Been chatting to someone in the know about my V8 heating issues. They seem to think its common for the rover v8's to develop cracked piston linings at arround 130k. Has anyone else seen this ? Can you confirm wether this is a common problem ? Also if this is a comon problem is there a solution that does not involve a new short block ?
Thanks,
Richy.
What engine? The 3.5 never cracks, full stop. 3.9 can crack, but normally just develops loose liners. 4.0 and 4.6 crack the block behind the liners, allowing the liners to become loose and the head gasket seal to fail allowing pressurisation and coolant loss/overheating. There is NO tie-in to mileage, it either happens or it doesn't. Later 4.0 and 4.6 blocks are graded for core thickness around the liners, hence why more late 4.0's fail than 4.6's, but the early ones (pre-1999?) are a lottery. Failure is normally brought on by overheating (P38 top-hose failures on the early models) or by suddenly working the engine very hard and generating a lot of internal heat/stress - such as taking a vehicle that's only ever pottered about locally and going 400 miles at high speed with a heavy trailer behind it. (Don't ask how I know that one...) There is NO PERMANENT CURE other than to fit either a new short block and pray, or a replacement block fitted with top-hat liners (by a reputable firm, email me off-group as I don't want to be in court for slander!!!!) which is a total, permanent fix.
Badger B.H.Engineering Rover V8 engine specialists
Thanks Badger, going to rip the heads off and take a look, sounds like its head gaskets. The engines affected are a 3.9 Injection and a 3.5 Carb.
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