2001 p38 engine refresh worth it or not?

do them all then forget for a few years

emcm0034 said:

Front ball joints do them both sides top and bottom or just the ones with play which is drivers side?
Thanks again all

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do both sides top & bottom imo if one side has gone the other aint far behind

emcm0034 said:

Sorry for the very slow update been unwell and forgot to post. Had the rangie looked at to be told it does sound like a lifter or rocker cap as was suggested by biketeacherdave. So thankfully no rush will wait till better weather and see what can do to it. Even who I got to look at it said its not a bad one and what would you replace it with as you know it inside and out.

So its another p38 that will be saved and kept on the road and on the air ride no springs. Now to deal with mot advisories first.

Save opening a new thread Front ball joints do them both sides top and bottom or just the ones with play which is drivers side?
Thanks again all

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Just with those worn rockers, lots of years ago I had a old RRC 3.5 V8, the motor ran beautifully smooth and quietly, but it was obviously pretty breathless in the power stakes, anyhow, one afternoon when I started it up in the works car park it was running on 7 cylinders and had a slight tap,tap, it turned out that a pushrod had worn its way right through the ball socket end of the rocker arm, so no valve opening.
When I lifted off all the rockers it was surprising how many of the pushrods were well worn into the rocker arm sockets with at least 2 more ready to break through, and how badly the pivot bore of the rocker arms had worn into the rocker shafts, poor lubrication was my best guess, but my engine at that stage had already done half a million kilometres.