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View Full Version : L322 m62 v8 and very high cooling system pressures



catch-22
12th September 2011, 02:30 PM
My '02 L322 m62 v8 seems to operate its cooling system at very high pressure. Higher than I have experienced in any other car I've owned including my rx7 track car.

The pipes can almost not be compressed when running at operating temps (reading off of the standard in dash gauge). I am getting some splash from the filler/overflow bottle but will clean the area to make sure it is indeed still splashing.

I know they go through radiators but surely there must be something wrong or a design fault or something.

I replaced the radiator when I got it. Then all hoses and plastics that connect to the hoses. Then the water pump and thermostat. Now it splashes. Seems to me its just a matter of time before I'm up for another rad.

When I was looking I found L322's that had gone through 8 radiators in their life, so about 1 a year.

I'm using quality Castrol approved coolant at the right mix and before that was using Meg95 (I still prefer the Meg).

Comments?

PAT303
12th September 2011, 06:59 PM
Don't know about the V8 but the Td6 header tank cap can be removed easy at operating temp. Pat

stig0000
12th September 2011, 07:25 PM
td6 and v8 have nothing in comen cooling wise,

do not take off the cap wen the v8s are even half hot,, it will pump out the coolent, they run real hot and real high press,

another place to cheak leak is the aultenator is water cooled,,

if you replaced everything i wouldent worry about it,, i highly dout the heads leaking as there bullitproof, iv only herd of one head taken off in syd and it was miss diagnosed enyway,

gunnarL322
28th July 2013, 09:32 PM
Old thread :) but I like to comment it seems the reason they run at high temp is for emission reasons. There is a dual temp thermostat that switches to lower engine temp when the engine is under load, then returns to the higher value. This is done by a heating element in the thermostat housing that "fools" the thermostat into temporarily operating at a lower temp rating. One could think that wiring that heater permanently on would be a good choice to keep pressures down and indeed it would work for a while but I guess the heating element could reach end of life prematurely resulting in the engine always runnning at the higher temp..

I will be looking at installing a BMW termostat housing from a 7 series (same engine block) which allows using generic conventional thermostat inserts so you can chose your personal preferred engine temp. Maybe emissions won´t be exactly as perfect, I am sure still way over inspection station limits, but I am sure hoses radiators and complete engines will survive quite a bit longer due to the considerably reduced hose pressure that results. Owners of ageing L322s will not have the discipline to keep their hoses/rads up to pristine shape as mileage and more budget users emerge, but easy to predict with time one m62 petrol V8 engine after the other will end up a meltdown case if run in the Land Rover prescribed setup.

Laurie
29th July 2013, 08:12 PM
Gunnar



If that setup from the BMW 7 Series works, I think a lot of people here will adopt that change, as it is a win-win situation for cost & reliability ! :D

Laurie

RR P38
11th October 2013, 04:51 AM
Having just acquired an L322 V8, I dont see a lot of difference with temps and hose pressure over my P38.
Echoing previous comments system maintenance is critical, I never had a hose fail on the P38 in 13 years............as soon as it looks a bit iffy change it.
We all try and walk a fine line between reliability and budget, this is a lot easier to do if you can do most of the work yourself.