P38A Phantom gearbox/alternator/EAS fault

Hi Pwood North Lanarkshire near Glasgow.Personal and family commitments take over I'm sure you know how it goes.And P38 is a product I always wanted the horror stories that I used to hear from others steered me clear until i got the chance of this 2.5 1997 dse.I feel to save on £££££and keep away from dealers I'm going to have to invest on some diag but there is always a line that should not be crossed ie.Repair costs out weighing the value of the car.Trying to get to grips with the electronics on the p38 it sure has a lot.All help appreciated.

cheers
chris

cj01 said:

Hi Pwood North Lanarkshire near Glasgow.Personal and family commitments take over I'm sure you know how it goes.And P38 is a product I always wanted the horror stories that I used to hear from others steered me clear until i got the chance of this 2.5 1997 dse.I feel to save on £££££and keep away from dealers I'm going to have to invest on some diag but there is always a line that should not be crossed ie.Repair costs out weighing the value of the car.Trying to get to grips with the electronics on the p38 it sure has a lot.All help appreciated.

cheers
chris

Click to expand...

Whilst a nanocom is probably more than you would normally want to pay in relation to the value of the vehicle, bear in mind that you will get a good chunk of your money back on nanocom if you sell it.
Without it you really are piddling against the wind.

Hi Wazzajnr I hear what your saying I thought that most common faults showing up on a 21 year old p38 would have been encountered one way or another by the p38 fraternity.looks like diags is a must if you don't want your ass slapped with dealers diag costs.Other fault that's happened is when the rev counter drops of and bounces erratically the rear air bags lower to the bump stops?All input gets taken on board.Many thanks.Still love the driving experience although bloody nerve racking.

cheers
chris

cj01 said:

Hi Wazzajnr I hear what your saying I thought that most common faults showing up on a 21 year old p38 would have been encountered one way or another by the p38 fraternity.looks like diags is a must if you don't want your ass slapped with dealers diag costs.Other fault that's happened is when the rev counter drops of and bounces erratically the rear air bags lower to the bump stops?All input gets taken on board.Many thanks.Still love the driving experience although bloody nerve racking.

cheers
chris

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Your need for a Nanocom is severe. Nothing else comes close get one a learn how to use it.

Hi wammers,can you advise on the nanocom diags that will suit my needs best.Many thanks again.Was looking at the lynx and other diags glad I waited.

cheers
chris

cj01 said:

Hi wammers,can you advise on the nanocom diags that will suit my needs best.Many thanks again.Was looking at the lynx and other diags glad I waited.

cheers
chris

Click to expand...

Nanocom evolution for your model of P38, Dear but best by a country mile and will always be resalable. So it's not dead money. Info here. >>>>> https://www.nanocom-diagnostics.com/

Domino has a Nanocom but he's Edinburgh way. I'm sure there was someone not so far from Glasgow but they're not on the map. Maybe @Doo or @myfirstl322 can remember their name?

Thanks guys.just finished work and the p38 did it again started and had no rev counter and engine revs where high also rear suspension dropped to axle waited 15 mins and it was good as gold all the way home.Nanocom is going to be my first purchase when the funds are available.Thanks again guys.

cheers
chris

cj01 said:

Thanks guys.just finished work and the p38 did it again started and had no rev counter and engine revs where high also rear suspension dropped to axle waited 15 mins and it was good as gold all the way home.Nanocom is going to be my first purchase when the funds are available.Thanks again guys.

cheers
chris

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With regards the suspension, check the technical section for how to test the EAS compressor output.

Hi Grrrrr I will do.Just finished work p38 drove home fine. I did smell a sort of electrical burning smell from the fuse box yesterday.Off work Monday so shall try and get some investigating.

thanks again guys
cheers
chris

Apologies for reviving a dead thread but after 5 years I’ve FINALLY sorted the issue that had been plaguing my P38.

As a reminder, the following symptoms would happen after about 5-10 mins of driving on most trips:
• Rev Counter Dies
• TRACTION FAILURE, EAS FAULT and ALTERNATOR FAULT displayed on message centre, accompanied by the EAS position lights all turning on.
• Engine revs to about 2000rpm, becoming erratic and sometimes stalling if the car is pulled to a halt.
• Auto Gearbox becomes stuck in 3rd gear
until engine is switched off and on again.
• Problem generally disappears after cycling the ignition off and on again.

The things I tried:
• Several new and very beefy batteries.
• All of the points on the electrical sticky.
• New alternator
• New battery cables
• New under bonnet fuse box
• New crank position sensor
• New MAF sensor
• 6x new injectors (the car had covered 200k on original injectors so this was on the to-do list anyway)

None of these attempts at a fix made the problem go away and I became more wary of driving the P38, particularly with passengers, due to the unnerving nature of being in a car which occasionally felt like it had a mind of it’s own.

