Roffle Range Rover Roffel - It's All Over Now! Caution: Victim established!

[Captain Furious]

Bold purchase, flirted with the idea of a P38 a few years back when I thought I might fancy trying out some 'green laning' made the mistake of reading about them on the Internet first and then quickly bottled it

[scruff]

I remember these coming out, my dad was a mega Range Rover fan and we went up to Harwoods for a look (no chance at all of buying). I was never sold on the looks but in 1994 the interior was just in a different class. I've still got the boxed brochure set we managed to blag. 

[EssDeeWon]

Looks a nice straight example with a decent spec.  How much are these going for these days?

 

I'm off to have a look.

 

And the 4.6HSE is the one to have!

[vulgalour]

I'm happy for you, really I am, but I do not like them.  They remind me too much of a fine art version of the charcoal sketch that is the Metrocab.

[Eddie Honda]

It's still amusing* to jump out in front of them (and waving an arm as if hailing) when pissed on a Saturday night and shout "TAXI"

[Pillock]

Scrap it.

 

I've spent years telling everyone that P38s are terrible and now I don't know what to think. I might even have to drive one instead of just reading Internet Opinions.

[Captain Furious]

Interestingly, or not, when I was doing my due diligence the 4.6 came out as the one not to have and people seemed to recommend the 4.0

 

4.6 was apparently more prone to slipped liners and HGF due to reduced thickness between the cylinders, though I have since learned that this is probably bollox because the bore was the same and the 4.6 just had a longer stroke

 

Obviously I would have had the 4.6 regardless, there is no way I could settle for a 4.0 knowing there was a bigger, better more powerful version out there

 

Either way I'm sure junkman is a fully signed up rover v8 aficionado and knows exactly what he's in to.

[andy18s]

Urban Legend says the injection systems were tuned to be a bit on the weak side at certain revs,to pass the various emission levels at the time

These revs coincided with being run at 80-90mph (motorway cruising)

Being a bit lean caused a hot spot on the right hand cylinders, and as the block casting tolerances were a bit slack it caused a liner to loosen.....

[r.welfare]

On the (proper) small wheels and the original "gingercators" it looks marvellous.

[Rusty_Rocket]

Urban Legend says the injection systems were tuned to be a bit on the weak side at certain revs,to pass the various emission levels at the time

These revs coincided with being run at 80-90mph (motorway cruising)

Being a bit lean caused a hot spot on the right hand cylinders, and as the block casting tolerances were a bit slack it caused a liner to loosen.....

 

I think that's true. Mine had the Mark Adams (?) 'Tornado' chip to try and address that. I'm not sure it made any difference whatsoever.

I did find out however, that running with a less-than perfect air mass meter (that still didn't bring up a fault code) would result in single figure mpg readings the norm.

 

I think at that point it was cheaper for me to take unpaid leave from work, compared to commuting there in the Range.

[Captain Furious]

I suppose it could have been caused by reduced airflow at motorway speeds, due to being so close to the car in front.

[Brent_Crude]

I had employment in the 90's which entailed driving various P38's including some of the special versions, like the Holland & Holland. They really were great to drive and you could jump out after 200 effortless miles and feel like you'd just popped to the shops. The 4.6 was hands down the best and the 2.5 diesel was slow to the point of being dangerous. I went on to own a '94 Softdash, which had some of the toys that would go on to feature in the P38, like the EAS, but as much as I loved it (on those rare occasions that I couldn't see it oxidising before my very eyes!!) it felt light years behind the P38's.

 

I hope you get much enjoyment from it and not too many 4 figure bills from the garage. The classic rangey/LR community are a helpful bunch and there are no end of resources out there, which can save you a fortune even if, like me, you are eager but fairly hopeless with the old spanners!

 

Good luck

[garethj]

Beep beep! KEYCODE LOCKOUT! SUNROOF NOT SET! TRANSMISSION TEMP! CHECK FUSE F8!!

It's all coming back to me. Gareth, you said you had something to do with the BECM..?     

 

I'm feeling like Uncle Albert with one of those "during the war" stories.

