ermmmmm, HELP!!

Hi Folks,

In January I bought my 1996 P38 4.6 V8 autobiography, I brought it home from Newcastle and it ran beautifuly all the way here(6hours drive ish)! About 2 weeks after this, I left it idling out the front of my work for about 10minutes on LPG, ever since things haven't been right, The day after I left it idling we ran about on gas for about 20mins then the temp shot straight up and the engine over heated. I let it cool down the gas wouldnt work, I took it to a specialist and he said something to do with the water pipes being on wrong, turns out he was wrong and it was actually that the head had gone. During this time the pipe from the engine to the top of the radiator was rock solid and couldn't be compressed no matter what I tried. I was given to options when I spoke to my mate whos a mechanic, one was to strip and rebuild the engine or try something called K-Seal which is like liquid metal and fills any cracks or gaps that arent meant to be there(its only £11 and has a life time guarantee so thought it would be worth a shot). It worked a treat and the top pipe wasnt so hard, the gas worked again and it didn't over heat. Just out of curiosity 2 weeks after I put the stuff in a checked the top pipe and it was going hard again although it wasn't over heating or causing the gas not to work. Due to the pipe going hard I put in another bottle and the pipe became softer within minutes.
I thought I had cured it, Ive done about 2000miles with it and then yesterday it all went wrong big style!
On firday I ran up to the west coast of scotland (about 100miles from here in inverness) with it full of camping gear, there was no problems at all and the engine ran beautifully over all the hills etc. We came home that night empty and all was well, Gas was back firing alot on the run down and down hills! We ran about on petrol on saturday in town with no problems. Yesterday I went back up the road to collect all the camping gear, the people I was with were going the scenic route home, so I followed. The road was pretty hilly, (its the aplecross road for anyone who knows it) all the way along the road we weer runnign perfect for about 90miles, then we turned off onto a slightly steeper section(applecross to kishorn over the bealloch). Everything seemed perfect running on petrol, until about 500yards up the hill with no warning the temp shot up and water was spewing out the engine bay. It was single track road so I had no option but to carry on to the next passing place, only about 50yards. The water was boiling worse than ever before, I waited 5/10mins and pulled the lid off the expansion tank, I spewed out 7.5 litres of water all over the engine bay, all over me and the car parked in front so the pressure in there was extremely high which I didn't expect!
I was in the middle of no where so had no option but to sit and wait for it to cool down then put water in, I carried on up the hill as it is the only way out of where I was and about 1mile on it over heated again, I sat waited for it to cool down and then thought maybe it was something to do with the fact we were so high (thin air) and moving at slow speed(enigne not getting enough cool air) I headed on up the hill to the top at a slightly fast pace and it was ok We stopped here for about 30mins and then headed down the other side of the hill, Really winedy and slow speed. The engine was running perfect again on petrol (had no gas to try it). We got down onto the flat and headed for home, About 40miles from the bottom of the twisty road we were running perfect at around 50mph as always the road isn't completely flat! We headed up a slight gradient and with no warnign what so ever! BANG!! The temp shot right up and the engine was chapping like mad, (possible big ends gone) I couldn't stop straigth away so I backed off the throttle and stopped about 100yards up the hill where the engine cut out! I sat for about 20mins and tried to start it again, It was sounding as if the bottom ending was srapping, there was oil all over the bottom of the engine. I told the others to carry on and I phoned a mate to come tow me home with his L200. He arrived about an hour later and I let him here the engine turning over, it then proceeded to start! :S It wasn't soudning the healthiest but it was chapping or scrapping like it was when i stopped, Due to the distance (60odd miles) I left the engine idling (so I had steering and brakes) and we got towed home. The temp was sitting in the normal place while being towed and the engine wasnt chapping either. We got back to my workshop and I turned it off, I then went to start it again to move it and it wouldnt start, it was turning over and the scrapping etc was back so I left it where it was.
I came to work this morning and had no choice but to move it, I jumped in and away she went, running like normal again, no scrapping or chapping! :S I was able to drive it out of the way with no problems!!!

