 | Home > My Range Rover > Project Fatty off roader....PICTURES NOW BACK |
 
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| Haylands Member Since: 04 Mar 2014 Location: East Yorkshire Posts: 8540   
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Photobucket ruined all photos posted originally, I have now uploaded them to the forum so they should all stay there now...
Hi all, Have just bought my first L322 having had lots of Land Rovers in the past, I have bought it with the intention of turning it into a competent greenlaner, this will not be a quick process as I have limited time and want to spend some time learning the vehicle and evaluating what it needs to help it in the direction I want to go... It won't be a mad looking all singing off roader, and it won't get chopped up either, I just want a nice, comfortable car that can get me into the countryside when I want it to (I'm partially disabled after a serious back injury and can't walk far in comfort) and also be an everyday driver that still drives safely and well. I always look after my cars, I hate having them dirty for long and I tend to over service them, always found this helps when asking them to perform off road. I appreciate this is not everyone's cup of tea but hoped some of you may be interested, I do all the work myself and try to avoid garages to keep the costs down, the first stage will be to bring the vehicle back to standard condition as it has several faults. I will update everything I do with prices and tips along the way The candidate for this project is a 2002 Range Rover Vogue 4.4V8 Auto with a Romano sequential LPG system, it's in Epsom Green with a cream leather interior.....
It cost �4600 and I picked it up last Sunday. The faults declared by the seller were 1. MIL light (engine dash light) was on, seller said it was a lambda fault but my hand held reader wouldn't read the codes, it cleared them and reset the light, which came back on after a few miles, but I was still none the wiser 2. Gearbox sometimes bangs into second, not very harsh but harder than it should, hopefully a software fault or needs an oil change... 3. Clonk from back and front on turning.... suspension bushes... although they are only shown as advisories on the recent MOT.... 4. Air suspension is slow to respond, gets there in the end but takes a long while 5. Hunting at tickover on LPG, this maybe related to 1. On further examination there are a couple more 6. The aircon has no gas at all in the system so must have a leak 7. Rear washer doesn't work, wipers fine though 8. front screen is starting to delaminate at the top so the heating is very patchy Overall though it is in nice condition for a 12 year old vehicle, the inside is very nice, apart from Interior gear lever surround...
Got fed up with that already so wrapped it... looks better now, probably do the ashtray and the trim above that and I'm not too keen on the wood colour so may do that as well
As I said, when I picked it up the check engine light was on and it was running a bit rough, got home fine but used more fuel than it should, thought it maybe the LPG playing up and running rich and upsetting the lambda. Took it to a mate with a snapon reader and it came up with P0154 Sensor circuit no activity detected bank 2 sensor 1, which basically means it's not getting anything from the lambda rather than an unusual reading... So changed the lambda for a new Bosch one �44 and the light is out and it's running beautifully.... dropped into another mates and borrowed his laptop, lead and software for the LPG, it wasn't bad but the fuel trims were high, it was struggling to cope on acceleration and marginal when cruising... so updated the software to the latest one and 20mins worth of remapping and the fuel trims are now darn good and it pulls like a train on LPG, should be more economical as well... First lambda I've ever changed that had a plug smaller than the 22mm spanner so you could get a ring spanner on it and not slip off when trying to undo the little devil.... The LPG install has been done fairly neatly but they stuck the LPG ecu here!!! Its the metal box with the blue sticker
When next to it is a large watertight box with the cars ECU's in..... so why not put it in here???? It even had a blanked factory hole in the right place
luckily the leads had enough play on them and it just fitted so it's all nice and protected and should stay dry... tidied up a few more wires and it's now looking tidier under the bonnet I have booked it into the main dealers for a diagnostic check next Tuesday so hopefully get some answers on the suspension and gearbox, and then fix them myself, could get it done at an Indie but I get on well with the dealer and they never seem to charge me full price.... It didn't come with any handbooks or service history, apart from a recent full service, two new tyres and an MOT so Thanks to Stan for pointing me at topix.... will give me some good reading tonight... More to follow if anyone's interested... Thanks for reading Pete Last edited by Haylands on 4th Jun 2022 7:45pm. Edited 5 times in total |
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5th Mar 2014 8:57pm |
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| Alistair Member Since: 11 Feb 2011 Location: Peterborough / Bordeaux / Andorra Posts: 8001  
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Some nice off road examples here |
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5th Mar 2014 9:19pm |
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| Haylands Member Since: 04 Mar 2014 Location: East Yorkshire Posts: 8540
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Ooooh thanks for that, don't think I'll paint it orange though..... |
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5th Mar 2014 9:58pm |
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| Cam-Tech-Craig Member Since: 04 Aug 2011 Location: Gloucestershire Posts: 16339
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Nice write up |
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5th Mar 2014 10:09pm |
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| paul271 Member Since: 19 Oct 2013 Location: Aberdeen Posts: 502  
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Really good read mate. Hope it all comes together. |
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5th Mar 2014 11:05pm |
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| JAYBOY Member Since: 17 Oct 2012 Location: South Wales Posts: 2204  
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Pete
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5th Mar 2014 11:22pm |
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| GraemeC Member Since: 01 Jul 2012 Location: Chester Posts: 836 
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Good write up, looking forward to progress updates |
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6th Mar 2014 12:25am |
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| Luxury4Paul Member Since: 16 Mar 2012 Location: New Jersey Posts: 119  
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Looking forward to this build up. What tire/wheel options are you looking into? I just installed 255/55/R19 Cooper LTZ Zeons on my Rover and love them. Super comfortable ride and a very meaty tread for off-road use. |
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6th Mar 2014 3:57pm |
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| dingg1 Member Since: 29 Jun 2013 Location: PORTUGAL Posts: 1368 
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bargain buy you got there by the looks of things so far |
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6th Mar 2014 4:41pm |
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| Haylands Member Since: 04 Mar 2014 Location: East Yorkshire Posts: 8540
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Thanks,, will be fun I hope
Thanks for the tips, I will be changing all the fluids soon and as you say it may help, I think the clonk is either subframe or suspension arm mounts or ARB bushes, it's just been MOT'd so I doubt it's the trackrods but you never know...
