Hi guys I know this is a thread that's been covered before but just wanted to get some clarifications. 1996 P38 2.5 dse manual. Car was given to me as a project during lockdown I am based in Algarve Portugal, so very limited to anything here other than going to main dealer!! I dont know anyone here with any diagnostic equipment and as it's the first and maybe only P38 I will ever own didn't really want to buy one if I can help it. Car was given in a terrible state, head gasket was gone, along with possible valve stem seals and maybe worse problems deeper down but with Time on my side it was a great job to keep me busy. Car had been worked on by other mechanics so no real idea of what I would find.
Engine had dumped all its oil lost power and stopped was towed to a friend's garage where it was then donated to me (I can here you all laughing now). On arrival we got it started it ran like a dog, smoking, hunting and generally not happy, so this is what we have done so far.
Engine was filthy full of black gunk took an age to clean flushed with deisel and new cheap 10w 40 oil added with filter as it's hot here and needs a decent thickness.
Ran compression test all cylinders were different ranging from 185 psi to 275psi so this led us to head off and replace what we could.
Put it to TDC (correctly with firing on cylinder 1) locked flywheel removed head and had it rebuilt, pressure tested, new guides, stem seals, skimmed, valve seats reground, but used old valves as they seemed good and within tolerance, (it appears it had a top end rebuild at some stage as valves were marked with punch holes to number them). Head replaced with new gaskets seals etc, top timing chain left alone, wasn't brand new but not terrible.
Once replaced we timed in the cam (4.61mm) on inlet side raised, bled the fuel system, removed pin and he turns over well, however we disconnected the battery and the project was dragged out over several weeks so now although she turns, she wont fire or even try to fire, we are getting power to the pump and can bridge relay 12 to prime the fip, plus the internal pump will run through the relay too so I now think we lost sync with BECM butvagain I'm not sure as not a P38 expert.
Any advice at this stage considering we have no diagnostics would be great and what steps you guys would take next, discarding taking it to the crap heap please Haha
Thanks in advance
Pete in portugal
Engine had dumped all its oil lost power and stopped was towed to a friend's garage where it was then donated to me (I can here you all laughing now). On arrival we got it started it ran like a dog, smoking, hunting and generally not happy, so this is what we have done so far.
Engine was filthy full of black gunk took an age to clean flushed with deisel and new cheap 10w 40 oil added with filter as it's hot here and needs a decent thickness.
Ran compression test all cylinders were different ranging from 185 psi to 275psi so this led us to head off and replace what we could.
Put it to TDC (correctly with firing on cylinder 1) locked flywheel removed head and had it rebuilt, pressure tested, new guides, stem seals, skimmed, valve seats reground, but used old valves as they seemed good and within tolerance, (it appears it had a top end rebuild at some stage as valves were marked with punch holes to number them). Head replaced with new gaskets seals etc, top timing chain left alone, wasn't brand new but not terrible.
Once replaced we timed in the cam (4.61mm) on inlet side raised, bled the fuel system, removed pin and he turns over well, however we disconnected the battery and the project was dragged out over several weeks so now although she turns, she wont fire or even try to fire, we are getting power to the pump and can bridge relay 12 to prime the fip, plus the internal pump will run through the relay too so I now think we lost sync with BECM butvagain I'm not sure as not a P38 expert.
Any advice at this stage considering we have no diagnostics would be great and what steps you guys would take next, discarding taking it to the crap heap please Haha
Thanks in advance
Pete in portugal
