New Owner - Usual Problems

[BonesXJR]

Thanks wreckrunner!! I actually might just do that. I'm pretty tied up for the next few weekends, but maybe sometime in March. When I get some free time, I'm going to go over this thing with soapy water, but I'm actually getting pretty excited about working on it. I found the Arnott Gen II springs on eBay for $239/Front and $241/Rear so for less than $500 I can replace all 4 if I decide to or need to change them all. I've been reading up on redoing the valve block, but I'm not sure if that's bad as I just paid to have it done. The next thing I want to look at is rebuilding the compressor. What's the round black knob at the end of the compressor tank?

Thanks for the offer and I might definitely take you up on it!

[wreckrunner]

Anytime mate! The black round thing is an air filter for the comp, your problem may be down to a poorly fitted o ring or two within the valve block, ask me how I know about that! Lol

[John W]

Thanks wreckrunner!! I actually might just do that. I'm pretty tied up for the next few weekends, but maybe sometime in March. When I get some free time, I'm going to go over this thing with soapy water, but I'm actually getting pretty excited about working on it. I found the Arnott Gen II springs on eBay for $239/Front and $241/Rear so for less than $500 I can replace all 4 if I decide to or need to change them all. I've been reading up on redoing the valve block, but I'm not sure if that's bad as I just paid to have it done. The next thing I want to look at is rebuilding the compressor. What's the round black knob at the end of the compressor tank?

Thanks for the offer and I might definitely take you up on it!

The round black knob on the compressor head is the inlet filter.The storage tank the compressor feeds is actually underneath the vehicle chassis.

[BonesXJR]

Well I finally got around to replacing my O2 sensor this morning. Swapped it out and took it to a mechanicI know with a good computer system and he tested it for me since I didn't want to pay for a smog if it wasn't going to pass after replacing that part. He said I needed to drive it a little more because the computer hadn't recalibrated, but the O2 sensor reading wasn't changing with the change in RPM. It was just flat. I drove about 50 miles and brought it back and he put it back on his regular OBDII and said it was still running lean and I probably need a new air flow meter. I just got home and it's showing 1171 & 1174. Does it sound like an MAF problem? The truck has 143k and doesnt' have a K&N filter. I'm seeing the MAFs on eBay for $70-100 so it's not bad to swap it out if it's likely the problem.

In other news, I did a soapy water test on the blue compressor cord, the valve block, the dryer and didn't see anything there so I think I might be good there. I sprayed the bags and didn't see anything, but it leaks really slowly when in high mode. I need to try and get under there in standard or highway mode, but I'll probably need ramps or maybe park on a curb. More to come on that...

[BonesXJR]

After changing out the air filter and cleaning the MAF, I went back to the shop and my mechanic did a smoke test as he thought there was an intake leak somewhere. After the test, the mechanic that actually did the test said it looked like it was leaking from a fuel injector o-ring, but the main mechanic said it was leaking from the intake gasket. Any thoughts? He said it's a $300 repair as the whole air intake has to come off. Not really sure what that entails.

The other thing I noticed was when he was doing the O2 readings. At idle, the rear O2 sensors were reading 45 (45 what...I have no idea...) and the front O2 sensors were reading .03 at idle. Bank 1 jumped to .95 when revved, but Bank 2 (the one I just replaced) was reading .03. Any thoughts on that? It seems like I'm just going around in circles trying to narrow down this problem to O2 sensors, MAF, fuel injector o-rings, intake gaskets....

Thanks again,
Jon

[wreckrunner]

Before you go throwing money at new flux capacitors and suchlike, lets just go back in time and do some old school diag on it! Have you pui
lled the spark plugs to see what they look like? Be nice to see a light brownish colour with maybe a little darker colour on the outside, if they look clean and shiney white we have a lean condition. Another good troubleshoot for a mysterious vacuum leak is a can of WD40 or even brake cleaner.... using the straw in the nozzlw with the engine running spray around each injector in turn and listen for a rise in engine rpm, check around the intake manifold joints and vacuum fittings too. But be very careful, dont want to read that it caught fire, use precautions and have a fire extinguisher handy when doing this! Shouldn't be a problem, we all have an extinguisher in our shops and garages right? Lol. Don't fall into the trap of buying a cheap MAF sensor, lots of people on here will tell you how they found out that OE is the only way to go!

[LarryS]

when accelerated or anything approaching wide open throttle the [any] system will run rich, bank 1 front sensor showed like it did this, bank 2 did not - did the location of the intake leak tally up with that (perhaps) lean bank? if so the mechanic would have a point.
gems has 5 volts, rich is 0 volts, i thought the bosch was on 1 volt zirconias, either way the OBD will pickup the switch even if the voltage maybe out.