Cut to 5 years later, while contemplating an RV8 swap as a potential fix for the issue (I can convince myself that anything is a good idea). I was trawling the forums again and more signs were pointing towards the car receiving an implausible signal from the crank position sensor. So, I replaced the sensor again, this time with a genuine part. This didn’t fix the issue. Still convinced that the CPS was the culprit, I removed the sensor connector again, and as I did, the wiring harness completely detached itself from the connector, revealing completely deteriorated wires within.. BINGO!

Out came the soldering iron and after a few hours I was done. I’ve ran the car as my daily driver for about a month now and have covered more miles in that time than in the past 2 years collectively, without the issue coming back!

Thanks again to everyone that helped. I felt it was important not to leave this thread any longer without a happy ending and hope that my experience may be able to help someone else in the future

alexmcrobbie said:

Apologies for reviving a dead thread but after 5 years I’ve FINALLY sorted the issue that had been plaguing my P38.

As a reminder, the following symptoms would happen after about 5-10 mins of driving on most trips:
• Rev Counter Dies
• TRACTION FAILURE, EAS FAULT and ALTERNATOR FAULT displayed on message centre, accompanied by the EAS position lights all turning on.
• Engine revs to about 2000rpm, becoming erratic and sometimes stalling if the car is pulled to a halt.
• Auto Gearbox becomes stuck in 3rd gear
until engine is switched off and on again.
• Problem generally disappears after cycling the ignition off and on again.

The things I tried:
• Several new and very beefy batteries.
• All of the points on the electrical sticky.
• New alternator
• New battery cables
• New under bonnet fuse box
• New crank position sensor
• New MAF sensor
• 6x new injectors (the car had covered 200k on original injectors so this was on the to-do list anyway)

None of these attempts at a fix made the problem go away and I became more wary of driving the P38, particularly with passengers, due to the unnerving nature of being in a car which occasionally felt like it had a mind of it’s own.

Cut to 5 years later, while contemplating an RV8 swap as a potential fix for the issue (I can convince myself that anything is a good idea). I was trawling the forums again and more signs were pointing towards the car receiving an implausible signal from the crank position sensor. So, I replaced the sensor again, this time with a genuine part. This didn’t fix the issue. Still convinced that the CPS was the culprit, I removed the sensor connector again, and as I did, the wiring harness completely detached itself from the connector, revealing completely deteriorated wires within.. BINGO!

Out came the soldering iron and after a few hours I was done. I’ve ran the car as my daily driver for about a month now and have covered more miles in that time than in the past 2 years collectively, without the issue coming back!

Thanks again to everyone that helped. I felt it was important not to leave this thread any longer without a happy ending and hope that my experience may be able to help someone else in the future

Click to expand...

Thanks for reporting a good result

Too many tales of woe with P38 threads - we love a happy ending.

Nice to see it fixed and not given up on and scrapped

brianp38dse said:

Nice to see it fixed and not given up on and scraped

Click to expand...

Why would you scrape it? Would that not damage the paintwork?

alexmcrobbie said:

Apologies for reviving a dead thread but after 5 years I’ve FINALLY sorted the issue that had been plaguing my P38.

As a reminder, the following symptoms would happen after about 5-10 mins of driving on most trips:
• Rev Counter Dies
• TRACTION FAILURE, EAS FAULT and ALTERNATOR FAULT displayed on message centre, accompanied by the EAS position lights all turning on.
• Engine revs to about 2000rpm, becoming erratic and sometimes stalling if the car is pulled to a halt.
• Auto Gearbox becomes stuck in 3rd gear
until engine is switched off and on again.
• Problem generally disappears after cycling the ignition off and on again.

The things I tried:
• Several new and very beefy batteries.
• All of the points on the electrical sticky.
• New alternator
• New battery cables
• New under bonnet fuse box
• New crank position sensor
• New MAF sensor
• 6x new injectors (the car had covered 200k on original injectors so this was on the to-do list anyway)

None of these attempts at a fix made the problem go away and I became more wary of driving the P38, particularly with passengers, due to the unnerving nature of being in a car which occasionally felt like it had a mind of it’s own.

Cut to 5 years later, while contemplating an RV8 swap as a potential fix for the issue (I can convince myself that anything is a good idea). I was trawling the forums again and more signs were pointing towards the car receiving an implausible signal from the crank position sensor. So, I replaced the sensor again, this time with a genuine part. This didn’t fix the issue. Still convinced that the CPS was the culprit, I removed the sensor connector again, and as I did, the wiring harness completely detached itself from the connector, revealing completely deteriorated wires within.. BINGO!

Out came the soldering iron and after a few hours I was done. I’ve ran the car as my daily driver for about a month now and have covered more miles in that time than in the past 2 years collectively, without the issue coming back!

Thanks again to everyone that helped. I felt it was important not to leave this thread any longer without a happy ending and hope that my experience may be able to help someone else in the future

Click to expand...

Good result and a reminder to all that the wiring on a 20 year old car can quite often be a little flakey, especially on the outside of the car.