I've always hung them up over a bath/shower after rinsing them through - couple of days to a week later they're usually dry and a hell of a lot lighter.

To be fair I'd considered actually using cork gaskets at one point - just to see if they are any less likely to leak!

Various Island orders in the past have left with me two sets of rubber gaskets spare though so those will be going in again this time, following rave's instructions.

Over the weekend I got the rear bumper back together (bit of feature creep... took it off to get the exhaust off and it was looking a bit shabby inside), and I went to look at the petrol injector plugs... which resulted in the whole loom ending up on the bench:

22 years of oil and heat have turned most of the loom covering either brittle or absolutely solid and inflexible - so it is all getting cut off and redone.

4 of the 8 injector plugs need repair, along with both coil packs, one knock sensor, and probably some other bits I can't remember now! Also discovered what appears to be another prototype fix on the loom - the connector for the evap solenoid seems to come out in the wrong place, so it had the wires (badly) extended to the correct location after it was made. I'm going to relocate it to the proper place as all of the manky tape and loom covering has now been stripped off - but I'm going to keep the 'wrong' connector they used to bash on - because that's how it was made.

The problem on the Thor is that to get to the inner bolts of the damned rocker covers just to nip them up, the upper inlet at the least has to come off :(

Timing chain isn't too big of a job at least - fan off, ancillaries off/out of the way, water pump off, sump off, front cover off - hello chain. I think... about the only things I haven't taken off is the heads this time round!

The diesel engine is for the moment on hold - but the engine isn't going anywhere. My biggest problem is not having the space for a long time to actually do the swap if I encounter issues actually doing it. If I know everything is going to go to plan - then I can work with that. But at the moment there are enough unknowns to make me uncertain. I will get back to investigating the gearbox control at some point soon though I hope - which is one of the big concerns obviously.

Oh - and money. That old chestnut. The adapter plate alone for the autobox seems pretty reasonably priced for the work involved - but it and a flywheel would cost me the same as all of the parts (including full exhaust from the headers back) for this refresh. I'd like to have bought said adapter plate - but keeping the P38 usable is more important in the grand scheme of things.

Glad you found the problem! Somewhat surprised that a feed to what I'd consider an accessory/entertainment/non-critical bit of kit in the vehicle would cause instrumentation to fail, but its resolved at least.

And I suppose if the engine still started and ran, it wouldn't have caused a problem while driving if it happened beyond a loss of the dash...

BrianH wrote:

Did you find out any clear source of the oil leak on there? The lubricated starter motor is a problem I've also got, suspect its the valley gasket in mine which is on the agenda to replace (its been purchased but haven't got round to actually fitting it yet). Its had new rocker cover gaskets which removed most of the leaks, but has started getting more noticable recently every time its been run for a few minutes.

To be honest this isn't the first time I've tried to deal with the oil leaking onto that side of the engine and getting all over the starter. When the flex plate shattered 18 months ago, Marty and I pulled the engine out to replace it, and I did the valley gasket then too (but didn't really look at the cam at that time, as it seemed to be running reasonably). This time like back then, oil was just everywhere, so any main source didn't really stand out.

I noticed the rocker cover was dripping onto the rear-most header pipe though while removing the upper inlet... all of the rocker cover bolts had come loose. I suspect this has been the main culprit. On reassembly this time, as per the 4th edition of the overhaul manual, I am going to locktite the swines!

StrangeRover wrote:

Tappets pump up with oil however crap can be pumped into them and after almost 2 decades use some of them are more than likely full of more crap than oil, once full of shit they can't take oil.. LOL

Pulling them apart for a look is quite easy "nudge nudge"

Might have to give that a go! They haven't made it to the bin yet... and if I run out of things to clean or prepare before the order turns up I might have a look.

StrangeRover wrote:

standard lift cam going in i take it?

Yeah standard cam - the price difference between a standard cam and something like a Torquemax was something I couldn't really stretch for right now. One day maybe... Marty has one in his and he has been impressed with it.

JMCLuimni wrote:

The mesh in place underneath the valance cover below the windshield tells me all one needs to know about this P38 owner and his attention to the vehicle.
As an aside, the cam shaft resembles an iron bar more than what it is supposed to be...
Best of luck with repairs.....

