At the risk of jinxing, I have a 1995 Gems 4.6. Love it to bits. Yes pretty well maintaned, oil changed regularly etc. Was my daily driver until Covid and is now a weekly drive but usually for about 30 miles each way. Prevously daily run was 30 miles each way and long runs of 200-300 miles so was always well warmed up. Now sitting at 210k..
MPG is about 18 but its a 27 year old V8.
Apart from EAS being a pain no troubles although I suspect a Lambda sensor is busted
 
Worth checking though, when 'locked up' it should still spin

I'm led to believe that a feature of a VC is that it doesn't allow the fan to rotate beyond 2500 rpm.
The BM fan I referred to exhibited the opposite symptoms of seized, ie the fan could be stopped when the (cold) engine was running, as designed, but could still be stopped when the engine was at/beyond normal running temperature.
 
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I'm led to believe that a feature of the VC is that it doesn't allow the fan to rotate beyond 2500 rpm.
The BM fan I referred to exhibited the opposite symptoms of seized, ie the fan could be stopped when the (cold) engine was running, as designed, but could still be stopped when the engine was at/beyond running temperature.
The contents can leak out from the nut
 
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The contents can lead out from the nut

By lead I assume you meant to type leak ?
There is an article on YouTube about refilling the unit, but I just bought a new VC; it's not as though they cost the proverbial 'arm & a leg'
Seems to have cured the problem as the auxiliary fan hasn't cut in since.
 
By lead I assume you meant to type leak ?
There is an article on YouTube about refilling the unit, but I just bought a new VC; it's not as though they cost the proverbial 'arm & a leg'
Seems to have cured the problem as the auxiliary fan hasn't cut in since.
Quite right.. missed that!!
Last one i took off because engine temp seemed to be averaging higher than normal by s couple of degrees.. still 'worked' but the nut was wet and smelly so i can only presume the VC had started to fail, but not completely. I had a spare to put on!
 
If you have to immediately sell your diesel and rely on this car as a daily driver that may not be a good idea. At least take it to a garage and have them do an inspection to look for problems. Offer to pay for this.
As for whether or not the V8 is a good engine I tend to agree with the idea that a lot of them were made and most turned out to be OK. You just hear about the horror stories. I had a 98 4.0 GEMS for two years that was trouble free as far as the engine goes. A few months after I sold it the car turned up on Craigslist with blown head gasket. I had sold it because I bought a 99 Autobiography. I have had the car 5 years and driven over 50k km with the only issues being a water pump and alternator. Total mileage 250k km now. I have also purchased 2 other 99 cars for parts and both had engines that ran fine. Just bought a 99 Autobiography with 383k km for the factory accessories it has installed, including a Warn winch. Have not picked it up yet but it seemed to run OK when I took it for a test drive. Picking up on Tuesday.
Bottom line is you take your chances when buying any old car.
 
[QUOTE="Gord Wedman, post: 5427015, member: 135544] Have not picked it up yet but it seemed to run OK when I took it for a test drive. Picking up on Tuesday.
Bottom line is you take your chances when buying any old car.[/QUOTE]

+1
I always go for old models in good condition, not only do they lack electrical/mechanical complication many of the expensive examples (in period) were built to a standard, not price.
 
Already rich thread. skipped some posts. Have a close relative that had one (1998 reg) with LPG conversion. I can check exact details if need to, it had between 100 and 200k miles on the clock, with history, well taken care of. Ended up rebuilding the engine. I am not sure if that was due to LPG or not, but from his research at the time rebuilds did happen in the V8 P38 world.

Sadly, it developed another issue with drive, to which he never got to fixing. It has been sitting years now. He still loves it and misses it, hence it is kept.

It was thirsty (hence the LPG), below 20mpg, but then it is an old V8 and even l322 is no better (unless I look to make it lighter...). If you put your foot down you an see the fuel needle move. But then would you get one to put your foot down? You would be missing the point in my view.

In the end, there is luck and it is up to you. You might be up for a rebuild yourself if need arises to ;)

Good luck!
 

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