D

Dr W

Active Member
Hi all

I've just upgraded (I think) from a 92 Classic to a 2000 P38 2.5 DHSE and there are a few issues that I need to sort out and would be grateful for any assistance. I should mention that the mileage is relatively high at 151k.

1. Driving it home last night I noticed on the motorway that there was quite a bit of play in the steering between 11 oclock and 1 oclock. This caused a bit of wandering in the lane as I would overcompensate. I thought this might be because of the oversized 20" Khan alloys the guy had on there (don't worry they're going as soon as possible) but I now think it's probably worn steering linkages, any ideas and is it a difficult job to replace?

2. The air compressor seems to be running a lot of the time. The air bags were a little worn and cracked but I planned to replace anyway as friend who's done it said it was easy. What I wanted to know is whether you thought that the reason the compressor is running alot was due to air leaking from a bag or some problem with the compressor itself. The car seems to move up and down through the settings quickly and easily so thought the air bags were ok.

3. Finally I only have one key and want a spare, is this something only to get from a main dealer? The key I have is worn and I can't see which key number the one I have is. I've heard there is a code you may need for either the key or engine which I don't have, can someone set me straight and is this something I can get from a main dealer.

Anything else I should know about?

Everything seemed a lot easier on the classic, oh well time to step up a gear.

Thanks for any advice you may have to offer as I step into unknown (and some may say dark) territory.

Dr W
 
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1. 20" rims will cause the car to wander, there are a lot of posts on this subject. Changing from 16" rims to 18" causes a noticeable difference in drive, the conlusion most people have found is that 18" rims fitted with Pirelli Scorpion tyres seem to be the best combination and put an end to the wander you mention.

2. There is a compressor seal kit that you can buy which I would recommend if you are also changing out the air springs. The compressor seal wears out over time and causes the compressor to have to work a lot harder to get enough air in to the system. The compressor running for long periods is normally an idication of this.

3. Keys should only be bought from the dealers as they are programed with the cars BECM, do not buy keys from ebay as they will not work. Expect to pay just over £100 for this.

4. Welcome to the P38, I hope you get as much pleasure from this as you did your classic
 
Thanks for the reply.
I'm going to get them changed for some 18" Hurricanes as soon as I can find some spare pennies. I think I'll also get the steering checked over just in case there's some wear there.

Can you also recommend a good place to purchase air bags and compressor seal kits from (by this I mean the cheapest place :)).

Off to the dealer it is then.

Cheers

Dr W
 
Ebay item 280342885598 for air springs
Ebay item 350182847451 for compressor seal kit.
You can buy just the seal but I found that trying to seperate the ring to replace the old seal caused damage to the piston.

These are just 2 suggestions so please shop around and see what you can find. I would recommend the Arnott Gen 2's over Dunlop
 
Keys....there are 2 of them different codes i think, anyway you cant have 2 the same, one is a dark grey body the other one is lighter, its VERY hard to spot the difference, get someone with a set ok P38 keys, and compare yours with what he has, if you have the light one then you need the dark one etc, like the ^^^ says, don't get them off ebay, or any other place its a stealership im afraid and it will cost you, you, you should have got 2 electric keys, 1 emergency key (not electric) and a key for the sun roof
 
Cheers for help guys.

What's the key for the sunroof? Where does that fit?

Have ordered compressor kit and will do that first.
 
Dopey said:
Keys....there are 2 of them different codes i think, anyway you cant have 2 the same, one is a dark grey body the other one is lighter, its VERY hard to spot the difference, get someone with a set ok P38 keys, and compare yours with what he has, if you have the light one then you need the dark one etc, like the ^^^ says, don't get them off ebay, or any other place its a stealership im afraid and it will cost you, you, you should have got 2 electric keys, 1 emergency key (not electric) and a key for the sun roof
Click to expand...

The keys on my 2000DHSE are the same colour but are marked "Key 1" and "Key 2" on the back along with some other info.
 
Mmmh well that's not going to help me as half the lable on my key is missing.

What I can see is CE then followed by a 4 digit number then underneath the letters huf/cel.

Perhaps the main dealer will be able to sort it out when I buy a new key and ask for the door code.

Cheers
 
if you go to the stealer they will sort you out a key but it will be no.3 as 1+2 is issued with the vehicle at the time of purchase,the last quote i got was £130 inc vat for the key and £40 to programme it,as i had a busted key,but has luck had it my sister in law is a wizard with circuit boards and it turned out to be a dry soldered joint that she renewed,been ok for a year now.

as for the airbags and compressor repair kit use island 4x4 the price of the arnotts have gone up and the compressor refurb kit is cheaper from them than fleabay
 
Thanks got the compressor kit from Island 4x4 via Ebay.

The air bags on Island 4x4 are £50 cheaper but they're Dunlop ones which an earlier poster suggested weren't as good as Arnott bags. Not sure which is the best way to go, Arnott's or £50 in my pocket and Dunlops.

Anyone got an opinion?

Cheers
 
Dr W said:
Thanks got the compressor kit from Island 4x4 via Ebay.

The air bags on Island 4x4 are £50 cheaper but they're Dunlop ones which an earlier poster suggested weren't as good as Arnott bags. Not sure which is the best way to go, Arnott's or £50 in my pocket and Dunlops.

Anyone got an opinion?

Cheers
Click to expand...

