P38 4.0 se coolent system arrrgggg

hi guys bought a p38 1997 all good clean motor other day pulled a trailer up m5 and it got a bit warm towards the white line. pulled off motor way all cooled down rest of journy was off m5.. so on way home journy was fine got on m5 and once again near where i needed to come off it got warm then once again as soon as off motor way all aok.. so got back checked water needed little top up and found out it had blown off a bit so checked rad and it was leaking in 3 places so have now flushed system new rad and thermostat bled system all ok i think have driven around temp gauge sits dead in middle is that ok?? also top hose is very firm after driving 15 min or so is this normal?? and heater in car is all fine lovely and hot.. underneather the first bit of hose in to stat is warm but bottom hose to rad is cool is this normal... am i just worrying over nowt???
Any comments help would be great

all the hoses should be warm after its up to temp!

why wouldnt bottom hose be warm??

stat not open or rad blocked, as more often happens on these air locked and stopping flow!

ok so how do i un air lock it as if fitted new stat and rad??

sorry as i have fitted new rad and stat let it bleed out of small hose that goes to header tank??

also is it normal for top hose to go very firm?

the p38 is a bag to get all the air out of, the ways are numerous and some quite ingenious, i have pumped water in to the pipes for the heater at the bulk head, then poured water in the top hose, then made sure the engine side is full, turned engine over not run tho, topped up the top hose if needed. cleared out the little capilary pipe on top of rad, put it in top of tank and run engine briefly, top up tank, run engine to temp, let it cool a little, topped up then run whilst the car was on a tree trunk to elevate the tank( a ramp or similarly high kerb will do) cooled a little and topped up then run as normal but check water level before each journey if car is cool enough!

it sound ludicrous but it worked, it was also lpg so it may not be as silly as all that for yours!

Ah mines LPG too lol sounds like I'm going to have fun with this!!! Erm so I'm worrying about having blown gasket ect

i wouldnt just yet, but never let it overheat this can cause the liners to slip or block to crack or both! ally block and iron liner expand at different rates and part company enough to allow the liner to shift a fraction!

is the lpg vapouriser/reducer lower than the expansion tank or any of the pipes that feed the hot coolant to it? if so try and reroute pipes and lower the vap. just think logically and get the air out, sometimes raising the expansion tank is all thats needed or it may be a merry dance like mine was.

Cool I'm going to the gas instal place tomorrow as it's due for it's 5000 mile free check up so ill get them to look! Vap unit is lower than the header tank and the pipes to that seem hot i'm just so worried about blowing it ect!! Like I said tho temp gauge stays dead in the middle so I think I'm just being stupid and panicing

well i'm pretty sure they all should be warm at the least. its not unknown for a stat to be a dud even a new one, did you test it in hot water? i think from memory they open around 84 deg c so just pop it in a pan of just off the boil water and it should operate!

the temp guage on mine was dead centre too until the bloody thing dropped a sleeve!

hi didnt check stat before i fitted didnt think of that lol.. went to have my lpg checked today and they did a headgaskit test for me and good news the liquid didnt change colour.. i also bought a new header tank cap but still top hose is solid im stuck no idears at all help lol

the hose will get quite rigid its a pressurised system! are you sure your not over reacting. also

the lpg guy, did he test for leakage of lpg into the coolant?i think the hydrocarbon test should have picked it up but you can turn off the gas at the lpg tank and run it on petrol for a while. make sure you let any pressure out of the coolant system before you start tho!

turn off gas, let pressure coolant off, start car, switch to gas, run for a while/till it cuts out, let pressure off again, if its cool enough not to blow off! let it cool, run on petrol.

there have been cases where the lpg was going in the coolant!

i just pm you can you explaine that a bit more in detail for this simple bloke lol.. i dont think im over reacting as even the gas chap said god there balloons those pipes lol ps bottom of rad still dont seem to be warm at all maybe its this sat ???