[sotal]

To start at the beginning I bought my Range Rover as a non-runner. It was spares price so if needed I can strip it and sell the parts and make a little money to put towards a different car, but my preferred option would be to get this one running. It's a 4.6 HSE on a 1998 Plate.

I was told that the top hose split causing the car to overheat very quickly. As soon as the top hose split the car gave out a lot of steam so the previous owner pulled over straight away and switched off. The car was recovered back. A friend of the owners popped over to do a compression test, they found both front cylinders to be low on compression (don't know if they tested the others or how low etc). They then started to strip it down to inspect further and got as far as taking the left hand head off (one closest to the battery). His friend then diagnosed it as stuck piston rings (stuck in) which was letting the pressure past (seems a strange diagnosis). This was too much work for him to do, so he spent a couple of months looking for replacement engines including fitting - he didn't have the cash to spend that much on it so it sat for about a year. I then purchased it. This was before Christmas and I've only just had chance to start to look at it.

During the last month or so it has been outside with all this cold weather.

Obviously with all the top stuff off including the manifold valley gasket it has been subject to a little water getting in - the bonnet seemed to be leaking from the washer jets. Which probably hasn't done a lot of good.

Anyway enough of the history.

We got it in the garage last night and started to look at it properly. The striped side had a little moisture in the pistons so we cleaned that up which cleaned up easily, we then removed the spark plugs on the other head to make it easy to turn over by hand. It would turn nearly one full cycle but would get stuck at one point. I didn't want to force it so strated to strip the right hand head down. It came apart OK but as I was stripping it down I found a core plug that had popped out. On removing the head there was a really nasty smell and it looked awful, Number one cylinder was worst and had a load of orangey bubbly bits, this was what was causing it to stop. It wiped off with a bit of elbow grease and a rag and following that the engine now turns over perfectly by hand. It doesn't appear to have left any pitting to the bore.

I decided to drain the oil. On checking the dipstick I noticed the level was way above max - probably due to extra water coming through the manifold valley.

I was advised to check the crank sensors for signs of melting, I presume these are the blue sensors either side of the block, they do look like they have been warm

I was also advised to check the liners for any signs of slipping, they don't appear to have slipped at all.

I checked both sides for the core plugs, it seems to have popped one out of each side. I haven't checked the three across the back yet as I had to look up where they where.

I tried to check the heads for warp but have decided that the two things I was using for "straight" edges aren't actually straight enough so now need to find something straighter!

I have some pictures which I will try to upload but based on this does it sound like it's worth continuing with this engine? If so what would be your next steps? I already have a full head gasket kit with bolts etc. Is it worth just checking the heads, fitting some core plugs and rebuilding with the new gaskets?

 

[sotal]

A few pictures showing it at it's very worst

 

[sotal]

Here is a couple of pictures after a quick clean with a rag:

 

[Countax]

Sotal,
What is the block surface finish like between the cylinder liner and the water way? The staining or maybe corrosion you have where the gasket was in your cleaned up pictures are exactly like mine. See my thread on 'wasting my time and money' where i am pondering to scrap or rebuild my car. Are you able to clean up this area to get a good clean surface where the new gasket will sit between the liner and waterway?
Nigel

 

[sotal]

Is the bit I've circled in red below the bit you mean? Is that where you are having your troubles?

I guess the bit to the right of the corrosion is covered by the firing ring, so the bit circled is the only bit that is "sealed" by the gasket.

I've not given any particualr attention to any part when cleaning yet so will go over that bit again to see how it cleans up, but I can see your point about it causing continuous problems if the gasket doesn't really seal at that point.

What did you use to "polish" it?

Just thinking out aloud but would any of those liquid metal type products help here? Could the corrosion be ground away to good metal, then filled over?

 

[Countax]

Yes, exactly that area. Mine is more patchy than a continuous area of corrosion, althpugh it looked just like your photos prior to cleaning up. Initially i cleaned it up with a scraper and then switched to a 180 grade grit paper to clean up the surface. unfortunately one of my corrosion patches extends from the cylinder liner to the area near the waterway hole where there is no gasket.
I had similar areas of corrosion on the head, but most of this was removed with the 6 thou skim.
This type of corrosion around the P38 waterways must be very common. I don't know what causes it to be so localised to the waterways though.
Has anyone on the forum experience of rebuilding an engine with this level of pitting around this area and therefore able to comment on the chances of a quality gasket like Payen actually sealing well enough to give a reliable repair?
Nigel

 

[sotal]

I've just popped out to the garage and spent a couple of minutes giving the block a rub around that waterway, it seems to be more a surface gunk rather than corrosion.

I've attached a picture of what it looks like now after only a minute or so of cleaning.

That's the same area as the photo with the red circled area.

The head also cleaned up in the same fashion

 

[Countax]

Compared to mine, yours looks brand new. If mine looked like yours then i would happily proceed with a rebuild.
Good luck and thx for the photos and dialog.
Nigel

 

[Rewmer]

If it's been cooked I would get the heads skimmed to be on the safe side. Make sure the machine shop doesn't take to much off though as tyou will have trouble fitting the inlet manifold.