Having just come across the 'joys' of owning a p38, i am somewhat confused.
have asked the forum why the demonbeastchild i own, would go for fine for ages then hit the red, enough to make some lovely tea, whilst steam cleaning the engine bay, then drop like a stone, then hit the red again. Had the head gaskets replaced as it was pointing towards that as a problem, and it was. then it went nicely for a while, try three weeks, before going back to its global warming routine. rr.net reckons that a liner has slipped and the engine is junked, or that the computer is alternating the water flow. the last one through me a bit, do rr's have computed water pumps at all? i know just about every other damn thing is, but a water pump?
realised i'd got a different site than this after a few pm's.
ended up on there as i got the url wrong and google happily transported me across the pond and beyond. interesting chaps to be sure, got some good advice from them, which i guarantee i will never ever action. is the aircon acctually linkewd to the cooling system? And i like the EAS, which is why i bought a rr, the suspension is brilliant for my rather crumbling spine. fail to see the need to replace with expensive springs, and have a new eca? fitted, which can be supplied to me at a bargian price along with the springs. i've had LR's for years before buying a J... but just didn't like it too much.
do these cars need complete rebuilding every other weekend, or could i expect some days when it will actually work? have to say the series 123 were never such a problem child, all you needed to do on them was weld the chassis every ten days.
So... over heating, as in big time overheating, would it be an airlock, thermostat or knackered engine, any help gratefully recieved.

If it's dropped a liner - which is possible, mine had - then at idle when it's warm you might hear a steady ticking noise at twice the speed of a ticky tappet. It sounds exactly like the canister purge valve down on the right side of the engine bay as you look in, so don't confuse it with that.

Not sure what all that about "the computer alternating the water flow" is, that sounds like someone's spinning you a line.

Slipped liners are a lit less common than some people would have you believe, a temp gauge that goes up and down is more likely as a result of low coolant level. Usually cause by air locks so make sure you fill the system full and get rid of any air. A P38 is no less reliable than any other 20 year old upmarket car, Christ mine came up at 354,000 miles a couple of nights ago and other than having to replace the air con condenser recently, the last time I did anything to it was 9,000 miles ago when I gave it a set of plugs and new oil and filter.

You know the engine is getting hot, but is the radiator getting hot as well when it should do?

Just had the sniffer dog on it seems it has hyrdrocarbons in the water
the leading line now is that it has lunched its new head gaskets which were changed last year a massive three hundred and forty miles ago
and to add to the woe now the laptop wont use the dot and comma or even numbers< life is getting better and better>

Does it do it when you run it on petrol? Someone on here (Gilbertd?) had a vapouriser fail and bleed gas into the cooling system, giving hydrocarbons in the water and boiling up like crazy.

The only place water can get into a cylinder really is in 1, 2, 7 and 8, and if one is going to go it's usually 8. Do any of the plugs look "steam cleaned"?

Ade, no 8 is drivers side rear, basically water ways are front and rear of each head, pop the plugs and see if any are really clean

hi Chris wil go and look