Please Please as my previous post any P38 advice

Hi All
I cannot believe i have not had one reply from all you P38 owners out there surely someone must have some advice on how there motor is coping with lpg I would be very interested to hear what problems you may or may not have had not nessesarily to do with lpg but any probs or faults you have had with the car and how you were able to fix it or how much it cost to repair. Am i presuming that all you P38 owners experience hardly any faults with your motors Sorry for sounding sarcastic i don't mean to i just want a few words of advice about this wonderful looking and comfortable car which has had such a bad reputation for unreliability. I have many many classic Rangies for which i still own one and still love but the missus and i to be fair just fancied the look of the P38 as soon as it came off the line If only the P38 had the same reputation as the new model for reliability i would not be writing this message even though it is not as good looking as the P38 well the sport looks ok i suppose So come on all you P38 owners hiding out there speak up and don't be shy give me your advice on P38 ownership and your stories please

Hello,
I have a 4.0 litre 1997 P38. I love her to bits. My motor is coping very well with LPG, goodness knows who installed the system but its a Tartarini, with two 'cherry bomb' tanks in the spare wheel well. It does 150 miles on a tank of gas, it might do more if I was inclined to drive carefully and gently, but I drive like a nob.

I have had very little trouble with the car at all, although I have had it a year now, but i get it serviced regularly and the worst problem was the brake lines corroding rather earlier than they should have done, i was told. That cost me about £130. And the O rings went and leaked into the footwell, but they are easier to fix on the P38 than the classic, according to the bloke who fixes stuff for me. I cannot recall what that cost, but the main worry is anything happening to the air suspension, as any part seems to cost at least £300.

I use the car very day, and commute 300 miles a week, and its fab on the motorway - other people get out of the way. it could of course not be the road presence that gets it out of the way but the psychotic cow at the wheel leering at them, and barging tiny cars out of the way. By the way, in the torrential rain here, on Wednesday, I had to drive it through about three feet of water ( honestly, on the dual carriageway near Barnes Hill) and used the wading height function - water over the bonnet at one point) and there was not a drop inside or a moment when i thought she would fail me.

And I took it off roading in Dalby Forest, North Yorkshire and she had mud up to her hocks ( hocks is a technical term, of course) and was utterly perfect. The main problem was me chickening out of the steep drops and serious mud. If you want to buy one, do so they are relatively cheap to buy, and if you are any good at the basic servicing and stuff, it should not cost you too much if you get one with a good service history - a lot of them have had new blocks, as mine has and this fact encouraged me rather than put me off.
Best of luck!

Hi Derry
Thanks mate for the one and only reply nice to see someone else from my neck of the woods o rings eas problems yeah i have heard a lot about those I am also running a 1991 Rangie at the moment not a problem at all but it's getting a bit old It's like a pair of old slippers getting scruffy a few wear holes here and there but it fits like a glove and never lats me down what should i do Has your Rangie ever let you down ie left you stranded on the roadside as my classic never has if it breaks i can usually fix it I don't mind minor faults that can still get me home but total failure i cannot live with can you see my prediament old reliable new iffy Also you say you get 150miles from a full tank of lpg what size is you tank? i was hoping to get about 200 out of 95lt=75 usable or am i talking complete knackers

hi there guys, thought id add my 2p's worth about my good old P38. Ive had her about 4 months now, 98 S Reg Vogue on LPG. I must admit 150 miles to a tank seems pretty heavy in my minimal experience. Mine is apparently quite an old primitive system with single point injection, no idea what brand im afraid, but i get approx 100 miles from £20 on the LPG, its a 90 litre tank in the spare wheel well, im getting over 250 miles to one tank. As for EAS, i pretty much instantly ran into problems after buying it, the first clue being the compressor running nearly all the time. So i replaced the airbags with some brand new dunlops as the old ones were pretty tired looking and pitted, still the compressor runs nearly all of the time, and the front end only would sink overnight. After doing the highly technical and innovative fairy liquid & water test on the compressor pipes and airbag connections, a small leak was found on both ends of the pipe connected to the nearside front airbag, pipe replaced (only 20 mins ago) so i shall find out tomorrow if the sinking has stopped. ive been told by my local rangie specialist that my compressor is very weak, but its the original one so i may try n get that replaced asap too. Aside from that i absolutely love my rangie, its comfier than my house and its completely changed my driving style too. i have come from the world of high revving honda VTEC's, so i used to live life way above 8000 revs in a barrage of noise and power, but this is just lovely, sit back, aim, and cruise. Fabulous.

Only had mine for a few days but all is good so far.

I agree with the driving style thought, I have been driving a high revving sports car as my daily drive, everywhere does past in a blur, a pebble in the road felt like a mountain.

Now I waft everywhere I go, the Mrs said it takes me 10mins longer to get back from work now though!

I've had mine for two years now and I have encountered most of the common problems and fitted my own LPG kit which has been faultless. To date I've fitted new air springs, re built compressor (twice) re built valve block, new exhaust, new DSP amp, heater O rings and took 3 months tracking down a miss-fire to a corroded ecu connection. Jobs still to do - complete set of suspension bushes sitting on the shelf waiting for me to make up the radius arm bush insertion tool and replace the cruise control pipe. I love it.