I'll take that :) I do like to keep on try and keep on top of things - cosmetically... the car is in need of a fair bit of attention these days. But mechanically and functionally - even the non-moving things like a mesh to keep junk out I like to keep in order. Plus... I'm sure we've all seen how much crap can build up under there if its missing!

It's also why strange little noises have resulted in this kind of tear down on more than just this car...

Gilbertd wrote:

Looking at the state of that cam and followers, I'm wondering if the chirping squeaking noise wasn't them running dry for some reason?

It may well have been - one of them certainly didn't appear to be pumped up properly on removal. The oil galleries look okay though, so I can only put it down to a failed or bunged up lifter/follower.

Unfortunately due to some kind of pandemic, my Island4x4 order hasn't been despatched - but apparently it should early next week. Till then, I'm working through things like cleaning the sump out, cleaning the lower inlet manifold and blocking the LPG jets etc. Next up will be repair to the petrol injector wiring loom and some tidying in the engine bay.

Morat wrote:

Well, that escalated!
It sounds like you'll have a really good engine when you're done :)

It did a bit :P Hopefully it behaves!

StrangeRover wrote:

Sloth wrote:

Over the weekend, irritating noise investigations escalated...

Looks like it has minimal black death, certainly cleaner than mine when i did the valley gasket..

Any closer to finding the noise?

To be honest its a bit of a shame this engine has a water issue with #6 that has been kept at bay for now - as it is as you say pretty clean. I'm happy to report since I last had it in bits when we did the flex plate (where I took the opportunity to do the valley gasket too then) it hasn't gotten any dirtier by the looks of it.

Found a couple of things that might have been causing the noise - but until it goes back together I'm not going to be sure. I have a thread in oily bits - main discovery which I doubt is noise related, but the cam is buggered.

Interestingly the cam I've taken out of my 4.6 is marked HRC 2629.

Googling is a bit vague on reliable info.

I took my worn cam out yesterday, and it had the same amount of movement back/forth once the timing gear was removed.

Seemed odd... but I can see the chain keeping things in line quite well, and I guess the thrust plate stops it coming too far forward if anything (if I remember how it was all sitting... yesterday seems like ages ago).

Over the weekend, irritating noise investigations escalated...

Bit of an update. Haven't been on LPG for quite some time now but the noise has persisted and it has gotten to the point of getting on my nerves. Started tearing into it to diagnose further.

First off came the exhaust header on bank 1, with the hope it was a visible crack in the header, or a gasket blow. Neither appear to be the case. There was a small mark on the inside of the heat shield that might have been causing it as it heated up and rubbed against the header pipe - but that seems too easy.

Next off came the upper inlet and rocker cover on the same side to inspect the rocker gear etc. Nothing unsual there, so off came the lower inlet and valley gasket. As the whole side of the engine and rear have been soaked in oil - it was all justified to reseal everything at the very least.

While staring into the abyss I'd gotten myself into, I couldn't help but notice the cam wasn't exactly as pointy as it could be...

As it now stands...

The best lobes:

The rest of them...

And the lifters:

Second up from bottom right in the picture is actually #8 errr inlet? I think. It has been hammered - and the top of the lifter was dry when the valley gasket first came off, so I don't know if it has a blockage inside or what - but its definitely buggered.

Obviously all this lot is going in the bin. Should explain the engine feeling a lot less interested in getting things moving these days.

Next up is the ever-interesting compression figures. Once the starter motor had been stripped and cleaned of oil (was causing an arc in the solenoid that made an audible pop and burning smell most times you started), it went back on before taking all the valve gear to bits to test.

Bearing in mind cold engine with 'wide open throttle' (aka: whole inlet missing), all plugs out bar the tester, I got 170-180psi on all cylinders except #4 and #8, which were 210-220. This is the same kind of figures I had a couple of years ago on a cold test, so nothing appears to have changed here, but I'm still perplexed by those two weird cylinders. I've tested my gauge on a nitrogen pressure testing rig and it agrees with that - so I don't think the gauge is over-reading etc.

Inspecting the top of the pistons with a camera, #8 is pretty much clean, #4 has some build up - but if it was build up on the piston surface, #8 is clean yet reads high. So... I have no idea. As I say - it has been like this for ages, and doesn't seem to have affected anything that I know of.

