Hey Everyone,

I haven't participated in this forum in over 5 years when I last had a 03 D2 and 06RRS that I was fixing up. That said I took a LR hiatus for a while until the LR disease pulled me back in. I've decided to buy a 1999 P38 4.0 that was at a budget price that came with a bunch of extra goodies. I have no intentions to use this truck as a daily, this is just a gateway back into the LR fold and a new puzzle to have fun with. With this said, I'm taking a very pragmatic approach to this truck in truly understanding the issues it has rather than the "while I was in there" approach of just replacing parts.



Background: I bought the truck from the previous owner who had it as a daily driver up until the EAS pump gave in and at that point he parked it and put it up for sale. Truck came with a few spare parts, Hawkeye computer, set of 4 Mondial wheels fully refinished in gloss black never mounted and a few extra bits and bobs. I knew I was buying someone else's problem and didn't really care for the issues that I might run into as I have enough experience to repair just about anything and have a reasonable understanding of the mechanics behind this generation of LR's.



So far I've rebuild the EAS pump only to find out the valve block is also leaking (will rebuild soon), and I had an engine knock as well as high temp once the vehicle was warmed up. Turns out the engine wasn't overheating but the sensor was defective. Once I replaced the sensor the temps were back in range. As for the engine knock I diaged as an oil pressure problem as when I switched to 15W40 t4 the knock was very mild once the engine was to operating themp and I also confirmed the oil pressure using a mechanical gauge.

I decided I was going to do a poor man's rebuild (oil pump, timing gears and chain, main and rod bearings) to resolve my engine issue. I decided that I wasn't going to pull the heads as they looked like they were done not that long ago given the ARP studs and the non oily cleanliness of them. I've done the front cover timing job in car on my old D2 before and I've seen people do the bearings with the engine still in car but I decided that for the little effort to pull the engine it would be easier to go this route.




I pulled the engine in November and the weather got too cold to continue to work. Last weekend I finally got around to replacing the main and rod bearings. Crank, Cam, tappets, rods were all in relatively good condition, mild amounts of copper showing on the upper rod bearing shells but otherwise mostly good. Took advantage of the solvent parts washer at work to clean up a few bits also.




The bad news is the front cover and oil pump was mostly scored, this explains my low rpm hot engine knock I suspect.




This bring you up to speed, check in anytime I will post pictures of progress and possibly questions as I may have them.

 

Here's a link to another post I made in regards to the debate around a new front cover replacement. https://landroverforums.com/forum/ra...enuine-121469/
I won't double post moving forward and will keep all the content to this thread.

 

Awesome! Once you’ve got it sorted you’ll love your P38. I’m glad you’re going to the effort to sort out the EAS. They are a little glitchy but EAS is very good both on and off road. There’s a good reason why LR still uses air suspension on their new vehicles. I’ll try to find the name of the company that I ordered my rebuild kit for the valve block from.

 

X8R is the company. For some reason I can’t copy and paste today. If you google something like X8R P38 you should find it.

 

thanks, that’s where I got my compressor rebuild kit, will try them on the valve block.

 

If anyone has a good condition front cover for sale please let me know. I have an oil pump at had to freshen one up. I will also take advise and post in the d2 group to see if anyone chimes in.

 

Found this one on e-bay for $80 USD https://www.ebay.ca/itm/126353105076...&segname=11051

I would change the oil pump but otherwise would you say this one is in good serviceable condition?

 

I can’t open your link, but if it’s a good looking used cover, I would agree.

 

Made some progress on the engine re-assembly this weekend. Bottom end is now re assembled with new rod and main bearings and new timing chain and gears are installed... Ordered a good used cover from e-bay that I will clean up, install new oil pump and service pressure relief valve.

Question, I removed all the tappets and rods and in the process to close the valves so that I could rotate the crank while I was installing the new bearings so that I don't interfere with open valves. I let most of the tappets drain of oil as they were stored (in order of placement on the engine) on their sides. I let them sit in oil for a few days in hopes of re-priming before I install them... Should they all feel rock solid or click a little when you push on them? maybe they will all feel a little different until they properly prime under oil pressure?

Took also the opportunity of having all the valves closed to do a cylinder leak down test. All the cylinders came back with with minor leaking from the rings and not valves with the exception of one piston. I suspect the rings may not be fully seated or possibly have some carbon buildup. It was leaking down between 20-25% on that piston from the rings. The other cylinders were also leaking from the rings at first until I oiled the rings and pistons from the back side through he crankcase and rotated the crank a few times with the engine upside down for the rings to fully seat and lubricate the cylinder walls properly. Debating on pulling the heads and maybe changing the rings on this specific piston. The block already has arp studs that I can reuse...

Has anyone ever retrofitted a D2 "180 deg genuine grey" thermostat somehow on a P38. I'd be curious if someone had some interesting plumbing ideas as I have two new genuine 180 deg stat sitting around from a previous project that I never used. Alternatively I seen the inline option but would rather save the $100 if I could.

As for brake lines, I am going to be replacing all the lines on the truck before the engine goes back in. Going to look for a 2''/40mm extended brake hose kit in case I want to do a lift of some sort down the road. Does anyone have any recommendations? I seen this Terra Firma Option https://terrafirmafactoryracing.com/...-02-6-line-kit that seems comprehensive and also this Britpart option https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221191381998 that I suspect doesn't come with the correct body clips but the lack of images leave me wondering if it comes with all six hoses or just 4. As for the rigid lines, I don't seen any pre make kits like for the D2, does anyone have any recommendations for making new ones? was probably going to get some nickel coper line and make my own, just need to figure out the proper line diameter.

 

I’ll try to answer a few questions, although I’m definitely not an expert.
I also would probably go for a 2” longer brake hose kit, but remember that your EAS already gives you a 2” lift at the push of a button. I don’t have specific experience with replacement brake hoses, but Britpart is generally thought of as being on the lower quality end of the spectrum, with TerraFirma right behind. But I think both brands often offer a couple of different quality levels.
I would highly recommend doing the In-line T-stat mod. I’ve done it on my GEMS P38. I haven’t done it to my Disco 2 yet, as I had just replaced all my cooling system hoses before learning about it.
Once again, you should post your engine questions in the D2 part of the forum. Unfortunately this part of the forum doesn’t get a lot of traffic. There’s a lot of good Rover V8 experience there.