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3.9 Head Gasket / Liners - with pics - Opinions Please?


Mike_H

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Any more ideas? Would leaky injector seals cause it to run rough?

Yes, very - it'll run (albeit rough) with the throttle open, but be terrible at idle, which sounds like it fits. It actually makes quite a racket but until there's virtually no seal left you won't be able to pick it out over the fan when you've got the bonnet up - you might hear it when you work it hard driving though, which is infuriating when you can't then track it down when you pull over :huh:

If you think the seals are dodgy, it's not that much work to remove the fuel rail and change them, and they cost peanuts. I kicked myself for not changing them when I had it in bits - would probably just change them as a matter of course now to save myself the grief unless they were pretty much new.

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  • 5 months later...

I thought I'd come back and report on this one....

Unfortunately all seemed well, and the engine would tick over happily without any problems, but when it did some real work, the pressurizing / coolant loss problems came back with a vengeance, so at the end of it all, the conclusion is that the block/head has gone porous somewhere.

So there are two options left really.

1. Buy another lump, fit it, and hope the new one is ok. I've been offered a TVR 4.0 lump for sensible money. I imagine the swap would be fairly straightforward, but are there any issues with swapping a manual engine into an auto car, or 2wd to 4wd? Obviously I'd be planning to use the existng transmission from the rangie.

2. Sell the car as-is for a project / breaker. What's an otherwise decent classic worth with no tax or MOT, and a dud engine. It still runs though.

The owner has a 1972 short wheelbase car, which he really wants to keep, as well as the 1993 classic, so if anyone's looking for a project (the 1993 one), let me know!

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The cam in the TVR engine may not be ideal in your application. Other than that it should fit.

The car minus working engine will not be worth anything. Whoever takes it away will have to tow or trailer it at some expense.

Another LR engine should be readily available and relatively cheap.

Steve

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I wouldn't give up on the engine just yet - your original post mentioned overheating - a partially blocked radiator and/or block resulting from the previous owner adding some kind of sealer might be causing air-locks and/or restricted flow resulting in hot-spots and boiling of the water and lots of thermal problems.

I would look at cooling related causes, reverse flushing the radiator/heater matrix/block to see if any crud comes out etc. before making a final decision on the vehicle. Ideally you need a mains pressure hose with a good seal to effectively flush through in reverse.

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I guess they're not worth a huge amount, but I'd have thought it's worth something, as there are lots of nice bits on it.... maybe I will be changing the engine after all?!

Not much, I'm afraid :( Classics go for peanuts these days, even quite nice ones. A non-runner is worth virtually nothing.

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I'm in Berkshire, but the car is in Northants, near Brackley/Sliverstone.

If anyone's got a good 3.9 lump (ideally running and testable with a block tester) then there's a good chance that the owner (a mate, not me) would be interested.

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I wouldn't give up on the engine just yet - your original post mentioned overheating - a partially blocked radiator and/or block resulting from the previous owner adding some kind of sealer might be causing air-locks and/or restricted flow resulting in hot-spots and boiling of the water and lots of thermal problems.

I would look at cooling related causes, reverse flushing the radiator/heater matrix/block to see if any crud comes out etc. before making a final decision on the vehicle. Ideally you need a mains pressure hose with a good seal to effectively flush through in reverse.

I've recently bought one of the block testers where a fluid changes colour on contact with combustion gas. I'll give that a try to confirm, but I'm pretty confident that the radiator was ok when we started - looks nearly new.

However, the engine has had sealer chemicals in it, so it could be getting blocked up now.

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  • 4 months later...

be interested to know the outcome of this. ive had the exact same problem with a 3.9, ran it for about 20mins and the temp was fine. next day started it, 5 mins later it was overheating so ive presumed the worst

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discovered my problems today. block tested , all seemed fine as there was no change in the fluid. I knew the gasket had gone as no 2 was blowing through to the waterway, replaced with composite gaskets but never had the heads checked so when it overheated i presumed one was cracked.

After getting over my little sulk i tested the thermostat in boiling water and it appeared to be knackered so left it out and ran in up but still overheating :rolleyes:. Took the front off the waterpump and hey presto the blades were spinning on the shaft, ordered a new pump so fingers crossed all will be well

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