I went for Arnott Gen 2 on the basis of the (probably worthless) lifetime warranty, the good reports on them on the American range rovers site and the slightly better ride characteristics. I am very happy with them.:D:D:D
 
i got the gen 2 on mine,but there was only £5 difference between the original dunlop or the gen 2,the price has gone up on the arnott range due to the pound being nearly worthless;) if it were me get the dunlop and keep the £50 you will need it for something else
 
Just managed to change the batteries in the only key I have, had minor heart attack doing it as I thought I'd run out of time as the back was so worn it took a while to get it off.

Right I do have another issue, when driving along everything is fine but as soon as I get stuck in a bit of traffic the temperature rockets up into the red and the light comes on. When I get going the temperature comes back down to normal.

There's water in it so I'm wondering if the water pump is faulty so not being pumped round and cooling down when stopped?

Does this sound reasonable and a good place to start looking?

Are there any other issues with the diesel lump that might cause overheating?

I don't know why people can't sort these problems out at the time instead of leaving them for others, oh well see what else I need to sort as time goes on.
 
Dr W said:
Just managed to change the batteries in the only key I have, had minor heart attack doing it as I thought I'd run out of time as the back was so worn it took a while to get it off.

Right I do have another issue, when driving along everything is fine but as soon as I get stuck in a bit of traffic the temperature rockets up into the red and the light comes on. When I get going the temperature comes back down to normal.

There's water in it so I'm wondering if the water pump is faulty so not being pumped round and cooling down when stopped?

Does this sound reasonable and a good place to start looking?

Are there any other issues with the diesel lump that might cause overheating?

I don't know why people can't sort these problems out at the time instead of leaving them for others, oh well see what else I need to sort as time goes on.
Click to expand...

Doubt it's the pump as you would have a problem when moving too, could be the viscous coupling on the engine fan is shot, or even the electric fans not operating, do you have the air con on?
 
No I don't think the air con was on but as it got into the red I did try turning the fan on to try and extract some heat but don't know whether this had any effect.

The first time it happened once the red light came on, a short time later the temp dropped quickly to normal, I thought that once it had got hot a fan came on and cooled it down but surely a fan should come on before the red temp warning light comes on?
 
Dr W said:
No I don't think the air con was on but as it got into the red I did try turning the fan on to try and extract some heat but don't know whether this had any effect.

The first time it happened once the red light came on, a short time later the temp dropped quickly to normal, I thought that once it had got hot a fan came on and cooled it down but surely a fan should come on before the red temp warning light comes on?
Click to expand...

Could be a sensor or relay problem but I'm not sure if the Air Con fans come on at high engine temperature or not, someone will know, they are mainly there to aid cooling of the aircon condensor but may come on at very high engine temperatures. Look at the engine fan viscous coupling first to make sure it's turning fast enough at idle with the engine hot, make sure your antifreeze mixture is good, you can get strange effects with plain water as the boiling point is different, also the pressure cap on the expansion tank must make a good seal.
 
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Right going to take radiator off and flush through, I remember someone mentioning something about using clign film when doing this, what was that about?

With regard to the steering it turned out one of drag arms (think that was what the garage said it was) was about to fall out and that I was lucky to get it home in one piece, he hadn't seen one in such a state??? It really makes me wonder what the guy who had it before was doing and how he thought that much play was normal? It also needed 4.5 litres of oil so god knows when he last looked under the bonnet.

Oh and the front caliper was seized plus a couple of other little things it should get through the MOT (fingers crossed) and then can start fixing the other things and give it a decent service.
 
The aircon fans should come on automatically when coolant reaches 95 deg but the temp sensor is prone to failure.
Turning on the heater full blast is a very good thing (if bloody uncomfortable) to do if your car is overheating.
 
SpudH said:
The aircon fans should come on automatically when coolant reaches 95 deg but the temp sensor is prone to failure.
Turning on the heater full blast is a very good thing (if bloody uncomfortable) to do if your car is overheating.
Click to expand...

Does it matter, when I turn on the aircon fans, what temperature it's set at? Is it better to be set as hot as possible so that (I assume) more of the water is directed passed the fans?

Is there an easy way to test the temperature sensor is working properly?
 
I'm not 100% sure on the P38 info this but i believe it goes like this:

On the RRC the aircon fans come on whenever you press the aircon button which means you can turn the heat up full blast and still get the fans to turn on. This gives you a double benefit on an overheating RRC- I def know this works.

On the P38, due to the 'sophisticated' Hevac system you can only manually turn off the aircon. The Condensor fans will come on when the ECU tells them that aircon is required. So if you turn up the heat to blow fullblast as i suggested earlier then the fans will not come on as aircon is not required. So you actually need to set the temp to 'low' to get the condensor fans to come on. If they don't work at this stage then you've also got a problem with the fans so revert to 'high' on the Hevac, open the windows and turn the fans up full.

I successfully ran my overheating RRC with a jumper wire across the the broken temp sensor to keep the fans on full time for a while until I got a new one. Thankfully I haven't had that problem yet with my P38 (at least not since replacing the head gasket).

Have you identified if your viscous fan is knackered yet?

there are a number of overheating points to look for with the P38:
Viscous fan unit.
The water pump impeller is plastic and does break up if the engine has overheated on a regular basis.
The radiator is a bad design with both tubes on top. There is a plastic baffle that forces the water through the whole radiator. This breaks and the water short cuts straight across the top of the rad. i believe you can diagnose this by shining a torch through and if light gets to the other side your rad is toast.
Thermostat can fail closed.
Lastly and worst of all is a head gasket failure, unfortunetly all too often the case.

In your case though if its not overheating on the open road it sounds lke a dead fan and a failed temp sesnor. Either way get it fixed asap as all overheating roads on a BMW engined RR quickly lead to head gasket and/or cracked head.
 
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