Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: doz on 05 April 2013, 23:09:45
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Been thinking of one these for a while. Will V8 on LPG or the 2.5 fat burner. Lots about I'm aware of the air suspension issues. 2.5 is apparently the BMW unit so guess it's the same as the Omega one. Any other issues? Is the fat burner a chain or cambelt?
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2.5 bmw unit is chain.
the 2.5 in an omega wouldnt have pulled you out of bed so, no idea what it would be like in a rangie.
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the p 38 as a car is crap...as a garden feature brilliant...it will spend more time with you under the bonnet...they look good value for money but trust me they are useless..2.5 diesel is slow and drinks diesel it does 5 mpg more than a petrol v8...go for a good disco 1 or 2 td5 is the best
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2.5 bmw unit is chain.
the 2.5 in an omega wouldnt have pulled you out of bed so, no idea what it would be like in a rangie.
We've got one at work. It's hopeless. No performance, poor economy and unreliable. Avoid.
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I've had a couple of em, lovely cars to drive but can drain you of your hard earned cash quite easily. Fat burners are in my opinion very underpowered, a lot of car weight for only 134BHP.
Air suspension even though a pain when it goes wrong is a doddle to fix, and is just a case of plumbing. Things to look at there are the the suspension bags. If they are old they start to perish around the folds but are easy to replace. Height ride sensors can be expensive to replace if they go wrong.
BeCAM electrical faults are very common on early P38's and can render one useless if they start to go wrong & are very expensive to replace. Always check that all electrics work on test drive & that the central locking and immobiliser works without fault & that you have the EAK in the wallet.
Elderly P38's who's Air-con hasn't been looked after can also cause problems HEVAC unit with throw up loads of faults.
Mine was the 4.6v8 LPG converted and would only see at the most 23 mpg with a feather light right foot. That one went west when the head started to go, another common problem - overheating.
Those are just a few of the faults I encountered and I was able to rectify most of them myself. That said I absolutely loved them and would look at getting another one tomorrow if I didn't do starship mileage. Great on road presence, very comfortable, safe (had a rear end shunt in mine wrote the BMW off that hit me & the P38 had only a bent tow-bar) and versatile. Love em to bits
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I thought all the mechanicals were the same between the disco and P38. Alarming man are you actually speaking from experience? you were ahem just a little negative ;D
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A good site I frequently used was this one - http://www.rangerovers.net/newrremedies.html
Great for problem solving, how to's & fixes. Will also show you what you (could) be letting yourself in for ;) :D
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Cheers for that. Makes sense of things.
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I thought all the mechanicals were the same between the disco and P38. Alarming man are you actually speaking from experience? you were ahem just a little negative ;D
never owned one doz(i have all my own hair because if you owned one before long you will pull your hair out) but i have seen new p 38 leave a dealers before delivery and be shipped off to auto electrician because the dealer couldnt sort it this is'nt just one or two it was 5/6 a week at one point ...becm faults,air suspension faults,slipped liners on the V8,and head gaskets faults to name but a few problems,tbh for the price of a p 38 you can now pick up a nice disco 2 but beware of the dreaded tin worm...check for rust everywhere and once you have checked...go back and check again because it is not unheard of a disco 2 being a mot failure due to chassis rot,i brought a v8 disco 1 a little while ago and i like it (lot less electrics to go wrong) but if you are going to use it as an every day car LPG is best BUT then again LPG ing and older disco/rangie can cause problems as well...if i was thinking of buying another i would go for either a 300 tdi es dicso 1 or a td5 disco 2 :y
have a look here this is another good one
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/
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We've currently got a disco 1. It's had it's fair share of welding I can tell ya. It's alright just wanted something more up market. Oh and my current LPG kit has run out of cert. (over ten years for tanks) and is so shockingly bad. So it needs replacing problem is you can get a Rangy for around 3-4k with a 2 year old kit on it. So can't see me changing the current one. Disco's with LG are far less common than the rangy as well.
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if i where spending £3000-4000 i would go for a disco 2....totally different to a disco 1......... :y
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i run a 4.6 vogue as my winter hack, approx 11.5 mpg on lpg around town :y
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If I was going for a Rnage Rover I would try and get a 4.2 LSE soft dash. They are one of the last Classic range rovers produced and has the air suspension. The good thing about them is they are going up in price because they are now becoming collectable :y
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Morning all,
I've had my 4.6HSE for well over 6 years and have spent less on it than I spent on my Elite estate in 2 years. The Range Rover has never let me down ( although I did have a problem with the boot opening a fewvweeks back whick I fixed) I changed the air springs a few years back as they were coming up to 10years old but his only cost £240 for parts and were easy to change. I've also had a new exhaust a few years ago which cost£150. mine has averaged 15mpg over the time I've had it.
The best site for landrover s is www.landyzone.co.uk (If easily offended stay out- but as this forum- some very helpful guys).
Do I ever regret busting the Range Rover-No! - but I may have been lucky!
I do quite fancy the L322 shape but parts on these ARE EXPENSIVE. An air spring is £240 per corner.
If you need any help let me know.
Regrds
Steve
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Cheers Steve. I'm now trying to work out the finer details between the 4.0 and 4.6. Gems versus Bosch etc etc.
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Some of the P38s are getting a little old, and certainly some will be tired.
But usually its the same faults that crop up - suspension, dodgy electrics and RUST! From that era, esp if if its been used for towing, be wary of the transfer box as well.