[BonesXJR]

The original mechanic did pull the plugs and said they looked brand new, so he cleaned them off a bit and put them back in. My other mechanic did spray carb cleaner over the hoses with the engine running and there was indeed a raise in RPM. This led him to doing the smoke test. If it's the intake gasket - then ok. If it's the MAF - then ok. I just feel like I'm going to end up getting both fixed and it's not going to cure the problem. I'm already in for well over $1k and the problem is still here. With a $300 intake gasket and a $200 Bosch MAF, what else is left to fix? I'm getting the 1171/1174 codes as well as the P0150 and P0174 that I was getting before I replaced the O2 sensor!! Does anyone know a good Range Rover mechanic in Los Angeles because I'm getting tired of all this guess work....

[carcharodon]

Make sure everything else BEFORE the O2's are up to snuff... no matter what you do after the problem you won't fix it.. new O2's will just be a band aid for a short time. Check out my new post.

This is what it may look like inside YOUR motor.

Cam timing will affect everything else down the line. My 98 4.0 at 210,000 miles was still averaging 13 city and 18.5 highway on its 2nd set of O2's!! Unfortunately it slipped a liner, otherwise I'd still be enjoying it.

IMHO sounds like you need to find a mechanic who knows what the heck they are doing, a good sign is when you have a another tech 2nd guessing the first one, find a mechanic who knows Land Rovers otherwise you will waste a lot of money on this truck no matter how good of a "deal" it was. A good LR tech is worth the money. Too bad your on the wrong coast, I now a good one here.

[carcharodon]

[BonesXJR]

Just thought I'd update this post on where I am currently for future searchers:

I picked up the car yesterday from the shop. They did a smoke test and said it was leaking from everywhere (which I already knew). They replaced the upper and lower manifold gaskets, valve covers, and fuel injector o-rings. Hopefully this has fixed my lean condition. They said to drive it about 90-100 miles before taking it to get it smogged. They also said that if it's still running lean and the SES light comes back on, it's pretty much narrowed down to needing a new MAF. We'll see. The only thing I need to adjust is the accelerator cable. There's about an inch of play initially before I can feel the pedal actually doing anything, but I think that should be an easy fix and I'm sure there are relevant posts if needed.

In other news, my EAS cable came in and I did a quick test yesterday on my EAS. Unfortunately, when checking the codes every single code came up, which I know isn't possible, so maybe it hadn't fully initialized. The shop did pull the battery to reset the computer so maybe the EAS computer needs some time to re-learn as well. No idea. I need to read up on the instructions and spend a bit more time as I only had a few minutes to spare, but I was excited to at least take a quick look. I went through the valve block with wreckrunner a few weekends ago and we replaced all the o-rings, but I'm having a new problem with the back rising overnight. I emailed Dennis and he suggested swaping the intake and exhaust plungers which I will do this weekend. He also suggested that before parking, I drop it down to access and raise it back up a few times so the tank depletes a little. After doing that, the car remaining level with the back not rising at all. With being able to de-pressurize the system with my new cable as well as not having the remove the valve block to swap the plungers, I'm hoping it's a quick process and hopefully a fix.

Once this is done, I'm almost finished getting this thing up to spec. A new ABS accumulator, headliner, and tint and I'm done.......for a while.......hopefully!

Thanks again for all the help,
Jon

[wreckrunner]

Hey Jon, good to hear you have made some progress with her! I remember on of your NRV's having signs of wear on its tip. Check the main homepage for the headliner people, excellent kit and very straightforward to install! Hope to see you back on the trails soon!

[BonesXJR]

Cheers Steve! Thanks again for the help. Hopefully it's just the inlet valve and not the NRV or it won't be a 10 minute job anymore! The one thing I don't understand though is from all the posts I've been reading, it takes at least two valves to open before anything happens. So if the inlet valve is leaking and all the other valves are closed, why does the back raise? I'd understand if every 6 hours the self-leveling kicks in and opens the rear valves in hopes of maybe letting air out and instead the pressure from the inlet valves goes into the rears, but in that case, the rear should only raise every time the car self-levels and at least one other valve opens. It seems to just slowly raise as soon as I get out. I'm going to mess around with the inlet valve tonight now it's still light after work.

In other news, when's the next trail run? I've got too much Armor-All on my tires!

[Jos Geuze]

Hi

Raising of the car unexpected could be caused by a dodgy height sensor. It is possible that the signal is not always the same and is jumping confusing the ECU what to do.

Regards

Jos

[BonesXJR]

Well I just picked up a new USB-Serial adapter from Radio Shack and I connected to the EAS in seconds. I guess the $40 vs. $4 adapter really does make a difference....I depressurized the system and pulled the top cover for the inlet valve (Please excuse my terminology as I don't know all the specific names of each piece), but as soon as pulled the top cover with wires attached, I noticed two o-rings on the base of the plastic. Got rid of one of them and still swapped the plunger with the exhaust valve. The bottoms of the plungers were completely different. Intake was worn and exhaust looked brand new. Hopefully swapping those out and getting rid of the additional o-ring will fix my rising of the rear. It's been sitting out for about an hour now and is completely flat. Hopefully another check-mark on the list!!