P38A V8 headgasket advice

For starters I'm a tratterer and well acquainted with a 300tdi.
A few weeks ago I sold a discovery to a nice old bloke, anyway I've just had a message off him as follows

It's a petrol v8 and it's making a funny noise it sounds like there's a spark plug out the chap that brought it was told it was a crack in the manifold so he sent it to be done but the mechanic said it was the headrunner
and he hasn't got time to do it so I've bought it because I love them it is absolutely amazing but it's got this problem and I want to keep it as my dayle runner

Basically he's asked me to have a look at it, what's involved in head gasket swapping on a v8, I've done a fair few tdi's and I'll download the rave manual but before I agree to have a look I thought I'd take some advice from other v8 owners. And yes I know his spelling is s###e

Thanks in advance

Hey chap, think of it as two 300's sitting next to each other and a few more wires!

I assume it is the 3.9 GEMS (large square plenum on top)? Changing the HG's on these things is dead simple, just set it to TDC (marks on pulley) and remember to mark the position of the Dizzy before removal. Label each of the plug leads so you know where each one goes.

Then it is drain coolant, intake ducting off, accelerator cable off, plenum off, fuel rail off, intake manifold off, exhaust manifolds off (which can be a fiddle) unbolt heads by undoing the head bolts in the right order (in RAVE) and Robert is your mothers brother.

No more scarey than a pair of 300's tbh.

Check the exhaust manifold gaskets, when they go they do sound a bit chuffy or tappy...

Thanks for that @Saint.V8, I'd assumed that it was a 4.0 or 4.6 with it being a p38 but as I don't really know range rovers I'll happily stand corrected.
This is the first bit of his message

Hi it's baz I don't know whether you would be interested or not I've bought a p38 Range Rover but the headgaskits have gone I think and you seem an ace on Land Rover engine s so I wandering if I brought it over would you be interested in doing it for me no pressure take as long as you like and a rough price no problem if you're to buisey it was just a thought thanks baz
Reply

Do the symptoms sound like a head gasket? It's been a while since I played with petrol stuff that's not a lawn mower

Ahhhh....your first post seems to suggest it was a Disco with a V8 which would be the 3.9 with a Dizzy.

The 4.0 and 4.6 are the same basic engine, just the dizzy has been removed and the ignition system is fed from a set of coil packs on the back of the engine by the bulkhead (which makes them a pain to get to at times!)

There are more wires involved on the P38 engines, but again it is nothing more than a Cam sensor on the front cover, the 8 injectors, oil pressure, Throttle Position Sensor, Gauge coolant temperature, and ECU coolant temperature.

Just label up each wire as it comes off.

Now, the main headache with the P38 is the exhaust heatsheild bolts and the exhaust manifold bolts, they can be the biggest sod to get to and get off.....so patience is a massive vertue on those, many resort to hacking the heatsheild bolts off, they are that much of a sod.

EDIT: You *may* need to take the alternator and AC pump off too, but not 100% sure off the top of my head!

Make sure it isn't a slipped liner!

If it's not too late, I'd advise assessing it for him and not buying it unless you can make money breaking it.
If it is a liner problem, the overall condition of the car would have to be very good to warrant the cost of repair

cooltide said:

If it's not too late, I'd advise assessing it for him and not buying it unless you can make money breaking it.
If it is a liner problem, the overall condition of the car would have to be very good to warrant the cost of repair

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I was in craddocks yesterday talking to the bloke behind the counter, all I said was "p38 v8 headgaskets" and straight away he said "sell it don't bother"
Turns out he hasn't actually bought it yet he just wanted to know if I was up for doing it.

Depends on the price, and what else needs fixing. My 98 autobiography 4.0 LPG, needed head gaskets, but at £805 the car is worth doing. Pressure testing revealed two bad core plugs, that were probably the cause of the original overheating the previous owner couldn't resolve.

My heads needed 9 thou skim, plus I also got the block resurfaced about 5 thou. Just waiting for funds to buy all the bearings, rings, gaskets, arp studs, cam chain kit, water pump, etc for the rebuild, so the engine is still in my garage !! At least the rest of the electrics, EAS, etc. still works.

Marmaduke said:

I was in craddocks yesterday talking to the bloke behind the counter, all I said was "p38 v8 headgaskets" and straight away he said "sell it don't bother"
Turns out he hasn't actually bought it yet he just wanted to know if I was up for doing it.

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Depends if you're looking to make a profit on selling it or keeping it running. It isn't a bad job and not that expensive but if it is your first time it'll take 2 days by the time you've fought all the seized nuts and bolts. The exhaust heat shields are a utter PITA.