Hey everyone, so My idea of dropping in a lower temp thermostat WAS working to quiet my slipped liner-till the heat and humidity pushed the temps far higher than I had really ever seen them. So my question is this-I have seen people pin the liners with the motor out but that really isn't a viable option for me right now as I don't have an engine crane or anything of the sort. I need to pin them without taking the motor out if possible. I am almost positive it can be done but I have yet to see a good guide on how to do it. The cylinder in question would appear to be the far back passenger side-it's making a HUMONGOUS racket and I just can't take it anymore. I will replace the engine at some point soon-but I just can't make the $$ work right now and I just don't have the mechanical skill to do it myself. Well, I probably do but I am far too afraid to go it alone. I have checked and rechecked the oil pressure-numbers are good. So can someone please help me figure out how to do this? I will make a write up with pics in return-so long as I don't screw it up. It's just SCREAMING at me...it's ridiculously loud. Also, I can't find the PDF with the information any more.
On an added side-note...I'm not consuming very much (if any) coolant. It's been less than 2k miles with the knock. hopefully this will avoid any further damage and help me milk every bit of life out of this 4.0. I bought a D1 because I thought this wasn't as common...

 

5-0 Disco just did this recently. Search for his post and he did a write up on pining the liners.

 

Want to try a 160F stat? $10 ish. Might buy you some time.

 

I've already got a 170 degree stat. worked for a while. now its knocking at lower temps :-/ seems like 75 degrees C is the new starting point for the knock. It was gone for about 2 weeks after towing from VA to TX and it came back last night louder than ever. it's from idle to about 2500 RPM now. I get the feeling the situation is rapidly degrading. Oil pressure is better than ever before at the moment. I think I have no choice but to pin it.

 

I know this is a bit out there but I had a bit of a brainwave. Would squirting water on the block be able to cool it down enough for the knock to stop? Something a-la taking an old washer bottle and wiring up the pump to a button and routing a hose to spray on the block?
Also, water/meth injection is something turbo (VW 1.8T, Saab, Lancer Evo's, etc) guys swear by to lower intake and combustion temps. wondering if that would do enough to stop the liner. I know pinning is kind of the way to go but water/meth might be helpful for people here who have overheating issues. It was actually factory equipped on the oldsmobile jetfire turbo motors which is basically identical to the rover V8 with a turbo. When people let those systems go, slipped liners became a problem in those motors, too. Just thinking out loud here. Maybe there is something to it.

 

I think Rover has a different liner than Olds used..

But from a theory standpoint, why doesn't stuff that would gunk up your piston rings do the same thing to the sleeve and "gunk it in place"? Run really cheap gas with snake oil in it?

Squirting water on the outside of the block is a great distance from the liner. If this were to work, I think we would have people post about not ticking in severe winter months or driving thru monsoon season....

 

lol, true. I just need to suck it up and pin the liners. Just am terrified of doing it frankly, and don't have second set of hands to help me out (unless I enlisted the girlfriend but I'm pretty sure she would run screaming at the first dabble of oil on her). I figured the ticks would largely go away in the cooler temps, mine did well up in VA when it was under 80 degrees out. I only thought of the water spray because I have heard that taking a hose to it would stop the slipping from the heat expansion. As for the water meth, I've never been much of a believer in it, but it might help longevity in hot climates, especially in traffic. I may try it out on her after I pin the liners down. I had an old Saab that came with it from factory, and using it did make a reasonably significant difference in engine temp, although I don't know what the difference would be at the combustion chamber. Anyone on here in TX that might be game to help a rover-nut out with the pinning?! I'll throw in free beer and a meal or two!

 

A machine shop might do it for a reasonable fee. Of course the ideal solution is top hat liners.

 

Of course. I plan to buy a new block down the road anyway. This one is catastrophically sludged up from a previous owner obviously on the 10k mile oil change plan.
Would a machine shop take something such as this on? Nobody I have talked to will even entertain this idea.

 

Just a couple thoughts...
If your oil pressure is good, it couldn't hurt to run a very light weight full synthetic oil with a 'snake oil' type additive.
This may lessen the piston to cyl wall friction.
Plus consider the option of thermostat elimination (via gutting or alternate). It will only affect fuel efficiency and heater output on those cold Texas mornings