Vehicle & Technical > Range Rover

P 38's.......

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suggs:
not sure why but the V8 Disco normaly dosent suffer with the same problems less electronics for a start, hardly ever here of a engine failing, the 4.0 is defo more reliable than a 4.6

if you go for a Disco dont settle for less than the ES model with full leather etc..

H

Grant:
I've owned a 4.0 SE and now a 4.6 HSE. They arent as bad reliability wise as people say but you have to keep on top of the maintenance and learn a lot about the cars so you dont get ripped off.

4.0 and 4.6 share the same block, they can both suffer from slipped cylinder liners. The key is to keep the cooling system in top condition so the engine is not allowed to overheat. Clogged radiators & hoses, knackered stats etc are the main cause of problems. The 4.0 in my last P38 had pressurisation & coolant loss so i ended up selling it a huge loss- the reason? I allowed the rad to clog.

I replaced the ABS pump for about £250 with a used part & bled the brake system with the use of a RAVE cd. These are an absolute necessity with a P38.

EAS, love it. Again not as bad as people say and you have to keep on top of the maintenance. If you see the air springs cracking around the bottoms change them before you go into fault mode. Compressor becoming noisy, rebuild it. Air springs are only £60 now and there are simple, cheap rebuild kits for the rest of the parts. You can get cheap manual inflation kits if the system failing worries you

HEVAC can be problematic, make sure it can direct hot & cold air to both directions or the blend motors are probably gone, nasty job

I considered an SII disco, well worth a look, it was a close call but i preferred the interior, visibility and found it nicer to drive

I'd avoid the DSE, they barely move!

Dont be put off by the naysayers, they're great machines

good luck!

www.rangerovers.net

heres mine, couldnt be happier with it!

Range Rover Blues:
I've got to say the cheaper P38 look dated now (though the better ones still have class) and havn't aged as nicley as the classic.

the big repair bills put me off for a long time but now I've bought rovacom lite it's not such a problem, easy to use etc etc.

I love EAS on my classic LSE but it's not the last word in extreme off-roading, good ofr a standard car though.

I'm told one of the reasons 4.4s suffer form slipped liners more than 4.0 is because the 'box holds the higher gears longer in an effort to maintain economy.  This leads to the top of the liner heating more than the bottom and starting tha damage.  It's often a cracked block, not porous at all (porous is a bit of a misnoma).  It can be avoided by good maintenance and thoughtful driving, use kickdown, that's what it's there for.

Grant:
Have you tried the Arnott gen III airbags? apparently tougher & longer travel

Fuel mapping on GEMS engined P38's is usually blamed for the 4.6 having more failures. Tornado chips are said to solve it but i'm not sure about spending so much on them, if its going to overheat its cause its not cooling properly

Its matured, not aged!  :wink:  Clear lenses & facelift headlights freshen it up but at the end of the day it was launched 12 years ago. i prefer it to the L322 anyway

suggs:
i think as RRB said above the later P38's still look up market i would say a 2001 onwards Vogue would be the car to go for, it has the best interior with more wood and includes inbuilt sat-nav, i looked at one that i fell in love with 2001 4.6 Vogue in a nice dark metalic green, it had 22inch alloys the interior was all colour matched with lightstone leather piped green with green carpets stunning car, but had high mileage and the owner turned out to be a trader who was trying to make out he was a private seller he wanted £12000 for it but he kept telling porkys, so i said i wasnt interested he then tried to sell me another P38 that was parked up the road, a T reg total dog so we bid him fairwell lol..

i would seriosly consider a late top of the range soft dash classic as an option, i think the classic RR still has something special about them and your get a nice one for a lot less than a P38

i straight swoped a 2001 70k TD5 Disco XS with a dealer for my current V8 ES which is a 2000 with 35k 1 owner full history. if i had cash he would have sold me the V8 for £9000, i just looked on autotrader and rang up all the traders with V8 ES's and asked if they wanted a swop with the view a TD5 will sell quicker than a V8, most of them still wanted me to give them cash on top, but one didnt and thats the car ive got..

you dont ask you dont get




H :wink:

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