P38 Slipped Liner?

Firstly, many thanks for all of the useful guidance and advice on my earlier overheating post. I will let you know the outcome.

The possibility of a slipped liner being a potential cause has concerned me as I bought a later 4.0 litre model, (May 2000) to try and avoid the notoriety of the earlier 4.6 for slipping their liners.

Did the later ones still do this? Didnt LR try and solve the problem mid-production?

Questioned out of interest mostly, tinged with a bit of anxiety.

Merry Christmas, Robin.

Have read somewhere that towards the end of production, the casting tolerances were tightened up and that blocks were almost individually inspected to find those most suitable for the 94mm bore (4.0 and 4.6) engines.

It would seem though that the only guaranteed way of stopping the liner problem is to have the block machined to accept 'top hat' liners. This was never done by LR, so theorectically every engine could fail unless you know the above mod has been done.

Again from reading on here it would seem this can cost approx £2K to have done, but certainly gives peace of mind.

As far as I understand, the later bosch engines seem to fail less often but they certainly still can! Whether thats because of better casting, more consistent running temps or that they're just newer I don't know- fair bit of BS going around me reckons! I've heard that the 4.6 slips slightly more often because the extra power makes it labour in first under load... I found pressing sport mode when going up steep hills etc solved that. I'd guess a late 4.0 is probably the safest P38.

That said, my 4.0 ('96) slipped and my 4.6 ('95) was as good as gold. Difference was the 4.6 was very well maintained, I kept the coolant fresh, ditched the rad when I suspected it was sludging etc etc

I found a permanent cure though- a 3.5 Disco!

streetboy said:

I found a permanent cure though- a 3.5 Disco!

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The 3.9 is supposed to be ok as well. (90mm bore)

Dorset VogueSE said:

The 3.9 is supposed to be ok as well. (90mm bore)

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Sorry,the 3.9 is 94mm bore same as the 4.0,4.2 and 4.6.The only safe one is the 3.5.Apart from the JRA built 4.4.

The 3.9 had the problem before the crossbolted engines came out.