1995 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE - Cool Running

Brit part shocks currently have a better rep then terrers. But I would bite the bullet and do genuine or or old man emu

THis is what I call a good fun thread
Good for you to document your dramas, fun for us to read*


*because it is not happening to us

Pleased to hear it. To own a RR here you need a sense of humour and the parts detection skills of Sherlock Holmes, or preferably, locking away.

So, the shock absorber guy who offered me the choice of Bripart and Terrafirma has finally admitted he hasn't actually got either and it's back to the hunt. I'll have to live with the ride for a bit longer

Now one thing I do like is a clean engine bay and, after 17 years, this is anything but. So I nipped around to my local car washing place (they charge 2 quid for a full hand wash!) to ask if I could just turn up or did I need to book in for an engine clean. Guy looks at me odd and disappears. Two minutes later he comes back with the boss.

"Very sensitive, Sir George" he says, peering under the bonnet (no I've not been knighted, it's a standard form of address here). "Nah, we'll just cover this and this" says I, pointing to the ECU and fusebox, "and we're good to go"

"Very sensitive" he repeats whilst shaking his head. By now around 6 or 7 of the guys had gathered round, and they all started shaking their heads in sympathy.

So I make the suggestion that if they were worried, then I would use their machine to do it myself and I would still pay the full rate. At this there were gales of laughter at the very thought of a White Guy actually doing something and getting dirty. With a last "Very sensitive, cannot" head shake the boss wandered away .

So now not only do I need to hunt for parts, I also need to track down someone willing to take on an engine clean. Still, it fills those empty weekends.

Oh, and got pulled again for making another illegal left turn (no sign either). The copper wanted 1000 Pesos this time but we bartered down to 500!

Just had a check under the bonnet this morning. No oil or water use, so that's all good.

Also noticed that two of the new HT leads had worked loose on the coil packs. Could be the down on power reason, but as Subic has a (strictly enforced) limit of 40kph, the test'll have to wait until the return journey.

The scowlyer of the two girls above slipped her hand in mine last night and said, "Daddy George, I love your car" so I think the reason for the less than impressed expression is that the pics were taken pre-food and young Pinays aren't happy on an empty stomach. However, if we'd taken them after dinner, they'd have been asleep - the default, just eaten, Filipina position!

you are living the dream there sunny. tropical paradise, flash "foreign motor" and a happy family. congrats you.
lets hope the RR goes from strength to strength.
i imagine the local don't even know what it is, when all around are bland J boxes and scooters.

keep the pictures and stories coming. most entertaining.

Cheers naki. Glad you are enjoying the fun (if that's the word) of RR ownership in the Phils!

Apart from the the condo in Makati, we have a house for the extended famiy in Tondo, the poorest and reputedly, most violent district of Manila. The first time I drove it there, I came back to the car to find it surrounded by around 20-30 people as it was the first time they'd seen one close to. It's a bit like the first time I went there as a White Guy several years ago! They're getting used to it now but there's always huge rivalry as to who gets to "look after" it when its parked up. It seems its a real honour to be chosen. Me? I think it's the Pesos 100 tip personally!

Hmm, a Jag V12? Probably even rarer than a P38 here, but one to keep an eye out for when we move to somewhere with some working room next year.

Heads off to Sulit.com.ph to see what's around

P.S. Just had a quick look and there's 2 XJs on there a 6 and an R, both 1997 and the cheapest is GBP14,500. I think I'll pass!

Glad you're enjoying it. Yup, great weather (if you ignore the typhoons) and definately cheap living. No too much to complain about!

Little happening on the RR front at the moment, just driving it. Attacked all the switches, fuses and relays with emery and contact cleaner along with throwing a new battery on, so all the little instances of random lights flashing and wipers operating have gone away. Had no further issues of HT leads falling out with the coil packs and it runs beautifully smooth now. Normally take it out each Sunday morning for a 90-odd km blast down the highway, as when you're trundling around Manila normally your know your really rolling if she plops into second gear, so a good fast clear out each week keeps it running nice. That's my excuse for a mindless blast anyway.

