Matt B Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Hi Recently, last week in fact, I took leave of my senses and bought a 4.0 V8 P38 running LPG on an 'R' plate (150k miles - I paid a pittance...). The beast ran fine apart from a tapping on idle which I intended to fix with a couple of cams etc. We used the car to tow from Cornwalll to Devon, did a bit of greenlaning and had a blast wondering what all the fuss was about with regards to P38's. On the way home my girlfriend and I smelt hot water so I checked the temperature, which was fine, pulled over and sure enough the pipe from the top of the radiator to the expansion tank had split. Fortunately we stopped on a garage forecourt so I was able to buy some pipe and clips and replace the defective part, top up the coolant and drive off. All the way back I kept an eye on the temperature gauge which sat at halfway only once rising up to three quarters up the white on a long incline. All of a sudden she started missing, then lost power and died. Fortunately I was at a service station so was able to turn in and call the aa. The car wouldn't turn over at all and I was afraid that I had seised (sp?) the engine. I let the car cool down and waited for the AA. When the chap turned up he tried the motor and it turned freely, too freely. The cooling system was pressurised and so he came to the conclusion that the head gasket had blown. Thanks for reading this far, there is a point: 1: I will have to do the work myself, I am competent and have been playing with rover V8's for a while but not attempted a stripdown and rebuild like this. I intend to get the heads checked and skimmed if necassary, replace the gaskets, replace the cams and followers (guessing they are hydraulic?). Question - Is it likely that the bores have suffered damage? If so how do I check? is there anywhing else I should know/consider before continuing? 2: Breaing in mind all that will cost me about £500 I can get a replacement motor for the same money with a 30day warranty. Qyestion - Would that be a better course of action? Thanks in advance for any input. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quagmire Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Is hard to say what has gone on without taking the heads off - but first you could try the usual checks for compression, look at the plugs etc (are any wet/ any steam cleaned etc). The subject of RV8's doing horrible things is covered pretty comprehensively in various posts on here. Use google to search as it beats the mother out of the native forum search tool... With heads off it should be fairly obvious what has gone on. As to what went on with the seized/ running too freely thing I have no idea- someone with more RV8 experience will probably pipe up soon enough. For more v8 specific reading try www.v8forum.co.uk Good luck with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt B Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Thanks for the reply I'm looking at simply replacing the engine now for speeds sake and fiddling with the old one out of the car; could anybody advise me whether any 4.0 RV8 will slot in or are there different varients? For example is the 3.9 Disco motor the same thing? Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 The 3.9, the 4.0 should be. The engines are mostly the same anyway, just some ancillaries are different, but you can use those from the original unit. Not sure what year an 'R' plate is, is it a GEMS or Thor (Bosch)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveRK Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Whats the current status? does it run? When the AA arrived had it lost much coolant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt B Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Yes it's a GEMS unit. The engine turns over freely but pumps water out of the expansion tank. It took a good few litres of water before the AA chap tried starting it. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vougese39 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 the problem is there are no good running s/h units out there if you want to fit a older engine you will need to fit the front cover another cam and crank sensor to and its a lot of work just for a temp job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.