1998 4.6 P38 Overheating - Losing coolant

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cos if you air con is on, it tends to run your engine hotter, thats what the fans in front of your rad are for. you said you never had them running. and i just thought if you had run with air con on that could be half your problem. i all so think you may have a problem with your lpg set up..
 
engine runs hotter when air con is on, try having light on air con. i all so think you need to have your lpg looked at, as if it is lean that all so makes extra heat for your engine..
 
The car has been juiced up by JE Engineering! It was done back 2006. Remapped, gas flowed manifolds, induction kit etc! I never did this work and didn't know it had been done until I emailed JE Engineering & they informed me as my local independent noticed my car was rather
more spritely than any other 4.6's he driven. Don't performance enhancement
usually consist of making the engine run
leaner in order to
provide
more power, economy etc?
 
if your gas is set leaner it makes your engine run hotter, it proving this to you over heating only on gas. the best guy to ask on here i would think is gavbriggs. he runs on gas..
 
Gavbriggs what do u suggest! I towed the boat again today and everything was fine! So the LPG is the cause! I'm sure of it now! I'm going to book it in with my gas man an hope it's as straightforward as changing over vaporisers and not a full overhall etc.
 
right guys i got the vaporiser changed today and now running on lpg without any overheating issues.

My point is! If you have lpg on your p38 and are having overheating/loss of coolant issues, check out your vaporiser before booking a new head gasket session. Its easy to diagnose. I just switched to petrol for a week to see. I also had to bypass the vaporiser but thats easy to do by just connecting the to vaporiser water pipes together. I also drained and bled cooling system. Had no overheating problems at all. Yes the car runs slightly hotter on the lpg but not overheating and not losing coolant. Also i suggest changing the grille on p38's as the orginal does not maximise air flow. I changed my grille at the weekend and now the car runs slightly cooler around town and the guage drops more when cruising on motorway. The further i am away from overheating the better. Got a lot of towing ahead of me this summer.
 
chrispiec said:
right guys i got the vaporiser changed today and now running on lpg without any overheating issues.

My point is! If you have lpg on your p38 and are having overheating/loss of coolant issues, check out your vaporiser before booking a new head gasket session. Its easy to diagnose. I just switched to petrol for a week to see. I also had to bypass the vaporiser but thats easy to do by just connecting the to vaporiser water pipes together. I also drained and bled cooling system. Had no overheating problems at all. Yes the car runs slightly hotter on the lpg but not overheating and not losing coolant. Also i suggest changing the grille on p38's as the orginal does not maximise air flow. I changed my grille at the weekend and now the car runs slightly cooler around town and the guage drops more when cruising on motorway. The further i am away from overheating the better. Got a lot of towing ahead of me this summer.
Click to expand...

Dont want to be the bearer of bad news but I suspect all is still not well with your Rangie. The fact that you can see a difference on the temp gauge depending on driving conditions / fuel would suggest there is still a problem with the cooloing system.

The temp gauge never moves on mine regardless of running on gas / petrol, towing, driving round town or cruising on the motorway. The thermostat should maintain a constant engine temp up to the point the cooling system runs out of thermal capacity and then starts to increase. From your description it would seem yours is running with the stat fully open most of the time trying to keep the temp down and is on the edge of out of control.

I would seriously consider looking at the rad as it wont take much degredation of cooling fins / internal crud to massively reduce its performance.
 
most cars i have driven you can see slight changes on the temp guage. Like towing it increases slightly, 70mph on motorway on a cold night the guage goes down, stuck in traffic on a hot day slight increase etc. The cooling system passed a high pressure test and the bleeding nipple going back into the expansion tank is flowing fine. Would that not suggest that the radiator is ok and not blocked up etc? I have been running the heating at it hottest for the last while in order for early warning if i lose coolant.
 
A system pressure test will only show system integrity, it will not highlight any blockages or poor flow through the main cores.

the fact you are running with the heater on full only assists teh cooling system as you are providing a second radiator to disipate some of the engine temperature.

Whist a sudden change in heater temp can indicate a coolant leak, it will possibly mask a poorly performing radiator.

And as a foot note, once up to temperature, I have never (to date) seen any discernable change in the temp gauge regardless of operating conditions
 
Is there a test i can do on the rad to check? Stick a hose on one end kinda thing? Running out of money with all my repairs to this car.

What if i stick to normal heater use and see if i get any changes? How much is a rad nowadays?
 
not with engine running, i did mine went engine was stone cold. you can get engine water flush from most parts shops. dont for get to get your fresh aintfreez befor you start the job..
 
Where did have the water draining from? The top hose or drain plug under engine? Sorry about all the questions but just wanna do it right!
 
sorry again guy but should i have the water draining out through the drain plug or out the top hose? Just about to get started! Jus trying to set thing up so i dont flood the neighbours garden! AGAIN!!! :darth_vader:
 
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