Allegedly, the shocks will be in early January so I asked the guy for a quote for doing all the fluids and filters, diffs, T-box, autobox + filter, engine, new hoses, grease points etc. As I've said before, working on it in a basement car park at one million degrees C is not fun and what with me being a right messy curse word when it comes to dropping oils (often literally) means he may as well do the lot whilst its in. So, he's quoted 300 quid, parts, labour, the lot including the shockers. Happy with that, so it's over to you Mr Santos, fill yer boots lad

Me? I'll drink some very cheap, very cold beer while he works.

Okay, so the big day arrived. Vehicle Registration day.

Now, you’ll need to pay attention here, or I’ll lose you. The car reg is ELG111 so that means that annual registration is the first week of January i.e. anytime between the 1st and the 7th. With me so far? Good. The registration office was closed on the 1st and 2nd but open on the 3rd. 4th and 5th are weekend, the 6th is a Monday and because my reg plate ends in 1, I can’t drive in Makati on a Monday between 7am and 7pm, so out of seven days my windows of opportunity are the 3rd or the 7th. Take yer pick.

Having done a recce, I knew where I was going, just had no idea of what to do when I got there. And no, Google is not your friend here. I took Madam on the grounds that she could a) translate and b) hit any annoying people.

First job is the emissions test. Arrive at 08:00 sharp, straight in, little man sticks a tester up me pipe, photographs it, removes PHP450 off me and, 10 minutes later, presents me with a pass certificate. First hurdle overcome. This is easy.

Arriving at the registration office which is tucked away in a tiny side street we drive through the hoard of “agents’ who’ll do everything for you, for a nice fat fee. As we climb out a nice chappie says to go into that door. We go into that door where another nice chappie checks through my documents. “Where LTO test certificate?” “The what?” So back outside again where original nice chappie smiles, asks me to lift the bonnet and takes a pencil rubbing of the vin code onto an official looking form. Why didn’t he do that whe…oh, never mind. He then scrawls over the rest of the form to say that the car has just passed some mythical test, gives it to me and says to go over there for insurance. “Already have fully comprehensive” I say waving certificate. “Huh, that no good, need special third party. Only issued here”. Oh, right, of course. Off to a little hut where a lady with a sticking typewriter(!) fills out another form, relieves me of PHP1300 and gives me another load of paperwork. “Take this in office”. So, back into the office I go, clutching what surely, by now, is everything I need. Go and see a lady who checks through all the forms and writes the details painstakingly into a huge ledger then tells me to “Go Window A”. Arrive at said window and another lady takes the sheaf of stuff and starts entering into a computer. “Ahh, cannot. Insurance no good”. “But you just issue outside”, I protest, foolishly. “You go back”. So back I go, not knowing what the problem is.

This is where Madam comes into her own. Turns out Typewriter Lady fills out form and then sends an SMS with the reference number to some unknown destination, there they do something with it and then it appears on the registration office system. Something like that anyway and we’d been too quick for it!

So we hang around outside until TL gets an SMS back saying it’s now on the system then back into the office and Window A. “All okay now” smiles Lady A, gives me a small square of paper and sends me around to Window F. Nobody there. Around 10 minutes later tannoy calls “Mr George to Window F”. Skipping up, Lady F relieves me of the PHP3,390 (GBP49.85) annual registration fee and directs me to the next window to collect my 2014 stickers for the windscreen and number plates that prove, for all the world to see, that I’m a fine and upstanding citizen who pays his dues on time. “No hab sticker. You call this number in three weeks, maybe we hab sticker then and you come back and collect”. Oh right, so in the meantime I have to skulk around in the dark lest anyone thinks I’m trying to defraud the state by not paying me car registration.

It’s more fun in the Philippines