P38A 4.6 V8 won't pull, sluggish, otherwise runs fine.

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.

MrGorsky

Well-Known Member
Full Member
Posts
1,527
Location
Buckinghamshire.
Morning All,

My 1998 GEMS V8 is having trouble and I'm at my wits end. After suffering low compression, I bit the bullet and had the engine completely overhauled and rebuilt by V8 Developments. It's had new everything, pistons, top hat liners, bearings, the lot. Whilst the engine was out I have replaced brake lines, suspension components, engine mounts, gearbox seals, all sorts.

The engine has been re-installed and it fired up pretty much on the first attempt and ticks over just fine. Sounds smoother than it ever did, and it doesn't leak any fluids..... yet.

The problem is it doesn't have any get up and go. It will accellerate but as soon as you hit a hill it slows and struggles to climb it. It doesn't seem to kick down when it used to, and there's just no torque. It will rev (better but not smoothly) if you force it in to a lower gear and get up a hill, but otherwise it sort of bogs down like it can't breathe.

I thought maybe fuelling or air metering or something like that. It's very similar symptoms to a bad MAF.

I've had it on the Nanocom, and there are no fault codes, the MAF is returning expected values, in fact all the sensors (on all the systems) look to be in line with what I'd expect. I've gone through these forums and tried all the common remedies for a sluggish V8.

I've tried a different MAF and it made no difference... but the engine stalls if unplugged whilst ticking over, so I think it's good.
It's had loads of new petrol and new fuel filter.
No obvious air leaks anywhere I can see or hear.
Tickover is smooth, and it revs freely when standing still in park.
HT leads are only a couple of years old.
Sparking plugs are only a couple of years old.
Almost everything is either brand new, or a couple of years old.

Where do I go from here? My brother thinks the CATs might be blocked. CATs are aftermaret ones from CAT2U. They have been sat a while waiting for the engine to come back, but they seemed fine before the rebuild.

I'm going to loosen the jont between the headers and the cats and try driving a bit to see if it accellerates any better, also I plan to test the spark plugs are all tight and gapped, but is there anything else I should be trying out and testing???

Like I say it starts and runs fine, but has no get up and go, feels sluggish and starved of fuel or air or both, but I've checked everything I can think of.
 
Last edited:
If the maf and o2 readings are ok then I'd be looking at the camshaft, either is old and worn or not installed properly ie a tooth out
Would it even run if a tooth out? It was replaced with the rebuild, so it should be brand new. It revs up just fine when stationary and sounds dead smooth, I'd have thought it might run very rough if its out even by a tooth woudn't it?
 
Fuel pressure ?
Our other niggling doubt! How would I test that witrhout owning a fuel pressure test guage. Is there a volume per minute test I can do or something? I did replace all the injector O rings and everything injector side when it was apart. Do they gum up with lack of use? Maybe a tub of injector cleaner in the tank might help??
 
Fuel pressure would throw at least one error code, run lean, o2 readings would be out, possibly pop and bang
The o2 readings swing from 0v up to 5v and back down again. This is what we'd expect isn't it? There is a o2 heater voltage reading on the Nanocom, but I'm not sure what that signals really.
 
Nano isn't such enough to see decent reasons so it's probably ok.
What's it like in low box, can you share through the gears with decent high revs?
 
If you have Nano surely it will give a fuel pressure reading?

Have you reset all the adaptive settings for the engine, as its "new" and will not like the old sloppy settings.


J
 
Nano doesn't give fuel pressure. The regulator is vacuum driven so no pressure sensor on GEMS.
What’s this then?
Is it the temp sensor?
J
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0734.jpeg
    IMG_0734.jpeg
    329.8 KB · Views: 110
Have you thought about putting it on a dyno/rolling road and see what sort of power & torque it is actually making?
 
Have you thought about putting it on a dyno/rolling road and see what sort of power & torque it is actually making?
Half thought about it! It would be a bit of a hassle for me to get her to one.... It's far from right though. I rememer what she was like to drive before, even with a worn engine, and we're a long way from that smoothness.
 
Back
Top