A more comfortable ride than the Discos of the same era.
Some of the V8 variants seem to fair better than others - best checking one of the information Landy sites for that. The TD is the same BMW dog fitted to Omega.
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If looking at a Disco 2 be very wary of the chassis from the rear axle back,the bodys don't seem to rot at all but chassis can and will dissolve,age doesn't seem to matter,mine is one of the earliest and the chassis is still good but seen many newer ones pretty bad.
I have had my manual V8 over a year now and the airsprings have been the only repair needed,fuel economy not great 16-18 around cornwall :y
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Hers a link about test driving a p38.
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/p38-test-drive-what-look-out-219469.html
Steve
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Great cars - fuel economy aside, most jobs you can do yourself and loads of advice online, avoid ones where the air suspension has been swapped as the ride on air is fantastic, pretty easy to drive and great road presence. If you get one just expect to have a few issues like battery draining and electrical gremlins.
As you no doubt already know there are loads out there so it's a buyers market, just have your wits about you and go and see loads before you decide.
Few Pointers:
Check overheating,
Check air suspension works (will only operate with doors shut)
Check any/all switches work.
check all doors lock.unlock and indeed open! - remotes need to work or you will get stranded with the lock out message at some point.
Check sunroof works and doesn't leak
Check roof lining isnt sagging - usually starts in the back.
Check cruise buttons work on steering wheel.
Feel transmission tunnel by the dashboard for damp - Heater O rings are a dashboard out job
They are just a few things that can go wrong lol, but these cars have a huge following so they can't be that bad :)
And have a look at this guys website:
http://www.mez.co.uk/p38.html
Hope all that helps :)
Darren
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How well do they take to LPG?
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Very. No known issues I've found unless it's an older single point set up...... which are crap.
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P38 is probably the only car that I'd advise anyone to avoid point-blank.
Basically, they were stuffed full of electronics before Land Rover really knew how to make them work.
The biggest issues are suspension and heater controllers failing without warning. They are not repairable and no after-market options are available.
P38 is very not-same as Disco I or Disco II
sorry.
Disco II is much preferable, its only unreliable
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P38 is probably the only car that I'd advise anyone to avoid point-blank.
Basically, they were stuffed full of electronics before Land Rover really knew how to make them work.
The biggest issues are suspension and heater controllers failing without warning. They are not repairable and no after-market options are available.
P38 is very not-same as Disco I or Disco II
sorry.
Disco II is much preferable, its only unreliable
PMSL ;D ;D ;D
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Cheers Steve. I'm now trying to work out the finer details between the 4.0 and 4.6. Gems versus Bosch etc etc.
Stay well clear of the 4.6 the bores tend to leak(same block as the 4.0 but re-bored) and the lpg will burn out the back two pistons (4 & 8 ) this is the same problem with the V8 disco's.
Another thing to watch out for is the button for the diff lock these tend to fail and if you go for the diesel get a manual.
If I bought one the first thing i'd do is convert it to coil springs
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huh? 4.0 and 4.6 have same bore it's just the stroke which is different. Seen a few on coils however due to the failures associated with the air suspension it seems just about everybody makes spare parts for them. I've been having a good route around and yep these motors do have issues but most are fixable on the cheap these days. The only real issue is the body electrical box. However I have found a company which will repair your own unit with a quick turn around. Doing it this way saves all the recoding. So as you can tell I'm really still taken with one. Yes they do suffer with engine failures however these seem to happen on abused models. So I've narrowed it down to a post 99 model 4.6 vogue on gas. Hopefully I'm going to see one next weekend.
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Even if not abused, any Rover V8 is likely to be tired by now. Not the most durable engine in the world. :-\
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agreed. 200k is very unusual however in my ownership it will never get any where near that. Seems to be a trend. They ever expire at 50-70k or go on to 150-200. I'm only going by what I've read and seen on line. However anything I buy at this kind of age will have some baggage.
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I think as long as you go in with eyes wide open and knowing the possible pitfalls there are bargains to be had :y
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agreed. 200k is very unusual however in my ownership it will never get any where near that. Seems to be a trend. They ever expire at 50-70k or go on to 150-200. I'm only going by what I've read and seen on line. However anything I buy at this kind of age will have some baggage.
Probably down to servicing. I can see them dying in 50-70k if neglected. I've stripped a few for mates building kit cars and every one has had practically no lobes left on the cam and at least one visible breach of the fire rings, often more. Not a bad engine to work on if you do have to bite the bullet, though, and IIRC bits were always cheap.
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They do like clean oil. My mate has a TVR which has covered close 150k miles. It's been brilliant with little or no problems however he changes the oil every 5k and is one of these annual guys who's always coating something in wax oil or adjusting something or over.
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Well I now have a Vogue 4.6 sat on my driveway. Pretty pleased. Needs a service and got a grumberly wheel bearing however the price was right so I'm happy. We got stuck in traffic coming home on a dual carriageway. We were along side a car driven by the oldest living(ish) couple in the UK. So I said to my 8 year old lad to keep a straight face then started pumping up letting down the suspension. Kept doing it till the old granny in the passenger seat gave us the V's.........which at that point me and the lad dissolved in to uncontrollable fits of the giggles proper crying fits. Oh little things please little minds I guess. :-[ :-[
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you mean the suspension works .....?
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Yep. All present and correct.