Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - L322 Improvements

[Asimo]

[horriblemercedes]

Seems like a bit of a bargain if it's as nice as it looks

[Schaefft]

25 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

Seems like a bit of a bargain if it's as nice as it looks

Unfortunately the clearcoat peel has advanced quite a bit. That's the drama with cars of this age, they can be well cared for low mileage examples and still look like a beater unless you spend double what the car is worth for a respray. It still ended up in good hands though which rarely is the case for one of these.

[Schaefft]

Took the Range Rover to the Metrocentre yesterday, one of the metal tire valve caps had seized onto the valve and cutting it off I unfortunately cut a little too deep. I dropped it off at the Halfords service centre nextdoor to have it replaced. Because this is a Range Rover I was greeted not once but twice or three times with the following error message on our way there:

Oh boy, now might be a good moment to start looking for some capable diagnostics kit. To be fair though, I doubt it'll be anything other than a height sensor that ended up in a position it's usually not in when taking a few crests too enthusiastically. The ride height is perfectly level at all times and the error is not popping up when getting into the car (when the compressor would run to level out the car).

Getting the Range Rover back I noticed that the remote fob now doesn't work anymore. I've tried to relearn it (no success but the new LR keys might have a different procedure to the BMW ones?) and checked the fuse which was fine. Unfortunately the second fob I got with the car doesn't seem to work at all, it can't even start the car. The batteries in these keys aren't easily replaceable so either both key batteries died or someone dropped it a little too hard. I can't figure out why it wouldn't work otherwise. How can you be mad at it when you have such luxurious features as a built-in TV though!

While checking the fuses I thought why not pop the trim off and check why the rear wiper isn't working:

Well, turns out a decision was made to pump the washer fluid straight through the motor, which eventually starts leaking and seizes up which appears to have happened to mine as well. Applying voltage to the connector resulted in no movement no matter how much pursuationv(with a hammer) I applied to it.

It's still a great car/truck/whatever though. I'm hoping to find the motivation to start tearing into it once we are back from the holidays. Most of its issues should be fairly easy to sort, fingers crossed it'll stay that way.

[DirtyDaily]

When i had my RR i changed a tyre and jacking the car up unearthed a strut leak. Replaced the strut and it was all good again, relatively cheap for the dunlop unit as well.
Icarsoft LR is the equipment i use and it tends to be good for that sort of thing.
Have you tried pressing the weird button to see if that cures your issue?

[J-T]

Rear wipers are nearly always broken for this reason and I think replacements are about £250.

[Schaefft]

2 minutes ago, DirtyDaily said:

When i had my RR i changed a tyre and jacking the car up unearthed a strut leak. Replaced the strut and it was all good again, relatively cheap for the dunlop unit as well.
Icarsoft LR is the equipment i use and it tends to be good for that sort of thing.
Have you tried pressing the weird button to see if that cures your issue?

The air suspension error came up before it arrived at Halfords but any crest taken at speed will extend the strut similarly I guess. I didnt get the error at all on my way back so I will have to monitor it over time. And yeah, iCarsoft might be an option, I have it for Mercedes which makes it the cheapest option for proper diagnostics by far for pre-OBD2 Merc stuff but maybe Im lucky and find a cheap GAP tool. And no, the weird button didn't make a difference. I know what its for now though, it disables the ignition when the the ignition lock cylinder for whatever reason still thinks the key hasn't been removed. That button is a hack to force shut-off the system by taking power away from the powertrain fuses lol. Faulty ignition cylinders are apparently another common issue in the L322, who would have thought...

[DSdriver]

Is the weird button next to the "Do Not Press This Button" button?

[Schaefft]

5 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

Is the weird button next to the "Do Not Press This Button" button?

Its a strange toggle button. I spoke to the RR specialist who replaced the gearbox for me and he said he has seen them on several L322 but has no clue what they are for. That was quite the surprise, unless its a common hack I can only imagine that it was repurposed on mine.