About to order parts to replace the cam and lifters, a variety of gaskets, timing chain and sprockets, fluids etc. While I'm at it, the crappy stainless exhaust is all going in the bin too. Back to standard rear silencers, a set of cats up front, and a straight pipe in place of the middle silencer as I used to have. Can't have it too quiet :)

All in all... hopefully the noise doesn't rear its head again. I am going to borrow a crack checking dye kit to look over the exhaust manifold and see if anything crops up there. It isn't the hardest thing to change if it does still make noise down the line.

Lastly - the LPG is going for now. The injector pipes were all loose and the original petrol wiring loom has become crispy and is in need of repair before the inlet goes back together. I haven't used LPG in months, and the nozzle bungs will all just screw back in as and when I re-fit it.

Yesterday at work I had taken the RR in to pick some things up... and as its quiet - I had another look around for this odd noise. Still none-the-wiser sadly. Found some cooler lines that were touching in places, so put some hose around those points in the vague hope it might be it. But alas, not that easy.

I think it might be time to start tearing into it - starting with the RH bank exhaust header. While I'm at it, I might pull the whole inlet off and reseal the valley, again. See if I can stem the oil that is making its way down onto the starter motor - might now also be from the rocker cover on that side, but it wasn't to start with.

I have always peeled the foam away from the carpet and cut it out from underneath - then in the bath/shower, give it a proper rinsing to get the coolant and out and leave it to dry for a week or so. You'll be amazed how light it really is once its properly dry.

Once its dry, it goes back in and sits in place nicely - and you'd never know. I don't normally like to cut corners (pun totally intended) - but it saves removing the whole carpet, gets the job done, and doesn't leave the car in bits drying out for days on end if you need to use it in the interim.

I neutered the crotch vent on mine too... one less leakage point as you say, and another relatively useless bit of pipe out of the way!

Ha. Didn't see that coming.

BeaDy wrote:

Hi Dave, and everyone else on here.
some nice info on here ,hopefully, I can add some more useful stuff.

but first Sloth...
can I ask for some more info on your CAN data input into the DDE4 ecu for road speed?

Not sure if any of you have this doc. BMW CAN info file
I have had issues with BMW taking down stuff we have done/posted so I am now always cautious of what I post, hence the ZIP password,

Hello!

I will have to dig everything out - I'm still working full time at the moment looking after our infrastructure to support a whole call centre working remotely. I can't complain, but it does mean by the time I get home its usually nap time and repeat :)

From what I recall - the road speed into the DDE came from the ABS ECU on the E39, so to simulate it we were feeding data from a USB CAN interface that just emulated what the DDE expected to receive from the E39's ABS ECU. That worked - although the value needed some massaging to actually read correctly. Bearing in mind we've been trying to use the Thor auto ECU and work just with CAN, the plan was to build a box to go between the DDE and P38 auto ECU and manipulate the CAN messages (and add others from analogue signals as required) on the fly.

Things have stalled as other projects/problems have come up - but I'd still love to get to the bottom of it and revisit the engine swap. I haven't ever looked at the analogue gearbox controllers though - I presume your solution was to take the CAN messages from the DDE and output those as voltages on the various lines?

I'm glad someone else is trying to make this work though and has actually gotten somewhere! I'll throw whatever I can into the mix once I find everything. Might be a couple of days - the bank holiday should be quieter I hope.

I had not - that was only posted up yesterday. Very interesting.

I wonder if they are related to the rallyraid controller - which has stopped being produced/sold now.

Further investigation required.... some reading for today I think!

I water glassed the block over a year ago now and that has, for now, sealed it up. The engine is getting tired however, and something is beginning to blow externally by the sounds of it, or possibly into the valley. Haven't had time to investigate - it continues to soldier on for now when needed.

I have considered going for a manual gearbox - it certainly seems a more tried and tested method - but then you lose the wafting about in lazy style of an auto P38...

Plus, having borrowed a manual Transit for a weekend recently, auto is just sooooo much better. Don't get me wrong... if I had another fun to drive car - a manual would be great.

This has more or less taken a seat back in the cupboard beyond the back burner for now sadly. Too much going on with other things... but hopefully I'll get back to it.

Unfortunately not at the moment - everything is quite busy, and I haven't really paid the RR any attention in the last month or so :(

Despite its unhealthy sounding V8, it cracks on when needed without so much as a flat battery, even with a tracker on it ;)