the good, bad and the ugly on P38 range rover

Joined: 04 Aug 2005 Location: gold coast

hey guys . doing some research on my next rig and been looking at some p38's
now i've done a search through here and it was helpfull. but i still got questions.

are the diffs and axles realy that week?
is it true tha transfer case cant handle much power and that there is no center difflock?
does having no center difflock afect it offroad and the usefullnes of lockers? is maxi maxi drive a good choise for imporved strength in a p38?.
when does the 4.6 v8 usualy shit itself with the cylinder liner problem and are there many performance upgrades available for either the 4.0l or 4.6?

i know they are air bag suspension but are there good lift kits out there for them, longer airbags or replacment coils?
and what size tyres can one run without breaking diffs and masive scrubbing with a 2-4i lift?

do they have any other inherent problems to look for? and over all are the a good truck?

thanks guys.

Joined: 15 Jan 2004 Location: gold coast

they are cheap for a reason!

Maxidrive no longer exsists

build a rangie classic insted, check out UNJUST thread

Serg

Joined: 15 Jun 2003 Location: Melbourne

Ask over here. http://www.aulro.com/
there is plenty with P38a Rangies. From what I can see, if you get over the known problems such as loose cylinder liners which only seem to happen if the motor has been overheated, and things like leaking O rings in the heater etc they are a fantastic buy. Very capable and there is plenty of mods available to make them better. Just not many off the shelf accesories to buy. As for the transfer case, it is a Borg Warner viscous unit and does not have a manual diff lock because it does not need it. Despite what some say aboutthe transfer case, my own Rangie has done over 500,000 kms and nothing has been done to the transfer case and it still works perfectly, and yes it does get used in the bush.

Joined: 15 Jan 2004 Location: gold coast

and how many of them have had the air suspension or part there of fail???

the borg warner can slowly lock up the viscus over time....

how do you know whether the ngine has been over heated on a second hand vehicle......

apart from this, there are many more little things to go wrong and annoy the crap out of you.

basicly the english have no right playing with electrics as they dont have a basic understanding of electricity...

if you build up a p38 and end up wanting to do a tour somewhere (long distance) will you have the confidence in the vehicle?

Serg

Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: St Helena, Melbourne.

As much as i like them i would never buy one as the threat of costly repairs would have me worried all the time, there are aftermarket air suspension components available and even coil conversions. The 4ltr seems to suffer less with slipped liners than the 4.6 possibly due to less meat in the block after boring out.

Joined: 04 Aug 2005 Location: gold coast

cheers guys might give them a miss.