[Schaefft]

Things have been quiet over the last 2 weeks as we've been on holidays in Greece. Right before we left the MG returned from it's MOT test (now with 12 months test and a complete exhaust again, although I still have to replace the old exhaust clamps) and the Citroen C6 roffle win was collected by @Talbot who is thoroughly enjoying* ownership of it I'm sure.

Since our flights were going from Edinburgh (as Newcastle only has the worst connections) I had to elect a suitable vehicle to reliably get us to and back from the airport. I've chosen the black Lincoln, mainly since it hasn't been driven much in a year, is generally dependable and still has a German reg, meaning no speeding/parking ticket worries should we end up being in a rush... I also just cleaned it:

I did somehow forget that the broken blend door actuator arm (which is a notorious issue with these) means we didn't have any heat... The ditch finders that the dealer put on 8 years ago trying to sell it for basically forever didn't help on damp morning roads either. We still made good time though and parked close to the airport (couple quid for the bus vs. 100 quid parking).

Arriving in Greece it was time for rental car roulette. Only there I remembered that I didn't bring my driver's license. With stays on multiple small islands without proper public transport that was a bit of an issue. The great news is, with plenty of rental car places run by family/two dudes sitting on plastic chairs most of the day a photo usually is enough. Rental #1: 2012 Hyundai i10 without any suspension bushings left for 30Euros/day on Kythnos:

Verdict: If you ignore the insane suspension clunks, actually not bad. The facelift elevated it into something remotely feeling like a car from the 2010s, being a bottom of the barrel base trim it could have been from the 90s otherwise.

Moving on, the next island was Sifnos. Its compact and the bus service actually really good, no rental car needed there.

Island #3 and rental #2: Naxos, with a 2020 Fiat Panda 1.2 base model for 35Euros/day. Identical to the one we had there 2 years ago, just white. Decent car, didn't even take a photo so here's it's clone from google maps:

I was hoping for a VW Up! as I have never driven one but oh well.

The last, and busiest, island was Mykonos. The first place we tried didn't want to give us a car without a driver's license on hand (somewhat surprisingly, it didn't seem like its the type of place that would care all too much as they only need the document details, it's the police that'd want the proper license). We walked another 20mins from the port towards town and the first place I tried was perfectly happy with a photo. Rental car #3: 2023 Fiat 500 Hybrid with leaky tire for 50Euros/day, plus 10 Euro airport drop-off (bargain).

After my GF's 2015 500 Lounge and a 500 Convertible with some automated gearbox non-sense that might have been the worst car I've ever rented, this would be 3rd 500 of this generation I have driven (unless you also count the Ypsilon with the same drivetrain). They are all gutless but perfectly capable for zipping around twisty mountain at 50mph max. Having driven the Panda and i10 earlier, 500s still are by far the most stylish cheap car generally available.

It won't surprise most here but style and desirability of a particular car are existing in a completely different context in Greece. When the automotive landscape is still largely defined by bottom spec sub-compacts, beat-up 90s Toyota Corollas, Hyundai Atos's and generally very worn out, tired looking chod even a beat to shit base model CLK actually appears like quite the stand-out car. I think I've seen a total of 2 Range Rovers (L322s) in Athens and any of the islands combined.

We got back to Edinburgh at 10pm yesterday. Fortunately the Lincoln was still in the spot where we left it and started right up (disconnected the battery to make sure...). However, now in daylight I can see that parking it under a tree for 2 weeks didn't do it any favors:

Definitely time for another wash then... I've gone through a few cars to make sure they didn't flatten their battery (MG ZT, Range Rover, BMW E65) while we were gone and they all started right up (only the RR briefly gave my an engine malfunction warning, naturally).

I replaced a hydraulic oil pipe o-ring on the E65 before I left to see if I could cure its eternal leak under the passenger side front. I couldn't feel any fresh oil on the pipe so I topped up the reservoir and will cross my fingers that this is finally sorted now...