I am REALLLYY!!!!! confused and don't understand whats happening, has anyone ever come across this before??? I am going to be taking the engine out in the next few days and then I'll decide if a rebuild id in order or a new engine!!?

Also, since I got it and before the previous owner had it the heaters have been rubbish, only blowing cold air untill you get it into the higher rev range(is this part of the cause)

I would apreciate any comments you have for me!
Sorry for such a long read but thought I'm better explaining everything

many thanks
Lee

Good luck on anyone being bothered to read that load of ****.... punctuation is a fine thing

Shame you wernt here 5mins ealier....................avoid K-seal at all costs.......I would rather wait for AA truck then put that stuff in.

You bodged it, it cooked and you carried on.

The sound of it the oil got cooked and it's got bearing, head gasket and most likely liner issues by now


****ed

blocked cracked more likely k seal wont fix it,heaters blowing cold is classic of pressurisation blowing coolant off leaving air to transfer heat to matrix ,no one would buy v8 with cold blowing heaters no wonder he sold it ,noise would be pistons catching bores ,they are shaped to be round when hot slighly oval when cold they would be getting a bit too tight , it must have been bloody hot,will drive maybe all right on very short journeys ,need short engine at least but preferably stripped block heads etc,it aint fixed just needs to be hot for crack to open up

The post reminds me of "Wrififer" and his tales of woe. He went from a Newbie to Senior Member overnight!!!!
Anyone remember him ????????????

:behindsofa:

FFS Give the guy a break lads, he was just making sure he was not leaving anything out. Why the negative comments?

I don't think you have any options open to you but to take the heads off and find out exactly what's causing your problem.

Irish - I remember WRCFifer. My God he must have had every fault known to man happen to him. It even broke down on the way to pick up the guy from the airport who was going to buy it. I can't remember what the end of the tale was though.

I like a good read. You can never have too much information. But it would seem this story will not have a good ending. If you have an overheat, switch off and don't run it again until it's fixed. I remember Wrixifier, hoof ! That was an epic story of woe.

Think he swapped his p38 for a golf if I remember right. Did anyone see the photo he posted when having eas faults, it was quite funny the rear end was up sticking up far too much.

Not the result i was looking for from you but thats life.Maybe you will break down one day and get left by the road.

Thank you

what was the result you were looking for?

so what help were you seeking ? it seems you have a fairly definite diagnosis

dont buy another with cold blowing heater unless you know why

What were you expecting people to say"oh I'm sure it will be fine even though its over heated numerous times" the v8 are hard enough on a good day let alone an overheated one!. But everyone did give you a good idea what's up with it ............................its fooked.

I know now is u s now i need to rebuild and get back on road and i may be back on for help for best parts and where to get them. So thank you for now.

that does sound quite royally buggered there. in my experience of an over heating v8's its not good, with rover v8's its really not good. If some utter gonad hadn't smashed into my classic when i had it i would have been getting a tasty unit from RPI and had the LPG re done, its a false economy to do things by half, especially when its the engine.

tommy

Yep, i'd say so! Engine will be coming out this week hopefully if I can manage to get some free time Although I may have found another engine, not too sure on size but guy thinks its a diesel V8 out of a landy or range??
I thought I'd try the easy option but it came back and bit me right on the ar$e,
Thanks for all your comments, it is apprecitated!
as you can all probably tell theres two of us using this haha, the other guys my dad, hes a bit gutted and didnt mean that comment at the top to come across the way it did!

Ill let you all know the out come, there might be parts of a V8 for sale if theyre salvagable!

cheers
Lee

v8 beast said:

.......... I may have found another engine, not too sure on size but guy thinks its a diesel V8 out of a landy or range?? .......

Click to expand...

Good luck with that if its a diesel. You would be better off trying to fit your own top hat liners with a stick than getting that to run on a budget.