My son is having problems with an R reg Rover 100, with about 15000 miles up (yes!!). It started with a coolant pipe becoming detached, and it now seems likely (damp exhaust gases) that the head gasket has gone. His friendly local garage advise him to sell the car, saying that if they skimmed the head etc and replaced the gasket it would go again quite quickly, at least within the year. Cooling problems are an issue with these cars in the HJ website, but nothing suggests they are pretty well incurable. I can see no reason why the garage would want to mislead him, but all the same it seems a bit unlikely on the face of it.New head bolts would seem to be essential too.
Any knowledge/ advice out there?
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As long as the car has not overheated, replacing the gasket (plus fixing the original fault which cause the HGF to occur) should fix the problem.
There is lots of info on this problem at www.MG-Rover.Org.
If you access the forums and do a search for HGF or Head Gasket Failure, you should find lots of info.
If the car has overheated, it could be that the head will need to be skimmed to make it flat again or replaced. This is when things start to get pricey.
The maximum that the head can be skimmed (according to general consensus of opinion) is 20 thousandths of an inch.
Rover has gone someway to easing the HGF problem by redesigning the gasket and making the head locating dowels out of metal, instead of the plastic as the original ones were.
You can also get uprated gaskets from 'Klinger' but they seem to be no better then the uprated OEM part and are apparently more expensive.
Hope this helps.
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PS, if you do repair, definately get new Head bolts, because they are a stretch bolt.
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Did it overheat?,if it did not I doubt you have HGF failure.BUT, are you getting water pouring out the exhaust,if so has it only been used for short runs.Also is the engine running any different since the pipe came off?
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Steve
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Ps.what engine is it?
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Steve
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If it is the head gasket (simple pressure test done by garage will confirm) then if repaired correctly its unlikely to fail again. If the garage has had a lot of customers coming back within 12 months because they have failed again then they must be doing something wrong!!
Have it repaired and keep an eye on the coolant level and the engine will outlast the car, especially if tin worm sets in
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Thank you gentlemen for your assistance. I have been (indeed still am) in foreign parts, so was unable to read your replies. The car has overheated, so gasket failure may be an issue. The garage concerned said that fixing them on these engines was unreliable, which was my main concern. But it is V. low (and genuine) mileage and in good nick, and I am reluctant to scrap it.
I strongly suspect an intermittent thermostat problem, which could cause enough of an overheat to blow off a hose (don't know which, but low down somewhere). He topped up and put in some Barr's leaks, and after sorting out bleed problems it was OK for a while. I told him to replace the antifreeze too. It started to overheat again, and this time he says the exhaust is wet.
I have told him to replace the thermostat if faulty, and how to test it. I had not thought of a compression test. (Thanks!)There is no oil in the water, and no mayonnaise or water in the oil.
I think, with the benefit of your advice,
1. Replace or check the thermostat.
2. Compression test
3. If needed, replace HG and skim if needed
Once again, thanks!
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