Thanks for the replies everyone - as usual a mine of information. Where to start? Please accept my apologies for such a long and rambling post, one with an almost total lack of pictures. As an extra note the car does not vapour lock when running, it has been idling happily for long periods in bumper to bumper traffic this week, it seems that the heatsoak from the switchoff may have been too much though and the location of the lines can't help.
Ok, heres the status of everything cooling related, so you guys have a better idea of what I have done so far (These all before the problem). Hopefully I have most of the basics covered - tell me if I have missed anything :| :
• The rad has been flushed, and a lot of limescale removed, the rad has a new 15psi cap as the old one was lifting at the drop of a hat. I am using blue MEG type antifreeze at a 33% solution with soft water (my dehumdifier died recently, which is a pain). The fins were initially full of cobwebs and fluff, but this is clear now. It does look a little tired, but is better than I first thought. Far better than the radiator on my 90, which has hardly any fins left.
• All the coolant hoses are new, including the pump bypasses, the heater lines and the carb tower outlet.
• The carb tower is clear and free flowing - it wasnt when I got it, and it required some careful drilling :shock: to get things to flow.
• The thermostat is an 88 degree one with jiggle pin, and is fitted with the bleed hole at the 12 o'clock position (it was at the 9 o'clock position when I got the car).
• The system has been bled of air fully, with the car parked nose up on a slope and the rad cap off until the thermostat opened, and revs then picked up slightly for a minute or two before being finally topped off. The car has not dropped any water since initially purging the excess from where I had filled it to the top. The heater works brilliantly so that would imply that there is no airlock.
Fuel:
On Friday afternoon I drove from Weybridge to Farnham - a distance of 25 miles, with a 10(ish mile) stint down the A3 at 60mph, followed by the inevitable crawl through the rush-hour traffic at Guildford and up the Hogsback. The car performed flawlessly, and even though the temperature was again in the 30's it didn’t miss a beat, until I got home and parked up. Went to go out in it 10 minutes later and it wouldn’t start, no fuel.
I figured at the time that the mech pump had died after being unused for such a long time and then being asked to provide fuel for my jolly down the A3. On Saturday morning I fitted the old Facet from my 90 to the car. This was the factory fitted pump and fed the original 4 cylinder, and then the V8 happily for many years.
Bearing in mind that this was a temporary “try it and see” thing I plumbed everything in such that none of the original pipework was altered, I have it all in a Jiffy bag in the boot to go back on if needed.
Using a selection of preformed lines and a couple of short sections of SAEJ30R9 injection hose that my Dad had lying about surplus to requirements (my parents house is an Aladdins cave of landrover spares) I removed the feed and filter from the pump to the carbs, I routed the output from the mechanical pump to the Facet, before jumping back across and to the carbs, via a new inline filter.
The pump was secured to the wing, just behind the washer bottle. This worked and the car started, happy days I thought, but no!
On the Land-rover the Facet is mounted down by the tank in the rear drivers side wheelarch, and is really a pusher pump. It is fed via the pickup that exits the top of the tank, via a filter. The line then runs forward and up the bulkhead making the jump to the engine at the rear and running along the inlet manifold to the first carb. This keeps the length of fuel line exposed to the heat of the engine bay to a minimum:
I am thinking that I may replicate this, moving the pump to the rear (again with no permanent changes to the current pipework, so I can revert if needed) so that:
a) The pump is working as it was designed, pushing.
b) It would be pushing cooler liquid fuel to the front, which has to be easier to do rather than trying to pull hot fuel forward that is probably bubbling from the beginnings of vaporisation.
If this works I can then move my reserve tap back and fit a longer operating cable I guess. This would also allow me to work the reserve tap into the low pressure side of any EFI fuel system that I fit at a later date. I really like the idea of the reserve and would hate to lose it.
Diff:
My Dad has a 10 Ton press, but I don’t relish the idea of removing the diff to get at everything. How long would you chaps estimate for it to take somebody on their first go? Just planning for the worst here in case the breather is clear. Hopefully it’s the breather though, or the seal Chris mentioned…
Sender:
Thanks for the advice Warren! I am hoping to get to look at it all tomorrow, but work may have other ideas- assuming a brimmed tank you should normally have 56 litres and then 12 in reserve right? I am just running around with a 20l jerrycan in the boot and keeping an eye on the trip counter at the mo. Not the most relaxing way to travel, even in a quiet and comfortable car like a P6... :roll:
Onwards and upwards!