P38A 4.6 V8 won't pull, sluggish, otherwise runs fine.

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Well that was fun. Took her up and down the bypass on the way to the MOT this afternoon, smelt a waft of hot oil or "something", pulled over, bonnet up, transmission fluid all over the engine bay!

No fire, but wherever it's coming from it got in to the fan and has been thrown everywhere. Going to be a hell of a job to find the leak in amongst the debris. It looks like a plasterers radio in there, my nice shiney new engine now hasw a thin film of traditional Land Rover rustproofing.

I think it's the transmission fluid rather than power steering because the transmission level is low, but I can't be arsed to go looking for it now. I put brand new cooler pipes on it too when the new engine went in.

Question for the forum, how best to search for this leak. I had a look with the engine ticking over and I couldn't see anything squirting out from any of the unions, I worry I might need to get the revs up to force the leak to show it's self, but I don't have a rolling road, or a lift.

God they test the f**k out of you these things don't they!
 
i wd say cooler too...when I had my leak it wasn't until i'd cleaned it up all the ATF that I could then find the leak...

The argument for removing the fan temporarily is that the ATF is not blown around, giving you a chance to locate the leak. But I think you will have to run the gearbox to temp as well, which may involve driving it, rather than just rev-ing the engine
 
Well I've found my leak. The fan has worn a hole in the cooler hose. When I refitted it, I must've routed it wrongly somehow..... I can't really see any other way to route it, but that's what's happened.

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Does anyone know what the ID of those cooler pipes might be? Island do a new pipe for only £20 odd, but it'd be easier to repair it than replace it I think!
 
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I'd be tempted to try a bit of Quiksteel in that crack and bind Duck-tape around it and cable-tie it out the way to get mobile again.

Is it just reinforced rubber? No metal? I reckon some copper pipe might join it together if you cut the damaged part out.
 
Grrrrrr said:
I'd be tempted to try a bit of Quiksteel in that crack and bind Duck-tape around it and cable-tie it out the way to get mobile again.

Is it just reinforced rubber? No metal? I reckon some copper pipe might join it together if you cut the damaged part out.
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But I need the ID of the hose to get the correct size conector. I think it might be 1/2 inch, but if someone had access to the old ones I took off they could cut one in half and measure it for me!

I'd gaffa tape it if I was at the side of the road, but I think I've lost my MOT window anyway now, so I may aswell make a good repair of it.
 
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MrGorsky said:
But I need the ID of the hose to get the correct size conector. I think it might be 1/2 inch, but if someone had access to the old ones I took off they could measure it for me!

I'd gaffa tape it if I was at the side of the road, but I think I've lost my MOT window anyway now, so I may aswell make a good repair of it.
Click to expand...

I'd have to cut the old ones. And find them. Raining out there and you can bet they're probably at the bottom of the scrap metal trailer. Reminds me, I need to fix the jockey wheel on that too.

Seeing as that one is FUBAR, why not just cut it? The one in the trailer is probably OK if you can get it off the old cooler.
 
1/2 inch (in fact 13mm) barbed hose joiner and two jubilee clips has sorted it.

Try and get another MOT booked tomorrow....

I've cable tied it to the engine oil cooler pipe to hold it away, but I'm not very happy about where that hose "lies" as it looops under the crank pulley. I can't see a clip or adjustment anywhere either.

Has anyone else thought the hose runs a bit close to the bottom of the crank pulley? Looking at it now, I don't really understand how it managed to move from where it lies when stationary, to rub against the crank pulley when the car is moving. The hose needs to move about 60mm to foul the pulley. I wouldn't have thought it possible.

Bloody Britpart!
 
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We have an MOT pass! Boom. We are king off the road once again.

To put this thread to bed, I think the sluggishness was caused by a 3 pronged problemo.

1: Earthing problems leading to low volts at various ECU's, but this seemed to cause a loss of kickdown. *see note below
2: Old coil pack leading to misfire.
3: Newish (but still worn out) HT leads leading to misfire.

I've re-earthed the engine and also added a dedicated cable from the alternator to the battery +ive, changed the coil packs for brand new, and the HT leads for 8mm super duper ones, and she's running sweet as a nut now. Smoother than I've ever known her, but the engine has only done 52 miles so I'd expect that!

Thanks all for the advice and suggestions, we got there in the end.

Just the glove box, blend motors, and aircon to sort, and then we're back at 100%!!!!! Top marks to V8 Developments for my remanufactured engine.

*There is deffo a bug with my gearbox ECU. Although I now have 14.4 volts on the pin, the Nanocom is still reading just under 12 volts at the ECU. Tried two gearbox ECU's and they both say the same. If I swap to the wrong part number ECU I see 14.4volts on the Nanocom. Gear changes and kickdown are back and smooth as butter, so I've got my original one back in now, and I have a couple of spares in the shed.
 
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