got 2000 range rover and sort of surprised at how scared the shops are of these pups. Any reliable shops for parts and service in newprt news, yorktown wmbg area? Appreciate the help.

Oh man...you've gone and done it now! A P38?...you MUST be a glutten for punishment!
OK...now that the initial shock is over and buyer's remorse has subsided a bit...go ahead and tell us what warning lights are on, error codes displayed and the malfunctions that are occurring.
ROAV has a bunch of "P"38 "O"wners (POs) who will gladly commiserate with you, share very sad and depressing PO stories, and drink your beer.
Get ready to convert your old laptop/netbook into a P38 diagnostic system...all you will need is about $300 to $500 worth of software from Black Box/UK and a cable/Serial-USB adapter. With all that in hand you can very easily tell those scared shops just what's wrong with your P38 in advance of them refusing to work on it.

Seriously tho...Will Tillery is your savior, or will soon be. Pray at the altar of RoverGuy.com and make him your Rover God. Print out a Google Map with driving (actually, TOWing) directions from your house (or other P38 failure location) to his shop, have it laminated and hang it from your rear view mirror, as you will be using it all to often (or passing to the RollBack driver).

The only good news is that they are Brilliant, when all CPUs and systems are working!

But expect to be upside-down, value-to-repair-cost, and plan to keep it forever...nobody else will likely ever want it! Might as well put it in your will right now and leave it to that guy that deserves your revenge.

My my JT, if that does not scare someone away I'm not sure what will! Don't you still run a P38? LOL!

Will is a great resource for parts, service, advise and the latest in RoverGuy fashion. He is on my speed dial list for parts for all my Rovers, Saab, Mercedes and any other European vehicle. His magic elves can deliver to your doorstep almost before you hang up the phone!

Having owned a P38 (and most every other Rover product) and kept many on the road, they are really not as evil as they may seem on the surface and actually are fantastic vehicles. True that many shops will turn you away as soon as they see you in the lot, this applies to most any Land Rover though so don't feel slighted. The reality of it all that we try to keep under our hats is that the trucks are really not all that hard to work on, they are merely misunderstood.

I am in Williamsburg and can offer advise, repairs, some parts stashed under the house, and I am always willing to drink your beer! Drop me a line if you need anything.

Well just friggin lovely....needed a big safe(cheap) ride for a teenager and get a pity party thrown by other then myself.... oh and another project. At least sounds like teenager will get plenty of hands on experience.
Seriously, split time between Yorktown and Charlottesville. Rover will stay here in Ytown for now.
Thanks for the help, and now I need to get to Will Tillery, and the tow truck driver. Beer to follow.
Joe
434-760-1333.

Guess I should have added a smiley to that last post...
That's right, Mike, I do still drive a '95 P38 and actually LOVE it, despite the long struggle to get it code-free and air-bag free, the 13 mpg on Premium gas, and being locked out a time or two by the BCAM.
I took the combined efforts of Will, Drew, Jon and myself, a bunch of parts, R&R of the engine twice, once to do the heads and again to weld the factory glued-in CPS, and to replace a warped flywheel.
$2k for the truck...$6k in labor, parts, batteries (3), tires, BBS/software and a netbook (carried IN the truck ALWAYS).
Now I just need 2 decent front seat bottom leather covers and it will be done.
Did I mention it's blue book value is $4k?
That's right, I'm a Rover enthusiast, so damn the cost! I'm keeping it!
I drive a truck with GUTS and can go nearly anywhere to get hopelessly stuck anytime.
Joe...I will happily listen to your stories of P38 woes, offer compassionate advice and drink your beer. Heck, you can come to my shop and we'll work on it together and you can drink MY beer! A P38 is a great truck for a teenager. It's big, heavy, got air bags and ABS and will teach a young-un some lessons in modern-while-still-archaic vehicle ownership not to mention the allowance/money-management required to keep gas in it.

Thank the Lord for the rest of you guys/gals who are also Rover enthusiasts ...couldn't get by w/o you!