Hoping I'm not tempting fate but this time it seems to be running as it should.
This has been a nightmare 12 months, and often felt like I was chucking good money after bad as I tried just about everything - took out thermostat, changed temperature sender, new head gasket and skimmed head (cold pressure tested for cracks), changed radiator in case there was a problem with internal circulation only to have to replace it again due to the dreaded split across the top plastic pipe (luckily got it exchanged under warranty), until finally biting the bullet and admitting it had to be a cracked head.
A bit of luck finding a brand-new head on e-bay (£600's not cheap, but a helluva lot cheaper than over a grand from LR !). Even then there was a problem after screwing it all back together when the mother of all airlocks erupted and split the radiator across the top. Put the original radiator back in and bled the cooling system slowly with all the caps off, and touch wood, all's been well since.
What finally has me sleeping at night now is that after an hour's running, towing a boat, I can squeeze the top hoses and compress the pipes really easily, whereas before they were pretty rock hard. I've still to go on a motorway charge and until I come back safely from that I guess that I'll still have some nagging doubts about the fix because it's been such a long time trying to solve the problems.
I even bought a Defender 90 200tdi to keep me going, bloody amazing truck that is - over 170,000 miles and never misses a beat, but I'm really glad to have the P38 back, although I've got a sort of feeling that all is not well with the dual mass flywheel. But that's another story.
This has been a nightmare 12 months, and often felt like I was chucking good money after bad as I tried just about everything - took out thermostat, changed temperature sender, new head gasket and skimmed head (cold pressure tested for cracks), changed radiator in case there was a problem with internal circulation only to have to replace it again due to the dreaded split across the top plastic pipe (luckily got it exchanged under warranty), until finally biting the bullet and admitting it had to be a cracked head.
A bit of luck finding a brand-new head on e-bay (£600's not cheap, but a helluva lot cheaper than over a grand from LR !). Even then there was a problem after screwing it all back together when the mother of all airlocks erupted and split the radiator across the top. Put the original radiator back in and bled the cooling system slowly with all the caps off, and touch wood, all's been well since.
What finally has me sleeping at night now is that after an hour's running, towing a boat, I can squeeze the top hoses and compress the pipes really easily, whereas before they were pretty rock hard. I've still to go on a motorway charge and until I come back safely from that I guess that I'll still have some nagging doubts about the fix because it's been such a long time trying to solve the problems.
I even bought a Defender 90 200tdi to keep me going, bloody amazing truck that is - over 170,000 miles and never misses a beat, but I'm really glad to have the P38 back, although I've got a sort of feeling that all is not well with the dual mass flywheel. But that's another story.