Coming back from holidays always works a little bit like a reset button. There's a lot of cars around here and I definitely need to reduce the numbers again. I still want to get rid of the XJR, if anyone is interested in a decent MG ZTT190+ with lots of new parts but still in need of a timing belt, let me know!

[Talbot]

22 hours ago, Schaefft said:

the Citroen C6 roffle win was collected by @Talbot who is thoroughly enjoying* ownership of it I'm sure.

Actually yes.  It's surprisingly worry-free for me, have fixed a few items that needed sorting, and have generally just been wafting about in it getting surprisingly good fuel economony on long runs and generally not remembering any part of said longer journies.  Nearly 2000 miles completed so far.

[Schaefft]

17 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Actually yes.  It's surprisingly worry-free for me, have fixed a few items that needed sorting, and have generally just been wafting about in it getting surprisingly good fuel economony on long runs and generally not remembering any part of said longer journies.  Nearly 2000 miles completed so far.

That's awesome to hear. I know it's cosmetically rough but feel like with a little bit of attention will keep going for the foreseeable future.

[Schaefft]

Finally, actual progress! Its been a while since I've actually fixed anything on my cars, health issues over the last few weeks didn't help. However, with the local pub landlord wanting his carpark back (only took 8 months) it was time to get some work done on some of the cars parked there. They all ended up in that car park and not on my property for a reason.

First up was the Audi S8. Remember that one? The last thing I had done on it was cut off a bonnet striker after the release cable became dislodged, making it impossible to release the bonnet. That was a frustrating-enough experience to leave all things Audi right there. Several months later I should probably crack on and finally install that replacement oil pressure switch to ensure the engine is still good.

Surprisingly it started right up so it earned itself a wash. I'll see when I can find the time to get back to it. That's one car down.

Before we move on it was time to replace the coolant hose that gave me so much trouble when I picked up the Range Rover. Whoever installed it previously tore the thing and probably never put it back on right, hence it popping off on the motorway. Note the replacement coming with a yellow clip keeping the clamp decompressed. Land Rover clearly acknowledges there what an absolute pita that job really is.

The upper port in the photo is for the charge pipe, the coolant hose attaches somewhere deep down below, with hard lines and wiring looms taking up all the space you'd need to get a proper grip on the hose to push it back on:

I eventually got it on somehow by kneeing on top of the engine. No idea how I managed to do this during the collection caper without any real tools. Its done now, never again.

The RR was then pressed into use by towing the parts donor E39 into the paddock as it naturally doesn't run. The front bumper is too tall to push the Bimmer into its space though. I tried with the rugged Caprice before but in a wet field you really need the SuperHandling-AWD of a Honda Legend to get the job done!

At that point I already moved the Ivory Lincoln Mark VIII. My plan of using Lucas Transmission Fix to get the car going actually worked out. Where I had 5 neutrals before I now appear to have both forward and reverse gears! Obviously the gearbox still needs replacing but being able to move the car again is a huge plus. Gearbox rebuilt in a bottle works!

Today was the day to finally get the SL moving. The fuel pump died beginning of the year (right when it was time to get the car here) so that needed replacing. Fortunately I had a brand new pump in the 500SEC Coupe thats becoming more and more of a parts donor. Step 1, jack up the car:

Step 2, spend 20 minutes draining the tank while bathing in gasoline:

Step 3: Find out that the pump was a cheapo replacement. Not sure how long it lasted but whoever was in there before didn't do the greatest job either. I removed the pump from the S-Class Coupe and voila, we have a running SL500 again:

This car still needs complete recommissioning, the last thing I did was trying to extinguish the ESP and ABS lights. The ESP pre-charge pump has seized up and finding a replacement proved to be difficult to put it lightly. I might still continue the process though, maybe by the time everything else is sorted I got a replacement pump from god knows where.

This only leaves us with the 500SEC, which is currently the only non-runner around here. I'm still torn what to do with it. Its a rust free, low mileage car that would be worth a fair amount of money if it was in decent shape. With a leaky headgasket and possible gearbox issues, plus terrible paint, its hard to justify putting the money into it though. It's not like I don't have enough projects around here either...

