Hi everyone - I'm a long time Rover Owner (22 years of P5B Coupe) but mew to LR ownership
A (possibly to be former) friend of mine, to whom I had mentioned an interest in a P38, told me of an abandoned P38 featuring on Pistonheads.
After a bit of detective work we tracked down the owner. The car appeared, on the face of it, to be local to me in Cardiff but it transpired to be 'oop North in Wigan.
Another friend was heading up in that neck of the woods on another mission so I travelled up with him, dropped him off and went to see the car.
It was a sad sight, sat in a commercial transport yard alongside other long abandoned vans and refrigeration units. The Range Rover has been sat for around 2 years, maybe more. I opened the door of the car and noticed that the sunroof was open about an inch or so. Oh well i thought, it's be wet in here but I couldn't find any trace of rain having come in. Everything was dry. No must smell.
I walked around the outside and the car looks straight, no apparent rot (couldn't see underneath though). The interior was tidy although the headlining was down (no surprise there).
After a bit of fiddling the car recognised the key and although it wouldn't start at least I managed to ascertain that the engine isn't seized.
So, did I buy it? No. But I did managed to acquire it and I am extremely grateful to the previous owner. It's booked for transport and I hope to take delivery sometime next week.
Haven't told the wife yet and my idea is for this car (once sorted) to become her dog mobile in place of the 2007 Jazz!
Anyway, I'm sure I'll be here asking loads of stupid question and posting pictures of the things I've broken.
Wish me luck!
 
Welcome:).

Enjoy the journey it could be long and painful or short and sweet. Its all doable and worth it in the end:).
One good thing is they rarely suffer badly with rust.
You dont say what flavor it is.

Good luck.

J
 
Welcome to the meeting for landyzone baldness club using sump oil.
IMG_20220413_160232_1~2.jpg
 
It hasn't actually arrived yet. It's on a trailer over night and will land about 10.00am tomorrow.
Keep watching this space
 
Well, the beastie was delivered today
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Ordered a new battery for it, removed some of the signwriting from the rear window...
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Gave it a wash to remove the black mould and in the process found a few dings and dents but nothing really major.
Gave the inside a good clean as it was minging.
test cleaned some of the leather which shows promising results.
Hopefully if I can get it started tomorrow I'll manoeuvre it into a position where I can photograph it with the P5 and TVR
 
As soon as it arrived I ordered a new battery. On the advice of a friend I went with a Hankook MF31-1000 - It's a big bugger (knife for scale)




Used EKA, turned the key and I thought, "what's that noise?" The bugger only started immediately. No churning or anything.
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Been stood 2-3 years and fires first turn of the key. Next thing I know it's switched over and running on gas.

Popped it in gear and it moves back and forth and the brakes work.

Mightily impressed.

Now to try and sort the Air suspension as that's why it was parked up.

When its running the top light fklashes on the sir susp indicator and the bottom one stays on. Where do I start checking the system?
 
OK, so today I started to investigate the air suspension issue.
There is a receipt with the car for a pump in 2016 and this is borne out as being the replacement by the label on the outside of the "Dunlop" pump.
First off using the Beginners EAS guide I diagnosed that the thermal cutout in the compressor has failed and someone had been there before me ...
upload_2022-4-22_20-57-37.png

...(that isn't factory soldering) and changed the thermal cutout and put in a 125 deg C cutout in place of the usual 120...
upload_2022-4-22_20-58-50.png

Then after dismantling the pump I found the diaphragm burned out...
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If anyone knows of a ready supply of the thermal cutouts please let me know.

I'll order a pump rebuild kit over the weekend.
 

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