If the fire ring stays intact not sure if that would happen, That said vvv wot e sed:)
We were:) eventually:D.
J
but the fire ring is to the block on a regular linered engine, thats why we have top hat liners, to seal against the fire ring
plus, how do you know if the liner is 'all the way up' and if its not, how do you get it there?
 
but the fire ring is to the block on a regular linered engine, thats why we have top hat liners, to seal against the fire ring
plus, how do you know if the liner is 'all the way up' and if its not, how do you get it there?

Do you mean all the way down? The battering of the fire ring cos the liner moves then leaves a non sealing access to the coolant.;).

Found this had a couple of interesting paragraphs Flanged or Top Hat Liners in Land Rover Engines - JE Robison Service - Bosch Car Service Specialists — the blog

J
 
Do you mean all the way down? The battering of the fire ring cos the liner moves then leaves a non sealing access to the coolant.;).

Found this had a couple of interesting paragraphs Flanged or Top Hat Liners in Land Rover Engines - JE Robison Service - Bosch Car Service Specialists — the blog

J
interesting read! cheers
I mean.. the extra width of the flanged/top hat liner seals against the fire ring. the regular liner with no flange never presses/seals against the fire ring and allows combustion gas to go up and over the top, through the crack and into the coolant.
 
So, I bought my first P38 today.
Horray.
I took a chance and went with a blind bid on eBay. To cut a long story short it overheated 10 minutes into my journey home.
Booooooo.

Limped to a garage who added some water to the header tank and there was clearly bubbles being forced into the system.
So, head gasket or slipped liners. Bummer.

Previous owner was good enough to let me return it. We got chatting and he offered to to transport it to my place with a discount for me to get it fixed.
The car was otherwise quite nice so may not be the worst idea.
Trying to establish if it's worth it.
I can get an engine with a 30 day warranty off eBay for £800 delivered on an exchange basis.
Has anybody got any experience swapping the V8 over in a p38?
Looks to be plenty of room in there and not too much in the way. I think my engine crane would reach.
I would want it swapped quickly however as I already have too many projects so would only be interested if it's a fairly straightforward swap.
Any thoughts on the value of a P38 with a knackered engine to establish a fair discount?

Here is the car

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225127580156?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=yndUiuxpTbe&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=ekOY2RLDR4m&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY



(I'll send the thread to the previous owner so he can decide what he wants to do)

Thanks all
Before I bought a P38 I was tracking this on EBay. There seemed to be the same few that always cropped up when searching. The enthusiast cars circa £5k used to go quickly. Anything £2-3k hung round as they often had significant issues.
 
Some very interesting posts in this thread.
Reading Landyzone posts does make you start to worry about new perils that you didn't even know existed...
Dropped liners, top hats, leaky head gaskets, cracked blocks.
Never mind the 1990's computer under the drivers seat that squats there like Jabba the Hutt, and has the ability to do strange things even when left alone in the garage overnight.
My previous car, a Volvo V70XC with 200k miles on it, was really boring in comparison.
I sold it because I was worried that it would have a major failure, but the guy who bought it drove it to Hungary non-stop and then took it apart to send spares to Ukraine.
I just know that those parts will run forever.....D'OH...!
Chinese curse "May you own an interesting car", with or without top hats and a dodgy BeCM that is.
But I much prefer my P38 to any other car I have ever owned, with the possible exception (first equal) of my 1978 911SC Coupe, sadly sold back in the day to pay school fees.
 
Sniff test is quick and cheap.
My P38 head gasket seems to be leaking gas into the cooling system, after an overheating event. No white smoke, no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. The header tank does not smell of exhaust fumes at all. I got a RELD test kit, blue dye turned yellow in 2 minutes, confirming exhaust fumes in the coolant. But zero smell. Defo generating gas into the cooling system though - bleed the radiator, go for a run, then find more air / gas in the rad. I guess it's time to check the plugs for contamination / pressure test / compression check etc. But am surprised that there is no "fumes" smell. Thoughts and opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Coolant test 11aug23.png
 
My P38 head gasket seems to be leaking gas into the cooling system, after an overheating event. No white smoke, no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. The header tank does not smell of exhaust fumes at all. I got a RELD test kit, blue dye turned yellow in 2 minutes, confirming exhaust fumes in the coolant. But zero smell. Defo generating gas into the cooling system though - bleed the radiator, go for a run, then find more air / gas in the rad. I guess it's time to check the plugs for contamination / pressure test / compression check etc. But am surprised that there is no "fumes" smell. Thoughts and opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

View attachment 295098
Might just be going down the exhaust, is there moisture coming out the tailpipe? condensation unusual this time
of year, are you losing coolant?
 
My P38 head gasket seems to be leaking gas into the cooling system, after an overheating event. No white smoke, no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. The header tank does not smell of exhaust fumes at all. I got a RELD test kit, blue dye turned yellow in 2 minutes, confirming exhaust fumes in the coolant. But zero smell. Defo generating gas into the cooling system though - bleed the radiator, go for a run, then find more air / gas in the rad. I guess it's time to check the plugs for contamination / pressure test / compression check etc. But am surprised that there is no "fumes" smell. Thoughts and opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

View attachment 295098
Have you done head gaskets recently (i seem to remember but may have been someone else).

J
 
Just to add:
The overheating was caused by a blocked radiator bleed pipe, so that problem was found and fixed.
Doesn't overheat at all now - well, if you believe the temp gauge. But no boiling noises anyway!!
Doesn't seem to be using coolant.
So maybe I have just not bled the system fully - plus the blue dye test might be giving a false positive.
The bleeding is small volumes now - maybe about a 10mm change in the header tank level.
Anyone got any views on the reliability of RELD test results?

I am tempted to continue driving, very carefully, with 10 litres of water in containers in the boot...and pulling over immediately at the slightest twitch of the temp gauge. Or is that stupid?
 
Get it warmed up. Then do a coolant pressure test with engine off (kits are cheap on Amazon). Much easier to spot leaks that way. It should retain the pressure for several hours.
 
At 150,000 miles my P38 started to overheat & in desperation I used Steel Seal which fixed the problem & lasted 25,000 miles before the head gasket started blowing. I then had V8 Developments rebuild my engine which now runs as sweet as a nut with no overheating & no oil leaks.

If you are contemplating an engine swap you have nothing to lose but using Steel Seal or similar.
 

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