P38A Bought a 4L V8 auto.

One came up locally. 1997, was owned by one of the estates up here for most of its life until 3 years ago. Well looked after, annual main dealer. Originally purchased from HR Owen, London. Air conditioning and suspension work. 138000 miles. Good bodywork, tidy chassis. A few niggles but nothing major. I paid £400.

Cheaper to insure than my 2.5 DSE.

Cool. Head gaskets will be another £400, then airbags another £200 and then a new rad / niggles / etc should be another £400.

Good lad

If it hasn't slipped any liners by now at 138k you could be lucky. The 4.0 is less likely to do so that the 4.6 so keep your cooling system in top condition & enjoy.

How do you figure that a 4.0 is less likely to slip a liner then ???

norseman said:

If it hasn't slipped any liners by now at 138k you could be lucky. The 4.0 is less likely to do so that the 4.6 so keep your cooling system in top condition & enjoy.

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biketeacherdave said:

How do you figure that a 4.0 is less likely to slip a liner then ???

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hmmm....I was wondering too...the bore size is the same, the 4.6 was stroked to increase capacity....cylinder walls are still as thin and likely for overheating issues and loose liners.

Have to say though despite this, the reports that you here of are more biased towards the 4.6.

yes more heat in 4.6

jamesmartin said:

yes more heat in 4.6

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Good point....

You guys have answered the question for me, I also believe the fuel mapping was different & the extra torque of the longer stroke 4.6 meant it was less likely to down-shift under load. In the early days of the P38's main stealers suffered a plethora of warranty claims that were initially treated as head gasket failures because the slipped-liner syndrome hadn't yet been recognised, or at least not admitted

£400 ??? had the guy who sold it to given up driving cos he was blind !!! At that price I would have travelled from kent for it.

The 4.6 engines were given the better blocks I believe they were x-rayed and wall thickness measured then assigned to which ever for building up, as for more heat in a 4.6 I just don't see that as they are all thermostat controlled engines and run at a given temp ????

That would be overall engine and cooling system temp.....combustion temp at the moment of ignition would no doubt be higher on the 4.6 as they were run a tad leaner than the 4.0 iirc and this will also increase the combustion temps.

If its running leaner then yes higher temp but is it defo running leaner than a Bosch 4.0 ??

Saint.V8 said:

That would be overall engine and cooling system temp.....combustion temp at the moment of ignition would no doubt be higher on the 4.6 as they were run a tad leaner than the 4.0 iirc and this will also increase the combustion temps.

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And higher combustion chamber temp. has also been mooted as a contributory factor for liner slip when extended running on LPG vs petrol.