[Dave_Q]

Just in case your barge stocks are running low, this looks lovely and a 2.7t manual must be relatively rare and good to drive.

https://ebay.us/m/RSHPdP

 

[Bear]

On 05/10/2025 at 20:06, Schaefft said:

 

This only leaves us with the 500SEC, which is currently the only non-runner around here. I'm still torn what to do with it. Its a rust free, low mileage car that would be worth a fair amount of money if it was in decent shape. With a leaky headgasket and possible gearbox issues, plus terrible paint, its hard to justify putting the money into it though. It's not like I don't have enough projects around here either...

I would, one day, be tempted to take on rebuilding a 500 SEC. I trust Mercedes engineering to do what the workshop manual says - I let my last one go because it had a little rust and a lot of home/building/life stress happened.

But I'd need to have money to do something with it 😕 and that would involve finding my way back from Unemployedtraumaville.

[Schaefft]

14 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

Just in case your barge stocks are running low, this looks lovely and a 2.7t manual must be relatively rare and good to drive.

https://ebay.us/m/RSHPdP

 

I've considered bidding on this one when it was up for auction in Newcastle a few months back (it went for about a grand iirc), looks like it's new owner is happy to pass it on already. The 2.7 Biturbo isn't the easiest engine to deal with at that age. Wish I could find a 2.8 quattro with the manual, low miles and a really nice spec. Not easy in the UK.

3 minutes ago, Bear said:

I would, one day, be tempted to take on rebuilding a 500 SEC. I trust Mercedes engineering to do what the workshop manual says - I let my last one go because it had a little rust and a lot of home/building/life stress happened.

But I'd need to have money to do something with it 😕 and that would involve finding my way back from Unemployedtraumaville.

That S500 Coupe really isn't giving me an easy time. There are a few things that really play in it's favor (low miles, no rust, beautiful black interior) but it's issues really require a lot of money and time to be spent on it. I love my 500SEL (that I also need to find somebody to weld a jacking point on) and the SL500 will take a bit of time to get back on the road as well. The Coupe feels somewhat obsolete falling between the two so it's hard to justify keeping it. But then find another one😬

Since the SL was mentioned, it received a bath today. Realistically needs a complete respray too but V8 R129 values (especially in the future) might justify spending the money a little more. I also like it's Smoke Silver color much more than the Coupes...

[Bear]

I'm finding SL500s down a bit this year, but not the best ones, just the bottom of the market has more to offer. Unfortunately I'm still months away from a legal thing finishing so just shoving things on dream list - but plenty of promising M119s on there in four figures still whereas two years ago it felt like £10K minimum 😕

Of course LHD changes everything...

[Schaefft]

3 minutes ago, Bear said:

I'm finding SL500s down a bit this year, but not the best ones, just the bottom of the market has more to offer. Unfortunately I'm still months away from a legal thing finishing so just shoving things on dream list - but plenty of promising M119s on there in four figures still whereas two years ago it felt like £10K minimum 😕

Of course LHD changes everything...

Mine is RHD, I just slapped a German plate on it to temporarily avoid issues of parking it on the street without MOT before...

And yeah, it seems like prices indeed come down across the board. With this one likely to stick around for the long run I'm looking at the longer term though. Like so many cars in Britain the SL is still very much undervalued compared to everywhere else. This being a facelift model with the 5-speed, yet still with the good M119 engine makes it a little more desirable. On the other hand it's not a low mileage example at over 130k. I paid so little for it that it's worth doing up though.

[Bear]

2 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Mine is RHD, I just slapped a German plate on it to temporarily avoid issues of parking it on the street without MOT before...

And yeah, it seems like prices indeed come down across the board. With this one likely to stick around for the long run I'm looking at the longer term though. Like so many cars in Britain the SL is still very much undervalued compared to everywhere else. This being a facelift model with the 5-speed, yet still with the good M119 engine makes it a little more desirable. On the other hand it's not a low mileage example at over 130k. I paid so little for it that it's worth doing up though.