 

My first job after university was working at AB Automotive and one of the big projects was the P38.  We had a complete wiring harness set up in one of the labs laid out like a car, headlights at one end, tail lights at the other.  Everything was in there except for the engine management system as that was made by someone else and I remember we didn't make the main fusebox either - it was based on a PCB but to get enough current through the tracks the copper was about a millimetre thick.  Then to fit the huge PCB inside the small plastic box they routed away the fibreglass on the back of the board in one section and then bent the copper tracks around.  Wonder if that made it to production?

 

As well as the full size harness and of course all the modules that we designed for it (including the BeCM) we also had several prototype cars around to run the whole system.  I don't remember your KEYCODE LOCKOUT but I do remember the petrol flap not unlocking because one of the heatsinks in the BeCM had shorted the lid to a track on the board.

 

[chaseracer]

The current episode of Roadkill has suggested a possible solution to a question that has probably not been asked...

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

 

I had a drive of this today (not pictured).

 

 

The appeal of a high up driving position is still a mystery, but there's something to be said for carving through a road in a hermetically sealed container. The road and engine noise is as audible as anything else in the next postcode. Should the quiet become disquieting, there is a very competent sound system just above where you can make your side of the car slightly warmer than the other. 

 

 

Things I like:

- Buttons.

- Existence saves nice Talbot from salt ruination.

- Generally nice.

 

 

What I did not like:

- Manual warns not to use CD Autochanger during vigorous off roading, which ruins my dream of bouncing over sand dunes while listening to all six of the Dire Straits studio albums uninterrupted. 

 

[cort16]

picnic tables?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Map pockets.

[cort16]

scrap it

[Junkman]

I'm feeling like Uncle Albert with one of those "during the war" stories.

 

My first job after university was working at AB Automotive and one of the big projects was the P38.  We had a complete wiring harness set up in one of the labs laid out like a car, headlights at one end, tail lights at the other.  Everything was in there except for the engine management system as that was made by someone else and I remember we didn't make the main fusebox either - it was based on a PCB but to get enough current through the tracks the copper was about a millimetre thick.  Then to fit the huge PCB inside the small plastic box they routed away the fibreglass on the back of the board in one section and then bent the copper tracks around.  Wonder if that made it to production?

 

As well as the full size harness and of course all the modules that we designed for it (including the BeCM) we also had several prototype cars around to run the whole system.  I don't remember your KEYCODE LOCKOUT but I do remember the petrol flap not unlocking because one of the heatsinks in the BeCM had shorted the lid to a track on the board.

 

 

我感覺åƒè‰¾ä¼¯ç‰¹å¤§å”與“戰時â€çš„故事之一。

 

 

我大學畢業後的第一份工作是在AB汽車的工作和大項目之一是P38。我們有一個完整的線æŸä¸€ç«¯çš„佈局åƒä¸€å€‹æ±½è»Šå¯¦é©—室，大燈一æˆç«‹ï¼Œå°¾ç‡ˆåœ¨å…¶ä»–。一切都在那裡，除了發動機管ç†ç³»çµ±ï¼Œæ˜¯ç”±åˆ¥äººåšï¼Œæˆ‘記得我們並沒有使主ä¿éšªçµ²ç›’è¦ä¹ˆ - 它是基於一個PCB上，但打通軌é“銅約一毫米足夠的電æµåŽšã€‚然後，以é©æ‡‰å°å¡‘料盒他們離開路由玻纖電路æ¿ä¸Šçš„一個部分的背é¢ï¼Œç„¶å¾Œå½Žæ›²è£¡é¢çš„巨大的PCB銅跟踪å„地。ä¸çŸ¥é“這是å¦ä½¿å¾—它生產？

 

 

以åŠå…¨å°ºå¯¸å®‰å…¨å¸¶ï¼Œç•¶ç„¶æ‰€æœ‰æˆ‘們為它設計的模塊（包括BECM）我們也有幾個原型車繞來é‹è¡Œæ•´å€‹ç³»çµ±ã€‚我ä¸è¨˜å¾—ä½ çš„KEYCODEå°éŽ–，但我記得未解鎖因為BECM散熱器之一短路了蓋å­åˆ°æ¿ä¸Šçš„軌é“汽油瓣。

[Captain Furious]

Ultimately it was the inevitability of electrical issues that put me off, I'm fairly competent with spanners and even conventional electrics, but the idea that they have about 20 different ECU's and you need umpteen thousand pounds worth of diagnostic kit to even start to fault find

 

Not going to lie though, I am incredibly jealous that you've had the balls to walk where I feared to tread

[Rusty_Rocket]

GarethJ, that's fascinating (I say that as a life-long Landy Licker- LLLL) 

Keycode lockout- when the battery goes flat in the remote and the EKA won't work because the driver's door lock hasn't been used since it was made! You then wait for two hours for the AA to recover you and your girlfriend doesn't talk to you for two days.

