Hiya all,
I've got my fathers car at the moment. I need to get its annual service done. Rover 620 SLi 1998(R).
Whilst I was checking it over I noticed that the oil level was below the minimum (the car was on a level surface and was checked when it was cold and hot). Alarmed at it being so low I topped it up with two litres (full capacity is 3.8ltrs) which took it to halfway between the min & max.
How could the oil level be so low? There has been no noticable oil leaks. The engine has sounded ok. No oil warning lights have illuminated during driving. I'm miffed. Any ideas?
What is the oficial interval for changing the cambelts on this model? (I know HJ recommends short than manufacturers intervals). What should I expect to pay for this job on this car? I understand it is a very expensive job on the Rover 600. I have seen it advertised for £160 a few years back. Why is it so expensive to do?
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306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
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Well, the question begs to be asked - when was the oil level last checked?
There is no oil level sensor - basically if the oil light comes on it's TOO LATE!
Two-weekly level, light and pressure checks....need I say any more?
Cambelt? Yeah, there's a main belt plus a balance shaft belt. Bank on around £200-£250, depending upon your geographical location.
5yrs or 60,000 miles is the official change point.
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The oil level is checked approximately every three weeks.
I understand that the oil light means it too light and also time to cough up lots of money.
Where could have all the oil dissapeared to? I'm miffed how the level could have dropped so far in such a short space of time, considering there is no oil visible oil leak.
Why is the cambelt replacement so expensive on the Rover 600 as my Peugeot is £60 at the main dealer.
I've read on other posts in the BR and have noticed some cam belts require tensioner replacements too. Does this also apply to the Rover 600?
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306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
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Please let me know the name of your Peugeot main dealer as mine charged me over £70 to adjust the rear door catches on my 406.
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The main dealer in question is the main Peugeot dealer for the Bristol area(There is only one). The quote was from the Peugeot Express Fit bit. As far as I know they use the same mechanics in the main garage and the express fit garage.
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306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
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There's a place near Leicester would do your cambelt for about £100 using OE belt.
5yrs/60K. No need to change tensioner.
T series suffered oil leak problems from a variety of orifices - most notably front corner of head near no 4 and sump gasket when cold and cam cover gaskets.
From your description and lack of oil burning (you'd notice if it was burning it as fast as you say it went down) I too would have to question the frequency and accuracy of oil checks. I know checking the oil is very simple, but you wouldn't believe the number of people who are completely clueless about how to do it properly.
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Thanks for the info about the place in Leicester. Unfortnately I'm in Manchester at the moment, but I do travel down to Bristol so anything enroute M6/M5 route would be ideal.
How many hours job is it?
Both myself and my father are Engineers, father is Licensed Aircraft Engineer and i'm a chartered Engineer. I would not class either of us as being completely clueless. But I am miffed to where the oil has gone to.
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306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
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Let me tell you this....you won't get both belts on the 600 changed for £100!
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I rang around a few places yesterday. The quotes I got were quite interesting.
-Rover main dealer Manchester £200inc VAT
-Rover main dealer Bristol £260inc VAT
-Independent Rover specialist Manchester £210+VAT
Small garage Bristol £90+VAT for labour plus cost of parts(They suggested that I could either change just the two belts or two belts and the tensioner)
-Small garage Manchester £75+VAT for labour plus cost of two belts. This garage always has local taxi cars and japanese cars (minicabs) being serviced.
-Halfords Manchester £160inc VAT for two belts. Advised to change tensioner at the same time.
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306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
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Just realised my error. The £100 price was based on changing the belt on a T series and of course only the 620ti uses this engine. the other 620s are the Honda motor. Sorry for the confusion.
I wasn't sugesting that you were completely clueless SK. Just trying to illustrate how easy it is for the best of us to do even the simplest tasks slightly wrong sometimes because we often think we know when we don't. Despite being an Automotive Engineer for 20 yrs and building several engines for my (and friends) rally cars, it was only a few years ago that I realised I was checking my oil wrong and had as a result been overfilling my sumps for years.
Have you tried getting someone to follow you to see if the car is leaving a trail of blue smoke that perhaps isn't visible from the mirrors? Have you changed your oil brand recently - perhaps to one the car doesn't like? Have you checked the sump plug carefully - leaks from here don't always show big oily patches and it may only drip when hot? is there any way of checking inside the bellhousing to see if any has landed in there (though if it had, you might expect to have experienced clutch slip)?
Perhaps the thing to do now is carefully top up to the max mark and keep a very careful eye on the level every few days to see what happens next?
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>>Have you changed your oil brand recently - perhaps to one the car doesn't like?
The oil was changed over to a Chevron synthetic SAE 5W-40 (bought from Costco) about 18ths ago. The only reason I changed it to this brand as it was the cheaper than the garage using their own oil when servicing the car.
I've just had the car serviced today at a Rover independent specialist. He could see anything wrong with the car. They flushed the oil and refilled with the Chevron synthetic SAE 5W-40 oil again.
You mentioned before that its not necessary to change the tensioner. Is there a defined time set to change the tensioner during the life of the car. The current milage of my father's car is 53k and it's a March 98R model.
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306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
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Belt tensioners on the excellent Honda motor give no trouble whatsoever.
If it were my car, I'd leave the tensioner alone.
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Can I mix the brands for the cam belt and balancer belt?
I'm thinking of using a Bosch cam belt and a QH balancer belt.
Or is this a bad idea?
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306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
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Yeah, you *should* be fine......but obviously belts from the same manufacturer would be better.....oh I don't know!!!
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I rang up Rover dealer for the prices for the belts.
£29.36+VAT Cam belt
£34.19+VAT Balancer belt
I can get a QH balancer belt for £18.44inc VAT
and a QH Cam belt for £17.72incVAT
from www.speedways.co.uk
I can get Bosch parts very cheap (Staff discount) So I would have liked to have two Bosch belts, but they don't do the balancer belt for the 2.0!! They do for the 1.8 though.I checked this with Bosch technical team.
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306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
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I would have no problems fitting QH belts......go for it!
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