Thread: P38 km's

maybe answer / first thing that comes to mind is i change or service all my oils maybe a lot earlier than you or most owners do ( my oils not even dark most times i find when i drain them ,still looks newish ).
but most importantly i hear the major killer of p38a motors is engine over heating .
on my p38a ,my twin frount fans are spining and cooling the radiator water / engine oil cooler / auto gearbox cooler constantly while the motor is running ( providing i have my air con switched on as wired up to on / off fan switch in cabin ) . so ask yourself and have a look ,are your frount twin fans working right now as your motor is spining? - may be here lies the simple answer of this p38a design fault of cracked engine liners ect (note, frount twin fans dont work unless you burst radiator and lose water , than computor sences over heating and switchs them on when its too late, i found out the hard way but was lucky not to damage the engine - i stopped and topped up with water untill i got to Land Vehicle Spares at silverdale were george put new radiator in ,was lucky ). ps not talking about single fan behind rad but twin frount ones ,may be thats why my running gear still original so far at 288,000km as not heat damaged on or off road to date ,hope it helps or gives ideas .

sorry disagree

my p38's had lots of love in the last 10 years and its just a big hole money keeps falling in and its still not full...

ok i am not puting you down ,but that makes me think if you spent heaps of money it could be because you might have air not coils for a start and your frount twin fans dont run constantly when your motor is running like mine so may be you had heat isues or may be you rev your motor harder than mine when its cold or may be you change your motor oil/filter well past 3,300km / auto -transfer well past 5,000km and diffs well past 10,000 kms than i do ? . footnote ,is your motor /auto box / diffs still original unopened up like mine or have you had to change them all ready / just curious again as no mention above ,were or what item has it cost you the most in the last 10 years of useage ? ps also my VT holden has done 425,000km ,still original drivetrain nothing opened up yet -may be its the way i drive too.

Originally Posted by rofosixone

ok ,that makes me think you have air not coils for a start and your frount twin fans dont switch on manualy on demand from cabin and also yours dont run constantly when your motor is running like mine and you rev your motor harder than mine when its cold and you change your motor oil/filter well past 3,300km / auto -transfer well past 5,000km and diffs well past 10,000 kms - am i right so far ? ps do agree with you on petrol useage side - doooooooooooh but you got to expect that from V8 unless its fitted with LPG or maybe i have a good build model from factory and i am lucky owner .

3,300km is a bit extreme and a waste. You really only need to change the oil at 10,000km or 6 months whichever comes first. And even that well exceeds what the service manual states of 20,000 km or 12 months. If you use **** oils, then your asking for trouble. If you use a good quality semi-synthetic or even a full synthetic (providing your not leaking oil), then it should easily hold out to 20,000km.