Hello i have a 4.6 on lpg [1999] and i get around 230 miles on 80 usable litres but that is just local driving when we went to cornwall in the summer i got 265 out of the lpg with the car fully loaded and towing a 6ftx4ft trailer with camping gear in it. All i make sure is that both lpg and pertol are servised regular.

Touch wood, the only issues with mine have been self inflicted but after changing the head gaskets and tracking down a knock to what was probably poor oil pressure caused by crap in the oil, all is well.
LPG is a single point system and does about 160 miles on 70 litres of LPG local driving. I guess it would be more like 200 on the motorway but I don't have a problem with that and have been told its about normal.
Other than that, I love it and if I didn't, it would've been down the road weeks ago lol.

I seem to get about 120 miles from 40lt of gas, a bit more on a run. Mines a single point system as well. Just make sure you dont cut corners on servicing etc, as it will bite you in the arse big time if you do!!! Ive done a list of jobs on mine as long as your arm and still doing them!! Fix one thing another packs up. But when its good its very good.
Lots of stuff is DIY, if you take your time and ask questions first you can save money.
Dont forget to disconect the RF reciver berore it flattens your battery and buggers the front door locks!!

Hello cbv,i had my p38 4.6 gems in june and so far i have replaced 2 front air springs,4 shocks,wheel bearing and hub,battery,washer pump,washer jets,3 coolant pipes,air compressor,fuel regulator,oils and filters,radiator rodding/flushing,ac condenser+regas,handbrake switch,fuse box,brake pads front and rear......still needs a brake modulator,hevac unit,o rings or heater matrix replacement.very reliable car lol...it only have 75k on the clock......but once u replace these they wont fail again (i hope),still waiting 4 new things to show up !!!!

Hi all, just joined, i live in the manchester area i have a p38 running on lpg, getting between 200 and 225 on mixed driving, have a 90ltr tank in the spare wheel well do about 50 mile round trip for work each day. Only problem in the time i have had it (18 months) has been the air suspension it needed a new compressor as it kept running all of the time. also change the rear airbags at the same time now no problems
i really enjoy the ride and would have another one without hesitation. I am going to try it off-road soon. I am looking for some 16inch wheels to fit some tyres i have got if anybody can help it would be much appreciated.
regards nivlek.

2002 4.6, fitted the lpg three years ago never a problem, avg 15 to the gallon. Only complaint is that the cost of LPG is rising at a rate which if it carries on will make it a pointless conversion!

As for the car itself, the only niggle which nobody can solve is a battery drain, I leave garaged on a trickle charger so it does'nt upset me that much!

MSX150 said:

2002 4.6, fitted the lpg three years ago never a problem, avg 15 to the gallon. Only complaint is that the cost of LPG is rising at a rate which if it carries on will make it a pointless conversion!

As for the car itself, the only niggle which nobody can solve is a battery drain, I leave garaged on a trickle charger so it does'nt upset me that much!

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Have you disconected the RF reciever in the o/s/r quater panel?

v8hotrodboy said:

Have you disconected the RF reciever in the o/s/r quater panel?

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If not have a look at the photos that I posted on my profile, on how to disconnect it......will hopefully solve your battery drain problems.....

Let us know how you get on.

Chris

Sorry not meaning to hijack the op's thread but:

I have had 2 x new rf recievers, as 2 garages different garages have blamed this, I have had fitted an isolator switch for the rf reciever, I have had 4 new batteries, (everywhere I take it they say its the wrong one), I have had two main ecu's ? (located under the drivers seat cost just over £1000.00 second one was under warranty) I have fitted a little deveice called a battery brain, meant to isolate the vehilce when the battery reaches low level, it worked for a bit, but my P38 has now managed to out wit it !..... as I say, I have let it stop annoying me and learnt to live with it ! CTEK trickle chargers are great

rewmer said:

I've had mine for two years now and I have encountered most of the common problems and fitted my own LPG kit which has been faultless. To date I've fitted new air springs, re built compressor (twice) re built valve block, new exhaust, new DSP amp, heater O rings and took 3 months tracking down a miss-fire to a corroded ecu connection. Jobs still to do - complete set of suspension bushes sitting on the shelf waiting for me to make up the radius arm bush insertion tool and replace the cruise control pipe. I love it.

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I thought you were selling it and getting an X5 ?



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If you give me a portion of your winings, I might still get one.

rewmer said:

If you give me a portion of your winings, I might still get one.

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hubdubbydubbydardedurdubbydubby

Oh, here she is!

I have 97 4.0 with multi point system fitted. Problems are all usual ones : EAS, Cruise, Air Con, Front Prop etc. It has to be said tho that with Microcat to order parts and RAVE to dig through I have been able to diagnose and get most of these fixed either myself or by getting parts and getting trusted independent to do. This was after being stung for £1,000+ for some local clown changing the exhaust, doing fuel trims and brake lines.

One point for me from these posts tho is how on earth folk are getting this level of economy. My car has an 80 ltr take and gives at most 170 miles which works out given 80% fill level around about 12mpg on LPG which with price difference gives aorund 20mph in petrol terms.

I suspect all is not as good as it could be but 20mpg for the fun of driving this thing is kind of ok given I had a 2006 Jeep that did 17mpg !!!