P38 Problems

Hello All

Just had a hectic week. We decided to be clever and MOT the Range Rover (P38 2.5 Diesel 98 model) early this year as it was due at the beginning of December, needless to say it always needed money spent on it and that month is already an expensive one.

Anyhow it failed on the bushes on the front axle bushes. Driving home however the radiator burst so explosively it tore a hole in the soundproofing under the bonnet. It had been running perfectly before. Luckily it happened just as I got home.

I suspect the head gasket has gone, maybe even the head is cracked. Any how the day got really expensive as it was our only car so I hired a van (ouch). Next I went to see my local Landrover expert he say he'd got an old TD3 with a year's ticket I could have - still reeling from the shock of how much it was costing me to hire a van I snatched his hand off and bought it. Van goes back when I pick the TD3 up. You could say I did things in the wrong order but without the van I'd never have got to see the chap.

Now we have wheels again I thinking about giving the P38 a birthday. The rest of the car is sound, we've had new air bags and compressor this year and a whole list of other things, its a good solid car (they don't build 'em like that anymore - thank the gods). The bushes aren't much of an issue, I could do those at work as we have a big hydraulic press. The engine ran very well, quite and only burnt a cup full of oil between services and having looked around parts, they are very cheap as no one wants them (a brand new dunlop compressor was only £100), so even if the head is cracked I'm fairly sure I could find another one.

The thing that struck me however (apart from how much the shiney white van on the drive had just cost) was that the twin electric fans didn't cut in even though the red overheat light was on and the needle north of very hot! If I do go ahead with the birthday I would want to address this so the fans cut in at a much lower temperature. Any other mods to the cooling I can make?

I think you will find the big shiney fans are for the air con

I'm learning this, but couldn't they be used for additional cooling for normal running? Two great big fans that normally sit there doing not a lot would save a lot of stress on the cooling during summer?

yes

Aircon fans are not supposed to come on to assist cooling on your model. Only after 1999 are they used in an overheat situation. Radiators do burst on these it is one of their foibles. That does not mean the head had cracked. But if you drove it after the rad went it may well be now. Start with a new rad then find someone with a static test rig who can check for a cracked head. A couple of the favourites for causing overheat that need a coat of looking at on these, is the impeller coming adrift from the water pump or the waxstat failing closed. You MUST stop on the first overheat indication to avoid potential head damage.

so is there some way getting these fans to run when the water temp increases indepnatdly of the aircon? wiring in a switch?

Thanks for the advice, its at on the drive a non runner, I did drive it 1000 yards with the over heat light on as I didn't want it to stop a soldering mess outside the local pub. I'm going to lift the head to see whats what, there has been a coolant stain on the back of the block coming from the head gasket for a couple of years now.

The water pump was very noisy just before the rad popped

There's two stonking great electric fans fitted .......they wouldn't have helped if the gasket has blown, but they would greatly help reduce the thermal load and I was wondering why they sat there doing nothing most of the time......I'd rather replace alternators that have worked too hard powering fans than head gaskets