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Head Gasket change or engine swap?


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Dear All,

I have a 4.6 V8 with overheating issues and after trying everything I can think of (including rad change, water pump, thermostat, blowthrough with hosepipe) I have come to the eventual conclusion that it must be the head gasket.

Now I've also noticed that there was a small weep from the core plugs so they will need changing as well and I'm wondering if it's really worth the effort or to just get shot of the thing!

Does anyone have a pressure tester so i can at least figure out which cylinder has gone as I can't seem to find one.

Am in JVT District 1.0559830499

She starts up fine and sounds lovely but boils up in the space of 10 mins!

or does anyone want a cheap project?

Regards

Chris

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I have the pressure tester, feel to borrow if you like (PM me).

However, in this scenario your best bet is to replace the engine with best possible P38 engine from scrap. Rebuilding will be too expensive and still have 70-80% of original performance.

Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

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That was going to be my next idea.

Any suggestions on where to get a replacement engine?

I've also got some magic goop coming over, K-Seal I have friends in the UK who are into the forward control landies and other military vehicles and they generally throw large V8s into them and they swear by it.

They are also running on LPG which i believe is a hotter burn in the engine?

I figure for 25 pounds it's worth a go before i take a drastic move.

According to the hype it will repair a hole of up to 0.5mm in a gasket which is quite impressive if it works. Anyway it's worth a try.

Many thanks for the Advice Gaurav and i'll drop you a line for the compression tester.

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  • 9 months later...

Hi All,

 

Just to update you. I dismantled the top end and discovered 2 head gaskets under each side! Warning bells...

We also found that the return pipe from the heater matrix was pinched as the previous owner had disconnected the heater and just connected one pipe to the other.

We actually think this was the cause of the opverheating but by this time the heads were already off!!

The lovely people at AAA (Gordon) checked the heads and confirmed that they had never been skimmed so AAA mig welded round the water ports (pitting and corrosion from normal water being used in coolingh system) and then skimmed them both.

A good clean of all the valves and rockers/shafts and a gasket kit later and she wouldn't start.

AAA picked her up and sorted out the HT leads (DOH) and then installed a proper Heater Matrix bypass and also we removed the throttle body heating and a bypassed thermostat plus a set of core plugs and some new engine mounts.

After that a quick trip to RTA for a test and it only failed on tyres and front upper and lower balljoints.

These were all sorted by AAA and it's back on the road registered and all legal.

The bill from AAA was also quite reasonable and Glenn at Al Quoz was brilliant.

Not the cheapest but i would much rather pay a bit more for someone who know what they are talking about.... 

 

Since then she has done 4000km with no heating issues and yesterday a run out to Al Ain and when we got there i poppped the bonnet and was able to put my hand straight on the engine without any issue. No pressure build up in the expansion bottle either.

It still leaks a bit of oil from the front crank seal but this is also lubricating the timing chain so as they say "If it's leaking it means there's oil in the engine."

We even went out into the desert the other week and I was amazed at what it would do on the sand..

 

Many thanks Gordon and Glenn and the rest at AAA.

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