Burning a gallon of petrol or diesel produces amongst other things a lot of water as a byproduct of the process.
This is most noticeable in cold weather as steam from the exhaust pipe plus water droplets, the latter not unusual even on a hot system.
Common on cars used for short journeys that never warm up to have mayo in the oil filler cap. I sometimes wonder how many have paid for unnecessary work in the belief that it;s a sure-fire indicator of HGF.
Also the reason that cars that do short journeys go through exhausts faster than those that do long journeys as the exhaust doesn't get hot enough to boil the water off & they rot from the inside out.
 
Don't need venting on a p38 v8. Swapped out for a new one and never had an issue. Gets up to temp quick too
What the hole IS good for, is letting the coolant out when you need to drain it
I was assuming it was a diesel because isn't the thermostat in a sealed housing on the V8?
 
the thermostat might be in a "sealed housing", but it didn't stop previous owner of one of mine.

thermostat-bodge.jpg
 
Thanks guys for all the replies, motor was rebuilt 5 years again and has hardly been driven for the last 4 1/2 ( maybe 300km in total) in the last 6 months I have done about 4000km mainly short drives longest been 70 km (done this one about 6 times). Going to check for steam cleaning of the plugs as suggested and clean the rockers out in case it is condensation still in the rocker covers. Been priced $6950 change over for a reconditioned block so fingers crossed.
 
Thanks guys for all the replies, motor was rebuilt 5 years again and has hardly been driven for the last 4 1/2 ( maybe 300km in total) in the last 6 months I have done about 4000km mainly short drives longest been 70 km (done this one about 6 times). Going to check for steam cleaning of the plugs as suggested and clean the rockers out in case it is condensation still in the rocker covers. Been priced $6950 change over for a reconditioned block so fingers crossed.
if the HGs have gone it doesn't need a new block. remove the ancillaries , pull the rocker covers, pull the manifolds, pull the inlet manifold, coil packs, pull the heads. about 4 hours to pull the heads and in parts probably about 200-300 approx. when I did mine I replaced most of the bolts, coil packs HT leads, and few other bits. the biggest grind is lower manifold bolt on number 8 cyl. getting it back in. good tip from MartyUK pull the wheel and wheel arch liner and long socket extension you'll get straight in there. a lot quicker.

that is *if* your HGs are toast
 

Similar threads