Went to have a look at the P38 project with possible HG issues after an exploding radiator.... wished I hadn't, not because it was better than in the pictures but because it was a huge steaming pile of Farmer's poo and the price kept falling as we talked!
Turns out the pics were taken last Summer, I was concerned that the driver's window was open in the pics.... and yep a wet Winter had taken it's toll on the interior.... "that will clean up" says he, no it fecking won't. needs a new interior plus A, B and C pillars! Exhaust has rusted out, heater controls have been bypassed with bits of wire, tyres are U/S and a bullet hole in the windscreen before you start to think about the state of the electrics and everything else that goes wrong.
Switch gear, seat adjusters, gear knob and handbrake lever had been chewed away!
Why I wished I hadn't gone.... the price dropped from £850 to £500, I said it was still too much.... £400 or he keeps the only nice stuff on it, Mondial alloys and a wooden steering wheel, then £250-300! I left it with him... It is always good to go and view a car you don't need or want. He did however have a very tidy Blue/cream P38 jammed in a hedge... might provide parts for car A or be a better proposition. Car A wasn't... run away screaming but I also didn't have visions of touring the French Riviera in it. Doable with a lot of work to get it up to "usable". You might think that £250-300 is a good price for a parts car.... yes if there was anything worth salvaging! As a knock about in truck it was doable and would keep the miles down on my L322 plus be slightly cheaper to run, this was my thought process for trying to thrash out a deal over the next few weeks, unless a deaf, dumb and blind person offers him £500. Should I pay £500?

No. I got given a better one than that.
 
As I said before.... I have rose tinted glasses. This is the problem with Land Rover ownership... because you have learnt to fix everything that's wrong with them each purchase gets closer and closer to a pile of ashes... not a problem, bit of fire damage, have it sorted in a weekend!
My first Range Rover, a 1982 classic in red with black vinyl roof was fooking immaculate, that's how I bought it in 1996.... because I knew feck all about RR, it was big and shiny.... my purchases have got more and more adventurous, I should be using my experience to buy the best I can rather than stretching my resources and capabilities on thankless projects and seeing a pile of poo as a challenge rather than something that you should step over. Who here can relate? Off subject a little, but head gaskets may come back if I proceed... Yes, he should be paying me to take it away.
 
On the subject of skimming - I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone as I might just have been lucky but I had a few thou ground off one about 4 years ago (Grrr probably remembers when as he lent me his timing tools - I now have a new set now by the way). Car's still going strong now about 30k miles later although that head is now on a different bottom end. The reason for surface grinding rather than cutting was to avoid removing the pre-chambers and it was only done because the head had already been pressure tested and was known to be free from cracks but had a little warp in it. To be honest, I'm not sure if the amount it was warped by might have pulled out as the bolts were tightened, but the machinist recommended it and if he can build XK engines for cars racing at Goodwood, he can tell me what to do with a cylinder head.

Regarding age, I'm only just half way to fifty myself in years, but have always been told I had an old head on young shoulders so perhaps I behave like I'm a little closer!

Rich

Good to hear it is still running. Nice to hear back from you.

All going well?
 
Good to hear it is still running. Nice to hear back from you.

All going well?
Yep, been out in the old girl today to look at the P38, seller couldn't take his eyes off her. I couldn't remember if I had signed off the gearbox fault in ffrr forum hence the year later and still going, it always annoys me when you follow a thread and never know if the fix worked or not? I do love my L322 and don't see myself selling her for any reason soon... Wife wants to borrow her for trip to the Lakes in the summer, umm, let me get the Jag tested in March and you can use that... much better on fuel! Just don't want my Wife damaging the L322 in a Winderemere car park.
 
Head tends to micro fracture you get tiny little cracks all around. In my experience they can take a good overheating with no issues but some do go. I’ve seen some use a red dye that shows up all the cracks clearly.

Do not skim the head they are not suitable for skimming.
This is useful to know as I'm about to do one
 
A 2.5 with HG issue for sale near me, by coincidence a chap who sold me his series 3 about ten years a go. I feel the need for another P38 project in my life as I have finished working my way through the L322, it is a bit of a dog (P38, not my L322) but nothing I haven't had to sort on previous P38 and only just out of MOT with a history which doesn't read like War and Peace. It has had the standard exploding radiator and the seller thinks the HG has gone. I bought a similar P38 A few years back... radiator had exploded and took out VC fan and water pump big style! I chucked some parts at it and had trouble free towing/motoring for a year before selling on... only issue was someone had fitted a "hot start" chip but after ripping it out and timing the fuel pump it started straight up every time. What other than cracked head or failed HG would cause the radiator to self destruct, being plastic doesn't help I know. The seller has fitted a power chip which might have led to it's early demise? I would call myself a competent home mechanic but after reading the last posts about the "finite" art of setting up the replacement head, I don't feel so confident. The project isn't economically viable if I have to pay a garage to do the work.. unfortunately, I imagine a lot of the "old boy" experts have moved on to a better place by now and unless your car plugs into £10k of diagnostic equipment, your left scouring the interweb for advice?
I suspect someone has put a hot start thing in the one iv just bought should I take it out what do thay actually do thanks
 
I suspect someone has put a hot start thing in the one iv just bought should I take it out what do thay actually do thanks
The hot start chip just mimics a cold start, I think it interrupts the ignition system and fools the ecu, some chips are more reliable than others, you'll see the coil light come on and it sticks extra fuel through the injectors, so the car idles high before dropping back to a warm idle. The hot start issue.... cranking the life out of the engine until it starts or waiting for the engine to cool down. This is usually due to the fuel pump timing being out or a worn pump, not a problem on cold start but could be over time. You can re time it yourself by trial and error or take it to a diesel/Land Rover specialist,the recommended route. I wouldn't rip it out until then.
 
I suspect someone has put a hot start thing in the one iv just bought should I take it out what do thay actually do thanks

Leave it.

BMW were very optimistic on the mapping for the conditions for the lower rpm limit of a warm running engine. A little stretch on the timing chain, a slightly worn starter motor, FIP and all the other little things and it just doesn't make it. Later models pumped fuel when cranking and had a slightly different map which helped a lot but didn't entirely cure it.

The hot start fix tricks the ECU into thinking the engine is cold (usually with a delay timer to keep it that way for a bit after actually starting) so it puts the glow-plugs on and bungs more fuel in.

To remove it you will need to replace the timing chains and if you're doing that you might as well do sprockets and tensioners and by then you're looking at £300 - £500 in parts.
 
Good glow plugs,
Big healthy strong battery, mf31-1000 by Hankook,
Timing spot on at 50% +/- 5% modulation with engine warm and it'll start every time like a fire engine without issue. ;)
 
If you have the time I’d disconnect it and see what happens, if it all goes wrong you just put it back in. Atleast then you know it’s working. Early Models need them later ones shouldn’t but sometimes they are fitted to mask other issues like chain stretch, duff plugs etc
 

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