would also get hold of the EKA code from Land Rover and if its a keeper get a spare key ordered from Land Rover which will hopefully work with the remote locking then you can send the original of for repair. The problem with P38's is they work absolutely brilliantly, right up to the point where you REALLY need the car and then it'll do something to try and catch you out like have a dead battery the morning you are trying to go on holiday or something and they are pretty much un-stealable unless you have the correct codes and know the process inside out for entering it and that of course assumes the door lock microswitches are behaving properly...!

With the new batteries in the remote the light flashes but it is a bit hit and miss so guessing there could be a problem with the remote.
Got some more new parts delivered today genuine spark plug leads, genuine headlight wiper blades , genuine serpentine belt, oem brake accumulator sphere thingy as our brakes are rubbish and the lpg guy said it was that what fails.
So weather permitting try and get some of my hoard of parts fitted.

Been busy lately, fitted the replacement brake accumulator then made a start on changing the discs and pads. The brake disc retaining screw heads where all butchered so had to beat them off and so far have found 3 seized caliper sliders (still have a rear caliper to take off), so have ordered all new sliders.
Painted the bottom of my new grille body colour. Fitted new auxiliary belt, fitted new plugs and leads, fitted new headlight wiper blades, removed damaged front bumper and noticed that the mounting for the nearside headlight is all broken.

Bought a replacement front bumper painted blue as my plain one was damaged so spent a few hours rubbing it down ready for all the painting processes.
Also fitted replacement headlight mounting bracket.
Waiting for brake parts to come through.

I have the same motor, same year, brilliant truck.
Can highly recommend the nanocom evolution as a necessity to carry at all times.
When p38s are good they are very very good but when they are bad they are evil.
LPG is 44p per L up here, what's it like down you neck of the woods ?

Today was spent putting my new brakes on the car as follows, Brembo rear discs, pattern front discs (Brembo out of stock) , new pads all round, new caliper sliders all round as most of mine were seized, new disc fixing screws and then the 20" Range Rover Sport diamond finish alloys with genuine nuts and locking nuts.
Also replaced both cabin pollen filters as mine were very well past there best. Also flushed out washer bottle ad replenished.
Can't use the car as I ordered the wrong hose for the engine , I need the run that runs behind the engine pulley as mine had worked loose and nearly cut through so could have been a disaster as it connects to the bottom of the coolant tank.
So far the new bumper has been painted with plastic primer, high build primer and now is in red under coat, it needs rubbing down before I paint it with the Rioja basecoat and lacquer.
Will hopefully make a start repairing the genuine side steps.

So removed rubber tread from side steps derusted where necessary painted them with matt black rustoleum and then on the underside covered the new paint with black stone chip. Have now fitted them onto the car. Replaced the nearside hub and front driveshaft oil seal. Greased the nipples with my new air grease gun. Was thinking about painting the mirrors and handles Java black to match the new grille.