P38 overheating issue

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Flarris

Member
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I recently bought a P38 Rangy diesel 2.5 after a long break from Land Rovers, and realise i may have made an error in thinking the 2.5 is up to the job of towing a double horse trailer. Have had the 1996 model for two or three days, had no problem with it driving without load on the flat, but having tried to pull the trailer plus one pony up a steep hill today, it rose rapidly in temp before hitting the red. Having let it cool for an hour and topping up the fluid (the expansion bottle pressurized, vent pipe spat most of it out), it then got me the 20 miles home, with the temp graduallydropping more and more as I got closer to 50mph going back. It now appears that it will run fine, unless put under load. Is this just the start of a cracked head or gasket going, or could it be a blocked pipe or similar? Would most forum members say that these 2.5 P38's are suitable for towing a double horse trailer on a regular basis?Thanks
 
Simple answer is : What is the total weight of the towed load? Does it exceed (or not) the towing capacity of your P38. You'll find the accepted weights in your owner's handbook.
As we don't know the weight of your horse/pony and trailer , we can't really give you an answer on that. You should have checked all that out before buying.
I bought the L322 as I tow an Ifor Williams HB511 and my horses are 17'2 and 17'3 each. I have no issues. My friend pulls the same box with one horse at 17'2 with a Ford Mondeo . Still with no issues.

All of the above is in addition to Wammers' advice.
 
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If cooling system works (check as per Wammers) it should be perfectly capable (2.5 easily up to the job).
The handbook does warn of gearbox overheat under heavy loads, but notes that it should only be an issue in hot climates or high altitudes.
 
And after checking everything as per Wammer's advice, if it's still overheating, do a sniff test for gases on the coolant before loosing too much time with it.
 
The P38 diesel is well up to the job, as others have said, viscous fan, water pump or RAD. I can give you a mod to use the aircon fans for cooling if you car has aircon.
 
ive been having same issue with same engine when pulling my 1.6t twin axle caravan
i had my headgasket checked and it came back fine so got a new rad, and stat and whilst i was there i checked the pump and it seems fine
now the question is has the problem been fixed? i wont know untill i next pull the caravan out! but i dont fancy driving the 40miles it took to overheat the first time, just to test it
 
gold rover said:
Simple answer is : What is the total weight of the towed load? Does it exceed (or not) the towing capacity of your P38. You'll find the accepted weights in your owner's handbook.
As we don't know the weight of your horse/pony and trailer , we can't really give you an answer on that. You should have checked all that out before buying.
I bought the L322 as I tow an Ifor Williams HB511 and my horses are 17'2 and 17'3 each. I have no issues. My friend pulls the same box with one horse at 17'2 with a Ford Mondeo . Still with no issues.

All of the above is in addition to Wammers' advice.
Click to expand...

With regard to total weight towed, one 14HH pony plus the HB510 is well within the load recommended- as pointed out in another reply, you get cars pulling this sort of thing. I'm interested in other people's good / bad experiences under load?
 
Flarris said:
With regard to total weight towed, one 14HH pony plus the HB510 is well within the load recommended- as pointed out in another reply, you get cars pulling this sort of thing. I'm interested in other people's good / bad experiences under load?
Click to expand...


No need to get snotty and I pointed out about the car in this thread, in the post you quoted :rolleyes:.
The point I was making was you had not told us the load* , therefore we had no idea if it was overloaded. Also that as a car can tow an HB510 with a 17'3 horse, there shouldn't be an issue with a p38 and a pony! Which oddly enough is another person's experience of towing for comparison. :rolleyes:

And just for the hell of it I will nicely tell you that there is a great article on towing, by all models of RR, on that .net site.



*There are lots of 'double horse boxes, all with different weights. Even within one manufacturer the weight of 'doubles' go from 1000kg to 1450kg.
 
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Datatek said:
Petrol or diesel? Does the car have an overheating problem? Other than replacing a duff viscous fan, the mod is not intended to be used to try and circumvent an overheating problem.
Click to expand...
It’s a diesel buddy, it did have an overheating problem but it’s was a dodgy water pump and huge airlock. Sorted now but the fan is on its last legs and air con broke so I though hey let’s give this a go
 
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