Thanks glad you enjoyed it
I certainly am enjoying it, and yes it seems very good value...
Thanks... a few more odds and sods below...
I think I'll get a set of standard 18" wheels as there seems to be a much larger choice of off road tyres, had Coopers before though, nice tyres...
Cheers........ time will tell.... Had a spare couple of hours so gave it a good clean, well maybe not that good more of a look around to see whats what... Found the bonnet has been badly adjusted and was rubbing on the wing and side light, I've used some touch up paint here but you can see the groove...
So a quick screw out of this rubber foot
and then the bonnet wouldn't latch home, so out with a big spanner and an allen key, slacken off the locknut and wind this out till the bonnet shuts nicely...
I'll be cleaning up and treating that rust soon as well... The grille has been overtightened and badly broken, just used two big penny washers for now, I'll do a more permanent fix later
been having an intermittent "check side light" message, turned out to be the bulb, worked until it got hot then went out, cooled down and worked again.... anyway in removing the side light unit I did the first mod on the car.... having dropped the big plastic wing nut as my fingers are too big to get in the confined space available, and having then had to remove the front engine undertray to get it back I decided on drastic plans... drilled a hole in it and tied an old boot lace too it, tucks out the way but will come in handy next time a bulb goes...!!!!
The original owner must have known it would go off road as it has these very nice, very thick rubber mats all round. Having a check around the engine bay and found a little weep from the top hose. The other thing that is broken, that I forgot to mention earlier, is the electric adjustable steering wheel and unfortunately for me it was all the way in and I'm tall so need it all the way out, fuses were ok but nothing when moving the switch in any direction, I took the cowl off to have a look and it was easy to get a screwdriver on the end of the adjustment rod to wind the wheel out... it's now much better... anyone know the common fault with these, I would have said the motor as the switch does nothing in any direction but I take it it has two motors so that's unlikely... Also fitted some new wiper blades... We are off to see my Daughter for her Birthday this weekend and that's about a 500mile round trip so it will give it a good test run... My dear wife (she might read this!!) took it for a drive last night, she loves the heated wheel and things it's nice but she had a touch of vertigo after driving her TT, she also recons it's not as quick (she's got the 3.2V6 DSG TT) I told her if she carries on like that I'll park on top of her TT...!!!!?!?!?!? More will follow Pete Last edited by Haylands on 4th Jun 2022 7:39pm. Edited 2 times in total |
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6th Mar 2014 5:31pm |
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| Bellini Member Since: 11 Jan 2012 Location: Berkshire Posts: 2261
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Really enjoying this topic. Excellent write-up from a very conscientious owner. I tip my hat to you. |
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6th Mar 2014 7:00pm |
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| paul271 Member Since: 19 Oct 2013 Location: Aberdeen Posts: 502
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Me too. It's been excellent reading thus far.
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6th Mar 2014 11:56pm |
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| Haylands Member Since: 04 Mar 2014 Location: East Yorkshire Posts: 8540
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Thanks guys...
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11th Mar 2014 3:53pm |
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| Haylands Member Since: 04 Mar 2014 Location: East Yorkshire Posts: 8540
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Been playing again, bit of modding and a bit of sorting issues....
Good to see nothing changes, all bolts rusty as hell and had to resort to bolt removers and the mandatory club hammer.... To fix the front mudflaps they use cheap steal selftappers... mole grips to the rescue.... You also end up with two holes in this panel
For now I've used trim clips to fill the holes, these panels are just plastic and come off real easy so may get them filled and painted... So, it's now got 36cm, 14.1 inch clearance under the sills on off road height...
and personally I like the clean look with them off.... Sorted one of those real irritating things.... seat belt buckle on the floor every time you get it... It was missing one of these
£1.99 for four from ebay.... Sorted now.... Also the previous owner liked those smelly air vent fresheners and rammed them in with gay abandon ripping off all the vanes in the vent.... Comes out real easy You can see the vanes inside, the vertical ones, on the drivers side all five had come disconnected from the bar that holds them all in the same orientation, subsequently when you put the blower on they just all got blown closed....
Then a fiddly job with two screwdrivers, lining them up and clicking the bar back into place... All sorted
I do like free fixes.... If anyone wants the side steps then let me know, .... only got the drivers mudflap as I had to wreck the other to get it off... the drivers side step is cracked at the front underneath, can't really see it when fitted.... Free to a good home, being a responsible FF owner I will not let you have them unless you promise to clean them regularly and not abuse them......!!!!! Pete __________________________________________________ 2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior 2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold 2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold 2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold -Click for Project Fatty off roader- Last edited by Haylands on 3rd Jun 2022 11:48pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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14th Mar 2014 9:12pm |
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