P38A First long trip expensive?!!

Yesterday my best friend of many years asked if I fancied a road trip deep into wales to collect a 1953 Chrysler new yorker that has been sitting for a few years and follow him back in it. It was a round trip of about 400 milles, What could go wrong driving a 4.6 p38 with no history and 163000 miles that I only got a few weeks ago?? We made the trip down in 4 hrs but The entire passenger side headlamp grille has gone!! Any ideas where to get one of those?? On the way back we stopped for fuel (surprise!) and queued for 5 minutes to leave in traffic and stopped again at which point the v8 decided to boil off 5 litres of water!. having let it cool for a bit it was topped up and 8 hours, 6 stops and 250 miles later the rangey still has nearly all it's water. I did keep alternating between hot and cold on heater with and without a/c to make sure it wasn,t cooking and tick over seems smooth. I am guessng the temp guage won't go above half way? ( the xj40 did this as designed by jaguar so as not to alarm the owner!!). I averaged 18 mpg with lots of hills and incredible scenery so not a bad start to my first p38 trip!!

With the boiling over you need to make sure the viscous fan is working properly it should roar like a tank on start up then go quiet and roar again when it gets up to temp just because its tuning does not mean its working properly,
normal test is to get it well up to temp and try and stop the fan with a rolled up news paper if it stops its no good if you get shredded paper you are good to go.

brianp38dse said:

With the boiling over you need to make sure the viscous fan is working properly it should roar like a tank on start up then go quiet and roar again when it gets up to temp just because its tuning does not mean its working properly,
normal test is to get it well up to temp and try and stop the fan with a rolled up news paper if it stops its no good if you get shredded paper you are good to go.

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Thanks for the quick reply I did wonder if the viscous fan felt a bit feeble. Do the temp guages only read half way? It is a 2002 reg.

If you are going to look for replacement headlamp grilles …brace yourself…

Oh dear as wife already giving me grief do you know the part numbers or who to ask for a grille and how do I stop another departing as the fixings are quite crap

britaddict said:

Oh dear as wife already giving me grief do you know the part numbers or who to ask for a grille and how do I stop another departing as the fixings are quite crap

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EBay for the grills. Just remember the phrase “the dildo of P38 ownership rarely comes lubed”. I've been on the look out for a set for a while and they’re always a high cost item.. wonder if I can 3D print a set?

Apart from not having a pattern I do like the theory of that! Maybe add some extra lugs for cable ties to secure them better too!!!

britaddict said:

Thanks for the quick reply I did wonder if the viscous fan felt a bit feeble. Do the temp guages only read half way? It is a 2002 reg.

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The gauge stays in he centre until at least 105C. If the expansion cap is weak, 105C is enough to cause boiling.

18mpg, kin'ell don't think i've ever had mine that high.....