Is my P38 cursed or just a blip?

I have had my P38 for nearly a year now, its a 2.5DSE and has just done 90,000 miles. Recently it has had one issue after another...first drama was the oil cap blue off when I was driving so put more oil in and got a new cap and it seemed to be fine.

Then about a month ago I popped into a friends house for 5 minutes and came outside to smoke coming from the engine and when I lifted the bonnet and was confronted with flames (luckily had a fire extinguisher to hand) which turned out to be a fault with the alternator.

Yesterday it came back from having a new alternator fitted and had barely driven it 10 miles when I noticed more fumes than normal coming out of the exhaust. I pulled over lifted the bonnet and there was oil everywhere...! Still am waiting for the diagnoses.

Would you say these things happen, or does the problem lie deeper?

Many thanks for your ideas and have a Merry Christmas

Angus

Hi Angus,

Those problems are unfortunate, but remember that the P38 is a very complex vehicle with a lot of parts, many under more strain than in smaller cars. It was built in the 90s in Britain where quality control was.. suspect, and parts will naturally be wearing thin by the 100000 mile mark.
Combining the 3 is, I think, what gives a lot of P38's bad names, as all the problems seem to come at once. Hopefully your new alternator will last for another 90k miles, and once whatever the oil issue is is found, it too will not show up again for a long time.
What is true though is that if problems aren't fixed, more tend to show up (eg leave a leaky air bag in place, and soon the compressor will die), so it's important to be alert and fix stuff as it comes. And when you lose the time to do that, you have to move on, like me

Just as a thought, since you seem to be having a fair amount of oil trouble, you might want to check on your oil cooler pipes (gearbox and engine) as they have a life of.. about 90000 miles.. And it's possible one of those (as part of them is rubber) melted in the fire and caused the current issue, although that is a complete guess.

Good luck with the diagnoses! Hope it comes back OK

Sounds like vent valve is blocked or knackered. Early ones are outside cam cover later ones inside it. Hope it is that, anything else would be very expensive.

TCubed

Thanks for your reply.

I had two new cooler pipes fitted a few months ago and were luckily undamaged in the fire!

I think you are right, they have all just come at once, other than those three dramas it has been very good! I just done wan't to be nervous every time I drive it!

Thanks

wammers said:

Sounds like vent valve is blocked or knackered. Early ones are outside cam cover later ones inside it. Hope it is that, anything else would be very expensive.

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Excuse my ignorance, what would that mean if blocked? It's an X reg

Many thanks

The oil cap shouldn't have pressure behind it as there is a oil vent into the air intake. So you'll probably find that it just wasn't on properly
as for the fire that's just bad luck !did you loose much oil when the cap came off? Might have covered the terminals that eventually caused the fire, or if it shorted and burnt the wires out?
and as for the currant problem...are you sure the extra fumes were out the exhaust not just blowing under and out the back?. ..thinking split pipe, bust gasket, oil smoking off the hot exhaust?
Unfortunately these cars are getting to the age were things are wearing out but grin and bear it and one day it will be worth it

Angus1990 said:

TCubed

Thanks for your reply.

I had two new cooler pipes fitted a few months ago and were luckily undamaged in the fire!

I think you are right, they have all just come at once, other than those three dramas it has been very good! I just done wan't to be nervous every time I drive it!

Thanks

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Out of interest did you keep the old oil cooler? Changing the pipes has a certain chance of destroying the threads on it, but some are lucky..
Yeah I did go through a rather unpleasant phase during which I would be driving, go over a man-hole cover or something and just think "WHAT was that!?!?!" which wasn't overly fun... but the main thing is just to check things and be aware - eg. if you notice the TC dashboard light taking ages to turn off on start up = new break accumulator, and all should be well

I had mine for 18 months, and in that time, although a lot of stuff needed replacing or fixing, it never once stranded me anywhere, so it was just indicative of owning an old car

gfromleeds said:

The oil cap shouldn't have pressure behind it as there is a oil vent into the air intake. So you'll probably find that it just wasn't on properly
as for the fire that's just bad luck !did you loose much oil when the cap came off? Might have covered the terminals that eventually caused the fire.
and as for the currant problem...are you sure the extra fumes were out the exhaust not just blowing under and out the back?. ..thinking split pipe, bust gasket, oil smoking off the hot exhaust?
Unfortunately these cars are getting to the age were things are wearing out but grin and bear it and one day it will be worth it

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Well I was driving when the cap blew off. There was a pop but didnt think anything of it until I parked up and saw oil everywhere! So yes did loose a lot oil.

Thanks

TCubed said:

Out of interest did you keep the old oil cooler? Changing the pipes has a certain chance of destroying the threads on it, but some are lucky..

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No I had a mechanic do it for me. But I remember he said he couldn't undo the cooler nut or something so had to replace the whole thing.

Thanks

Strange maybe a blockage somewere causing it to overpressure, first blowing the cap now something else, its just finding the weakest point!