Willos
Active Member
- Posts
- 521
- Location
- Huntingdon Cambs
Yippee its worked 
All the hard work of swaping rads and fabricating a pipe to cut the heater matrix has worked. The P38 purs like a kitten on cold startup and no loss of coolant and no pressure in the top hose.
Everyone I've talked to re Irontite has said do it to the letter. It took 1 1/2 days to do all the swaps of Rads etc but obviously it works.
Car does have a lot more power and is a lot smoother.
Now the Warning. If you have a head gasket leak then do the gaskets.
Persue all avenues before the Irontite. My head gaskets were leaking , but no water going through them/ leaking. I put in a new head gaskets ,water pump, belt, rad, thermostat, all top end gaskets, clean idle valve , new clips. All in it cost me £250 in parts and a week or so of my time. The water loss and the misfire told me it was a crack in the block or head after all this work . I did a full compression test on all cylinder to satisfy me that there was only one cause (pink coolant dye gave it away on 2 plugs). With the misfire I could have gone down the fuel pressure/ duff injector/duff lead/ duff coil pack route and another couple of hundred
If a new block was the last option I think the car would be broken for spares as I'd rather spend the money on a better motor (although theres no better motor just a more reliable one !)
I've done several threads on the subject of irontite and only one person has put their hand up and said they've tried an engine sealer and it worked. I understand anyone here who doesnt want to let on that their car is held together with irontite and might want to sell it in the future without anyone knowing. I've burnt my bridges if I want to sell it to a forum member but this problem is throughout the p38 . Mines a 2000 4.0 thor which was suposed to be tested and well documented problems before installing.
I've looked after the engine and always checked fluids over the 70k of ownership. The bores are great, I get 165 psi plus on all cylinders cold and uses very little oil. All I want now is the gear box to crunch whilst towing the trailer tent this weekend
All the hard work of swaping rads and fabricating a pipe to cut the heater matrix has worked. The P38 purs like a kitten on cold startup and no loss of coolant and no pressure in the top hose.Everyone I've talked to re Irontite has said do it to the letter. It took 1 1/2 days to do all the swaps of Rads etc but obviously it works.
Car does have a lot more power and is a lot smoother.
Now the Warning. If you have a head gasket leak then do the gaskets.
Persue all avenues before the Irontite. My head gaskets were leaking , but no water going through them/ leaking. I put in a new head gaskets ,water pump, belt, rad, thermostat, all top end gaskets, clean idle valve , new clips. All in it cost me £250 in parts and a week or so of my time. The water loss and the misfire told me it was a crack in the block or head after all this work . I did a full compression test on all cylinder to satisfy me that there was only one cause (pink coolant dye gave it away on 2 plugs). With the misfire I could have gone down the fuel pressure/ duff injector/duff lead/ duff coil pack route and another couple of hundred
If a new block was the last option I think the car would be broken for spares as I'd rather spend the money on a better motor (although theres no better motor just a more reliable one !)
I've done several threads on the subject of irontite and only one person has put their hand up and said they've tried an engine sealer and it worked. I understand anyone here who doesnt want to let on that their car is held together with irontite and might want to sell it in the future without anyone knowing. I've burnt my bridges if I want to sell it to a forum member but this problem is throughout the p38 . Mines a 2000 4.0 thor which was suposed to be tested and well documented problems before installing.
I've looked after the engine and always checked fluids over the 70k of ownership. The bores are great, I get 165 psi plus on all cylinders cold and uses very little oil. All I want now is the gear box to crunch whilst towing the trailer tent this weekend
