Help P38 lost ALL electrical power at once???? car stuck in parking lot

[scubaman99]

2001 HSE, Was running fine. No faults, no noises, purring like a kitten.

Stopped at the store, locked my doors as normal.

Return a few minutes later, used remote to unlock door. Insert key, go to start engine, then NOTHING... no warning lights, buzzers, interior lights, no door locks, no dash messages, no radio, no NOTHING.... Completely dead, cant even open the rear tail gate??????

So now my rig is completely dead like if I had no battery in it????

Help!!! any suggestions? is there a Master fuse? I pulled a couple of fuses in both the engine compartment and under passenger seat, but the ones i looked at seem ok??

Is there a relay that would cut ALL power???

HELP! Im 100% STUCK!!!!!

KEN

 

[msggunny]

Just thinking out loud here, but did you check the battery and terminals?

 

[Tugela]

Battery and terminals is a good suggestion. This exact thing happened to me in a P38 once. Turned out one of the battery leads was slightly loose and wouldn't make a clean connection. If this is the case, then there is an easy solution assuming you have the appropriate tool at hand to tighten the battery leads.

1. go back into store and buy a tall boy of PBR.
2. drink it.
3. take a Swiss Army Knife or similar tool and cut a shim out of the can that you can wrap around whichever battery terminal is not connecting well with the lead.
4. tighten down lead. If this restores the connection then you're good, although this is only a temporary fix and the computer will freak out once you restart the engine.

Battery cables may contribute to this situation. Replacing them was part of the solution on the non-starting P38 of which I speak. Good luck!

 

[scubaman99]

What a F'ing pain in the A$$.....

Symptom, rigs fine one minute, Completely dead the next, like 0 electricity.

Thought it must be either a fuse or the fuse box, but all looked good and the fuse box cable was fine.

Next target was the battery, removed it, put it on a charger and charged it. Charger finished, said it was good 12.7 volts :yawn:. Put the battery back in, got some lights to come on, but no starter...WTF???? opened up the batter top tested each cell... some "good" some "fair". so I took the battery back to costco. Supposed to be a 100 month warranty with the first 36mo free replacement. Great, i had the battery for 40months so I only got 60% refund.

Went to get a replacement, the guy said, they dont have my size AND they cant speical order???? really....

so now I have a $60 COSTCO gift card, and I cant use it to get a new battery :banghead:

So I go to parts store. They have a battery $120 + $25 core + misc BS hazard fee + tax =$199 FML

Go to install it, the terminal clamp on the negative side is AFU. Need to run back to the parts store to get a new negative cable. Get back to install it, the POS clamp on the new cable BREAKS.... Have to head BACK to the parts store.... get a new cable, install it. the cable kit is missing a bolt... gotta run BACK to the parts store, come back reinstall cable, and battery. Jump in my rig, try to fire it up, display says Engine locked.... WTF!!!!!!!

surf internet to figure out what the hell that means, cant find anything interesting online. Go back to rig, try again, VIOLA!!!! it works!!!!!! But now its beeping at me saying "Window not set...." set all windows and IM good to Go!!!!!

Burned saturday making multiple trips back and forth to autoparts store, but I got my rig rolling again thank god.....

 

[rnewman]

Ahhh...the joys of owning a p38.
Don't know if you have, but check out range rover.net for a ton of info on the p38.

 

[aliastel]

I'd definitely being buying a good dedicated scanner like a Black Box Solutions if I owned a P38.

 

[kjg48359]

Burned saturday making multiple trips back and forth to autoparts store, but I got my rig rolling again thank god.....

Been there before!

Just rebuilt the control valves for the AES, but based on that experience battery charge level is pretty important. One clue I discovered is that if the battery is being drained it seemed to show up on the clock running slow. According to the dealership a failing/sticking solenoid in the control block was to blame (so I just replaced it, as of yesterday).

But it drained the battery so I replaced that about weeks ago. It seems like the clock is now my "canary" to indicate that there's still a drain going on (or in your case, possible loose connection).

go back into store and buy a tall boy of PBR.

Are PBR cans made out of steel (instead of aluminum like most)? (too funny)

 

[ptschram]

I'd definitely being buying a good dedicated scanner like a Black Box Solutions if I owned a P38.

