P38 overheating / mechanics issue

Does anyone know any reliable land rover mechanics in the north west area in northern Ireland? My rangie p38 4.6 is having overheating issues, I know the gaskets are gone, but I left it in with Jamison land rover centre in dervock, who said they'd look at it to see if the block was cracked or if just replacing the gaskets would be enough
That was 7 weeks ago and they still haven't even looked at it yet. Just constantly saying " we have a few jobs we need to get out of the way, we have a day set aside to look at it this week"

It's really p***ing me off, And I don't know of anywhere nearby to move it to. The next nearest LR dealer I know of is 50 miles away which isn't handy when I can't drive it, and it can't be towed as it's automatic

thats taking the ****i bet you will recomend them lol

is it driveable at all what are the symptoms surely someone on here can help

it can be towed as fast and as far as you like if you put a fuse in slot 11 it puts transfer box in neutral so no drive going through auto box ,unless its catastrophic failure its quite a job to show blocks cracked behind liner it involves filling each bank with hot water and pressurising bank with air which entails heads off timing cover off and blanks made to seal water ways

thanks for the replies. it annoys me cos they were well recommended by lots of people in the area that have used them

its not driveable for any distance, it jumps straight into the red within a mile of starting. there were a couple of small leaks i did find and repaired ( throttle body, and top rad pipe, and also replaced the heater matrix o-rings) but still nothing.
it started off as driving fine cruising at 55 on motorway but as soon as you gave it a bit of beans to overtake it went into red, as soon as you dropped off the throttle it went back to normal, but that only lasted a couple of days til i got it into them.
is that right about the fuse in slot 11? could be worth thinking about? theres another place od take it to but theyre about 60 miles away.
anyone used BLRC in saintfieid?

jamesmartin said:

it can be towed as fast and as far as you like if you put a fuse in slot 11 it puts transfer box in neutral so no drive going through auto box ,unless its catastrophic failure its quite a job to show blocks cracked behind liner it involves filling each bank with hot water and pressurising bank with air which entails heads off timing cover off and blanks made to seal water ways

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i know its a big job, i did look at doing it myself but thought it was beyond me. what annoys me more about them is i did explain it all to them and they said to leave it in,give them a few days and theyd strip it down and find out if the block was cracked, but i get the same story every few days. then they started asking "are you really going to spend the money to put a new block in it"!!??

tow it somewhere else

Mine had a nice little issue that we decided was a very small hole in a hose somewhere that was fine when the engine was up to temp but when cooling drew air in so next time the engine heated up it pushed the water into the expansion tank and everntually though its overflow until it had bugger all water left. Best way I found of stopping it was an additive to the cooling system that blocked small holes but it needed adding each time it was flushed though otherwise its back to overheating again.

Does sound like yours is leaking more. Pull the sparkers out and see if any look nice and clean and check the oil for milkshakyness. I assume you do not get a nice puddle on the floor? Have you tried a compression test on each cylinder?

I have the name of a good man in Magherafelt if you want.

My 2001 RR needed a new Engine and he was able to do all the work plus he'll be able to lift it for you. Like yourself I stupidly went to an individual who promised the earth and all told lost me 3 weeks. This man is good and takes pride in his work.

on ebay there is some stuff called steel seal that fixes head gaskets permanently wiv out dismantleing the engine just add it to the water but you have to use a good grade antifreeze with it or go on google then type in steal seal it is gud stuff it cure my range rover and its still running now. but do read the instructions carefully and follow then and it is garenteed for aslong as you own the car trust me i didnt believe it untill i used it its about £40 a bottle but still cheaper than a head gasket done at a garage

ok ive been here before,about 2 years ago i purchased a 4.6 hse off a friend of a friend which apparentley had a duff engine ie cracked block slipped liner whatever.the friend of a friend who lived about 50 miles from me had purchased the p38 a couple of weeks prior and suddenly it started to overheat rapidly everytime the engine was run.i purchased it blind and sent a truck to recover it fom a garage he had taken it to to be fixed.now the garage was i was told was a land/range rover specialist,dogs danglers theres nothing these guys dont know about rangies etc etc .anyway they wanted over 3k to supply and fit another motor which understandably made the fella decide to sell it,when it arrived at my house i lifted the bonnet and visually you could see hard evidence of overheating with watermarks over engine around header tank etc even the top of the rad had seperated and someone had drilled a hole in the header cap lol.close inspection did reveal it had had a new waterpump fitted recently so being as ive broke a few p38s for spares (this was destined for the same) i decided to rip the rad out and replace it to run the motor and check exactly what was going on with it.once the rad was changed for a known good one the small top return hose was checked from header to top of rad simply by blowing down it all good but when checked the other way blowing from rad end to header it was no go blocked solid.so i changed the header tank for another i had and hey presto perfect.on close inspection the fault was with the header tank which had become blocked with silicone sealant, someone had changed the waterpump and when fitting it applied large amounts of silicone sealent resulting in it entering the water system.my wife ran the car for some 12 months trouble free and then it was sold on for another rangie. maybe i was just lucky but sometimes its not the worst case as all make it out to be and if this friend of a friend had of had a new motor fitted by these so called the best in the buisness so called range rover specialists they would have fried his new engine aswell so beware !!!!its best to take advice from here these guys know what they are on about not to rip you off just here to help each other.

I would stay well clear of any miracle solution (Rad-weld type additives). I haven't used them myself, but from reading all the advice on here, i wouldn't.

What i did do instead was do my own head gaskets about 18 months ago. Was slightly different in that my gasket failed and was blowing compression out the side of the block, not mixing oil and water. It's easier than i thought it was going to be. I would say, get the rangie back and strip it down yourself.

I live about 5 minutes from BLRC and get all my parts from them. I've had work done by them in the past, and they've been grand. Always seem to be busy, have to book three weeks in advance. I do all my own work now though, especially after doing the gaskets. BLRC won't touch yours though. They are 'specialists' but they want to do service work - i guess they don't want the headaches of big jobs. All in, i spoke to 4 different mechanics (including a V8 specialist) who all said they wouldn't take it on. Not that i was asking at the time, cause it was in bits on my driveway - i had asked them for friendly advice.

As i say, i'm near Saintfield in County Down if it's any help - read my posts. I think i covered all the daft questions and mistakes which cuold happen doing heads

try this , Steve Hayes , MON 4X4 . yes hes in wales , well inn Anglesey , not that far and bloody good and he does not take the **** . busy man though .
telephone 01248 450002 , good luck , tell him jules who has elsie sent you , elsie is my classic lse . obviously !

i would try and bypas the gas unit first as i have had three engines with a failed gas unit and gas was entering the coolig system and also leaking air in as well.
again the rad and the state are faves for failing so to is the cap well worth a try before big money

Thanks all for the replies. Have had a few issues lately and didn't get on here for a while, and haven't got it moved yet. Still no joy with them, long story why I haven't moved it yet.

Am thinking there may be something in the comment about the water pump, there was a new waterpump fitted about 6 months ago, by the same people. Must check into that.