Engine Troubles!
Engine Troubles!
Author
Discussion

GAVC

Original Poster:

163 posts

258 months

Wednesday 26th March 2008
quotequote all
Hmmnn,
Looks like bore liner gone in 450 Chim, as its using coolant, in fact spitting it out the exhaust.censored

No signs of coolant leak from rad or pipes, no oil contamination in coolant and no water in oil.... so assume not head gasket, but liner and therefore new block required. Same cost (almost) as replacing one liner.

Help need advice, who would you recommend replace the block and why?

jdharris

225 posts

239 months

Wednesday 26th March 2008
quotequote all
Just had a rebuild done by TVR Power. Very happy with the service, not pushy at all and know their stuff - they should do as they built the engines in the first place! They have Cosworth re-engineered blocks at £999+VAT so that would be an option. In my experience they'll only do what is necessary so worth giving Dom a call to talk about your options.

James

anonymous-user

85 months

Thursday 27th March 2008
quotequote all
GAVC said:
Hmmnn,
Looks like bore liner gone in 450 Chim, as its using coolant, in fact spitting it out the exhaust.censored

No signs of coolant leak from rad or pipes, no oil contamination in coolant and no water in oil.... so assume not head gasket, but liner and therefore new block required. Same cost (almost) as replacing one liner.

Help need advice, who would you recommend replace the block and why?
Sorry to hear that, I've had exactly the same with my 400, maybe it's due to these engines getting old now?. I've had top hat liners put in the existing block by Power. The replacement blocks they offer only fit a certain size of Rover V8 so you may want to check that first. I've had the rest of the work i.e. stripping, rebuilding done at the TVR Centre. Should (hopefully) get the car back this weekend......smile

WOO5IE

967 posts

228 months

Friday 28th March 2008
quotequote all
Hi Gavin

You may be thinking the worst case

It could be the head gasket as it depends where it is blown as to whether you have oil in water etc. THe heads got to come off anyway by the sound of it so fingers crossed.


Trev banghead

Chequred Demon

508 posts

225 months

Friday 28th March 2008
quotequote all
Just like anything else, I would get a few qoutes.

A bare block sounds reasonable but it is all the other stuff that adds up.

RPI are very experienced. They have shown me around their workshop and explained in great detail all the benefits of the new blocks that they are using for their new builds. It has a lot to do with the amount of metal around the water jacket on the larger capacity RV8s.

The Des Hamill book "How to Power tune Rover V8 engines" is brilliant for explaining why this sort of thing happens and what to be aware of for a new build.



rev-erend

21,624 posts

315 months

Friday 28th March 2008
quotequote all
There is another possibility..

My old Griff 500 did this and it turned out to be a water jacket leak into the exhaust port.. so too much porting..

It was welded up and was a good as new.

If the liner has gone - a common cause for this is running too lean causing micro welds in the liner and the pistons rings keep hitting these pushing the liner up and down hundreds of times per second.

So - make sure to ask if it's running too lean..

Good luck.

GAVC

Original Poster:

163 posts

258 months

Saturday 29th March 2008
quotequote all
Many thanks for the replies, its a great help and I can start to look around for further options.

I like TVR Power a lot and have used them several times before, Dom has already quoted.... to replace one liner is about £750 because they can be difficult, which is almost as much as a new replacement block, which has the new 885 cam, chains etc.... (special quote £800) good deal!, and by the time its been taken out, rebuilt and put back, full cost with the labour is up to £3000 + the dreaded. Deep intake of breath!

350Matt

3,912 posts

310 months

Saturday 29th March 2008
quotequote all
Apparently a major cause of liner slippage is the block getting too hot, which as we all know isn't uncommon on a TVR.

Rover themselves knew about it the problem as they had to increase the running temp on the last range rovers (88° stat fitted from 82° ) to help emissions and this led to a fair few rangies suffering from slipped liners.

Keep 'em cool chaps

Off to fit a 78°C stat in mine while I think about it

Matt

Edited by 350Matt on Saturday 29th March 12:06

spend

12,581 posts

282 months

Saturday 29th March 2008
quotequote all
350Matt said:
...(88° stat fitted from 82&#176wink...
For emissions reasons only?

As well as changing stats summer/winter do I now have to pop a special in at MOT time also? hehe

Dave
on a serious note, it would be worth knowing if the 88 stat made much difference to the emissions - just for marginal cases wink

raceboy

13,932 posts

311 months

Saturday 29th March 2008
quotequote all
Mine cracked a piston liner a few years ago.
The work was carried out by Joospeed as it was at the time doing the in-out job and V8 developments doing the rebuild.
Top hat liners, new camshaft, crank re-grind, core plugs, rings, gaskets and a load of other bits.....rotate
£2k for the engine and another £1k for the in and out including a new rad and a few other bits and bobs.

That was about 12k miles ago and it's been fine since. driving

Chequred Demon

508 posts

225 months

Saturday 29th March 2008
quotequote all
According to some sources, you should not run the engine temperature below 80 degrees, otherwise the ECU will consider the engine to be "cold" and therefore over fuel the mixture?

IMHO would run the 82 degrees thermostat.

anonymous-user

85 months

Saturday 29th March 2008
quotequote all
Chequred Demon said:
According to some sources, you should not run the engine temperature below 80 degrees, otherwise the ECU will consider the engine to be "cold" and therefore over fuel the mixture?

IMHO would run the 82 degrees thermostat.
I don't think you would be running the engine below 80 degrees. Surely the temp quoted is the temp that the stat opens? I thought the otter switch and fan controlled the engine temp whilst stationary?

350Matt

3,912 posts

310 months

Saturday 29th March 2008
quotequote all
Chequred Demon said:
According to some sources, you should not run the engine temperature below 80 degrees, otherwise the ECU will consider the engine to be "cold" and therefore over fuel the mixture?

IMHO would run the 82 degrees thermostat.
Thing is the temp of the stat isn't necessarily the temp your engine will run at (although it should if there was plenty of cooling capacity)

I've got an 82° stat in mine and it runs at 85 on the motorway and about 90 in town. And thats with an ally rad and twin fans


Mind you being a pre-cat it does have the smaller 'mouth' which probably isn't helping

Matt

GAVC

Original Poster:

163 posts

258 months

Sunday 30th March 2008
quotequote all
Steve Heath recommends the 74 degree stat, hence just bought one. I'd use that or the 82 degree, as it just means they open at that temperature.

Having previously owned a Chim 500 which ran at 95 degrees before I changed the rad (!), it then ran at 85 on the motorway with normal rad, not alloy, and 90 in town only when it got very hot. Used a lower temp otter switch as well as water wetter.

In my experience the key was to start those fans before getting into heavy traffic, so heat was already being drawn away.

NB: the pre-cats are also coming out.....followed by cherry bombs at Offords!!

Edited by GAVC on Sunday 30th March 09:42

Bomber Denton

8,762 posts

299 months

Sunday 30th March 2008
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Have a chat with V8 Developments, the mutt's nuts with V8s.

That Daddy

19,462 posts

252 months

Sunday 30th March 2008
quotequote all
350Matt said:
Chequred Demon said:
According to some sources, you should not run the engine temperature below 80 degrees, otherwise the ECU will consider the engine to be "cold" and therefore over fuel the mixture?

IMHO would run the 82 degrees thermostat.
Thing is the temp of the stat isn't necessarily the temp your engine will run at (although it should if there was plenty of cooling capacity)

I've got an 82° stat in mine and it runs at 85 on the motorway and about 90 in town. And thats with an ally rad and twin fans


Mind you being a pre-cat it does have the smaller 'mouth' which probably isn't helping

Matt
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