I now have my second P38 (With 18 Rovers, you know I'm a glutton already).

The only reason I got the first one was because I had a Rovacom-Lite!

 

[jim-00-4.6]

First of all, stop referring to your Range Rover as a "rig".
Do you drill for oil with it?
No, you do not.
Do you think the guys out in the Gulf of Mexico drilling for oil refer to the platform on which they work as a Range Rover?
No, they do not.

Second, get a copy of RAVE.
Read it, especially the Electrical part.
If I recall correctly, the electrical part is less than 3,000 pages.
Now you KNOW there is no Master Fuse that would turn off the entire vehicle.
After you finish the electrical part, read the rest of it; that's only another couple thousand pages.

Third, a fully charged, perfect automotive battery will show 14.4 volts.
12.something with no load is pretty much dead; the P38 is an electricity hog, and doesn't react kindly to any sort of shortage in that department. The old girl likes her electrons, don't keep them from her.

Four, get a scanner.
A Range Rover-specific one would be most useful.
I don't recall the exact number, but I think Land Rover defined around 1,000 codes for the P38 series.

Five, remember this for next time, it WILL happen again.
Especially if you put a $125 battery in there.
You need the biggest damned battery that will fit.
And the vehicle will eat the battery in 3-4 years, that's just the way it is.

Six, use distilled water to top up the battery, not tap water.
Unless your tap water comes from a distiller, then you're fine.

That should be enough to keep you busy for a little while.

 

[gl4x4]

Underhood Fuse box. I had the same thing happen when I first bought mine. Got a new fuse box for British Atlantic and never had an issue after that. I also swapped out the small relays for the HVAC system for some 40 amp units. They never got hot like the little ones that came stock.

 

[nelson845]

I once sold a 1996 P38 to a nice Gentleman and told him it was the most trouble free vehicle I had ever owned.........I've since moved to three different states and still look over my shoulder.

 

[bri]

First of all, stop referring to your Range Rover as a "rig".
Do you drill for oil with it?
No, you do not.
Do you think the guys out in the Gulf of Mexico drilling for oil refer to the platform on which they work as a Range Rover?
No, they do not.

Second, get a copy of RAVE.
Read it, especially the Electrical part.
If I recall correctly, the electrical part is less than 3,000 pages.
Now you KNOW there is no Master Fuse that would turn off the entire vehicle.
After you finish the electrical part, read the rest of it; that's only another couple thousand pages.

Third, a fully charged, perfect automotive battery will show 14.4 volts.
12.something with no load is pretty much dead; the P38 is an electricity hog, and doesn't react kindly to any sort of shortage in that department. The old girl likes her electrons, don't keep them from her.

Four, get a scanner.
A Range Rover-specific one would be most useful.
I don't recall the exact number, but I think Land Rover defined around 1,000 codes for the P38 series.

Five, remember this for next time, it WILL happen again.
Especially if you put a $125 battery in there.
You need the biggest damned battery that will fit.
And the vehicle will eat the battery in 3-4 years, that's just the way it is.

Six, use distilled water to top up the battery, not tap water.
Unless your tap water comes from a distiller, then you're fine.

That should be enough to keep you busy for a little while.

LOL. That is classic. Likely true, I just hope it waits for a while to happen to me and I hope I am driving rather than my wife.


I can't remember how much I paid for my battery, but it was a lot more than I would ever like to admit.... oh, shit it was about 3 years ago. Maybe time to test it.

 

[Ghaniba]

Third, a fully charged, perfect automotive battery will show 14.4 volts.
12.something with no load is pretty much dead

Sorry, a quick correction. A properly running charging system on the car will show 13.7-14.7 volts. If you test a battery that was JUST charging, it may show that voltage, until it settles down. A properly settled, good battery should show 12.8-ish.

But please, don't take my word for it:
http://bit.ly/126LIm5

Also, there's the load testing of a battery. This isn't directly connected to the voltage you can see with a multimeter. It's an actual test against the batteries cells to deliver power. (i.e. when you try to crank over the rover, the load against the battery is very harsh, like this load testing)

I mean no disrespect to jim-00 -- It's just for clarification!

-Dave