I remember yours is M119 and 722.6 and remain jealous AF

[angle]

17 hours ago, Bear said:

I'm finding SL500s down a bit this year, but not the best ones, just the bottom of the market has more to offer. Unfortunately I'm still months away from a legal thing finishing so just shoving things on dream list - but plenty of promising M119s on there in four figures still whereas two years ago it felt like £10K minimum 😕

Of course LHD changes everything...

I posted this in another thread - but early, high spec SL500 in Bornite for four figures...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202510026816962

 

[Schaefft]

58 minutes ago, angle said:

I posted this in another thread - but early, high spec SL500 in Bornite for four figures...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202510026816962

 

Yeah I've seen it, one of the best colors you can get these in, although it's a color that's looking even better on the W124 and W140 (I still like two-tone Blauschwarz Metallic/Grey a little more though). It's the pre-facelift interior that dates them a little now but that doesn't have to be a problem.

In other news, with the Alfa 166 not blocked in by other cars in it's corner I finally took it for a few journeys yesterday and today. Such a fun car, you  simply cannot drive this car like a normal person.

Where on other cars you cruise along at 2k the Busso sounds more at home at 4k!

Not exactly a big car by today's standards either...

[Schaefft]

Found a couple of hours after work to sort one of the most annoying things that were left to do on the Range Rover: the malfunctioning park distance control beeping like crazy whenever you put the car in reverse. I still haven't bothered with buying any diagnostics kit to figure out what exactly was wrong with it. Fortunately its pretty easy to tell whether a sensor is working or not (which is usually the culprit), even with the system shutting down when faulty. Hold your ear against the sensor and they should rapidly click. 3 out of 4 sensors on the back didn't (very unusual) so I ordered 3 used sensors in Java Black for a whopping 25 quid incl. postage from ebay. And off the bumper went:

I was immediately greeted by this sight:

I've noticed an additional relay wired into the fusebox (and then cut out) in the back before but couldn't tell what it was supposed to be for. We'll find out in a minute.

Switching all the pdc sensors with the single known good one quickly revealed that the sensors actually all worked fine aside from one (which might have been one from the batch I ordered from ebay) so its either the wiring or pdc module that must be the issue here. The module and connectors looked perfectly fine so it was time to measure some ohms...

And there we go. Despite being routed correctly the protective sleeving has worn through the insulation in not one but two separate locations, causing corrosion and the sensors being dead:

Yeah, that'll do it. As it turns out I probably didn't need to order any sensors after all but it'll be good to have some spares.

Reconnected the loom for final testing, I'm happy to announce the park distance control is working as intended again, hooray! I've insulated it all properly to hopefully not cause any issues in the future.

What about that relay though?

Well, turns out it must have been for a pair of additional lights underneath the back bumper as one of the supply lines came straight from the reverse light. I've ripped all the obsolete wiring out (which was actually quite a lot) returning it all into factory condition. Always a very satifying thing to do. The last thing left back here is getting a pair of reverse light bulbs:

For whatever reason only the left side was replaced with an LED which fell apart when I pulled it. At this point I'd like to mentioned how much people in this country are getting scammed when buying bulbs. You have to pay over 10 quid for a pair of decent H6W bulbs when you could get a 10 pack of Osrams for less than that ordered from Germany (not incl. postage). Absolutely mental.

In other news, the Infiniti has swapped places with the ex- @HMC / @bramz7 Alfa 156 that has been waiting in line for an MOT for over a year. I don't have any plans for driving the Infiniti during the cold months and really need to make space around here so the 156 finally gets its moment.