Junkman, that looks so very smart. They look (and ride) so well on the 16" wheels.

[Timewaster]

Friend of a friend has just changed his RR for a crew cab Land Rover saying EVERY time he went to the garage with the RR the bill was 4 figures.

 

Every single time.

 

I'm not sure if it was the later model or a tarted P38.

 

I quite fancy one, or a Disco 3 bit I haven't got the balls or pockets for either.

 

I say the P38 horror stories are a good thing. Why else would they be so affordable to buy?

[Junkman]

Why does everyone try his best to come across like he would thoroughly enjoy if it shat itself?

This car has provided faithful service for twenty years and I can only find two ever so slightly four digit repair bills in the stack,

and that only because the fucking VAT alone was in the 175 quid region each time. That is insane, not the repair bills as such.

 

So far it hasn't put a foot wrong, everything works, bar that stupid SRS light, which can hardly be a biggie.

Why is it, that for every other car advice for fixing this would be volunteered, but for this one only doom and gloom stories

on the level of pub talk at 1am come forward?

Were it a fucking Mercedes, it would inevitably be borked, because they are tosh, but everyone would share stories he heard

about their legendary dependability.

 

Much more interesting is the fact, that the invoices I have at hand correspond beautifully with the MoT advisory notices,

which means, those have been taken care of. This tells me a lot about the previous owner, who, being a Dr, obviously didn't

have to skimp on the upkeep and very evidently didn't, which is further proven by four fairly new matched Vredesteins,

which alone account for ca. 60% of the purchase price.

 

This in conjunction with the overall condition, the total lack of mongtardisation, less than 86,000 miles on the clock from new

and it even not having a tow bar, makes me think, that of all the available hopeless heaps out there, I got at least the least

horsey people one.

 

And yes, the eagle eyed among you have spotted the unbearable upholstery material. Yes, this was a major issue for me,

but all the things I saw on the plus side ultimately outweighed it. Just.

But I bet one single post on some OLLI forum (oh no, not another one of those Rover forums, I despair!) will yield some

country bumpkin, who will happily swap his nice velours seats for this shit. Time will tell, but atm I sadly have other things to do.

 

I'm looking forward to the MoT next week and with what stupid horseshit those pharisaic donks will manage to annoy me.

 

In the meantime, some tips how to address that SRS thingy would actually be a bit appreciated, you know.

 

And the only serious fault I found so far is that I now have to walk all the way to the cashier's at Morrison's when I want to brim it,

because the card thingy at the pump only allows me to fill a ton's worth. This thing is just one First World problem after the other.

[Jim Bergerac]

For the airbag light, have you checked the connectors under the seat?

[Eddie Honda]

 

In the meantime, some tips how to address that SRS thingy would actually be a bit appreciated, you know.

 

 

I've said before and say it again. Just take the fucking bulb out.

[Junkman]

For the airbag light, have you checked the connectors under the seat?

 

No I haven't and I guess you could very well be right.

The SRS light wasn't on when I viewed it. I even didn't notice it after I sat in it and started it to drive away, which doesn't necessarily mean a thing,

because I'm an oaf, but if it's true, it could actually be, that it came on after I adjusted the seat, which was probably for the first time in a decade.

So yes, this could have disturbed a connector that was in hibernation for years.

 

Are there any precautions I have to take before I mess around with this connector?

I know nothing about this post real men padded nonsense.

 

I've said before and say it again. Just take the fucking bulb out.

 

Repairing the fault might actually be easier.

[Ghosty]

Oi! You're ten minutes early.

[Eddie Honda]

Precautions yeah, bullet proof vest and take the fuse out for the SRS and go and have a dump, smoke and coffee and you'll be good to go.

[Junkman]

Your HVAC is broken.

What's a HVAC?

[Ghosty]

It's an acronym for Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning.

 

In other words, fan.