After not driving it for a year its just as great as I remember it. The pulling power of the 20V JTDM from 2000rpm up to 4000 is unreal, the 5-cylinder soundtrack so good. It also helped that despite longterm storage it started right up, no flat tires, weak battery (previously disconnected) or other trouble whatsoever aside from a sticking blinker relay (common fault, fixed itself after keeping the hazards on over night). The longterm ownership of the previous-previous owner really paid off with this one, its a great example. It does need toleave though as there might be a new arrival soon. I'll do the CV boot (and now outer joint after some angry attempts at replacing the former) and see if it needs anything else for the test. It'll need some tickling with the sparkly stick on the driverside sill eventually but it seems solid enough to make it through another test without too much trouble. It'll be up for roffle soon unless someone is interested in an outright purchase.

In other other news, the E39 540i Touring next to the Infiniti above had its ABS module sent off to be rebuilt. Turns out its so fucked that it can't be rebuilt. Unfortunately manual E39 540i with DSC are a very rare breed and the module specific to them. If you happen to know someone who's breaking one, let me know....

[gm]

this popped up, any interest for you @Schaefft ? can’t be many of these left 

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CgUW6hU63/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

[Schaefft]

Just now, gm said:

this popped up, any interest for you @Schaefft ? can’t be many of these left 

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CgUW6hU63/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

Already texted the guy a few weeks ago. No cat, doesn't run, LPG and starting to get crusty so in need of the same bodywork as all the others. Thanks for sharing it though, maybe one day!

[gm]

what a shame, were these v6 ? or just plain old v-tec ? 

[Split_Pin]

Good shout on the PDC diagnosis trick, I will try that on mine. The LR specific icarsoft I bought is absolute garbage and connects to barely anything on the car, including the PDC system which I wanted to check as it is also malfunctioning. So I would not recommend it.

GAP IID items come up on ebay regularly for about £350-£500, a bit beyond what I am prepared to pay for a one-make scanner but it is meant to be the best.

[83C]

3 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Good shout on the PDC diagnosis trick, I will try that on mine. The LR specific icarsoft I bought is absolute garbage and connects to barely anything on the car, including the PDC system which I wanted to check as it is also malfunctioning. So I would not recommend it.

GAP IID items come up on ebay regularly for about £350-£500, a bit beyond what I am prepared to pay for a one-make scanner but it is meant to be the best.

I’m really surprised that the iCarsoft isn’t working, it’s been great on mine. What I would say is that sometimes you do need to select an alternative model year to find everything. 

[Schaefft]

51 minutes ago, gm said:

what a shame, were these v6 ? or just plain old v-tec ? 

They are all a 3.2 V6, UK models are automatic only but most other markets could have them with a 5-speed manual as well. The US and Japan even got a more powerful version with a 6-speed eventually. Normally they are quite desirable cars but there doesn't seem to be a single one in the UK that's not a rot box or bodged to not look like one.

22 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Good shout on the PDC diagnosis trick, I will try that on mine. The LR specific icarsoft I bought is absolute garbage and connects to barely anything on the car, including the PDC system which I wanted to check as it is also malfunctioning. So I would not recommend it.

GAP IID items come up on ebay regularly for about £350-£500, a bit beyond what I am prepared to pay for a one-make scanner but it is meant to be the best.

16 minutes ago, 83C said:

I’m really surprised that the iCarsoft isn’t working, it’s been great on mine. What I would say is that sometimes you do need to select an alternative model year to find everything. 

The icarsoft I got for Mercedes models is probably the best option to an official Star diagnostics kit so I'm surprised it wouldn't do PDC on a Range Rover. I'm hoping to not need it anytime soon!

[Split_Pin]

56 minutes ago, 83C said:

I’m really surprised that the iCarsoft isn’t working, it’s been great on mine. What I would say is that sometimes you do need to select an alternative model year to find everything. 

Mine is a 2004 and I selected 2002-2005, do you think I'd have more luck  with the 2006-2012 years?

[DirtyDaily]

Mine is a 2004 and I selected 2002-2005, do you think I'd have more luck  with the 2006-2012 years?

Is it jaguar land rover your icarsoft? My thinking would be that because its pre 2006 it will use the bmw diagnosis software not the ford stuff. My icarsoft is JLR and worked on reading everything on my old range rover and this very range rover too.