I wonder if anyone could kindly advise. I am about to change the cambelt on my Daughters recently aquired 1992 1.1 Metro. The handbook advises the change at 60.000 miles and this mileage has now been reached. Is the tensioner pulley, on these engines, a steel unit, and more robust than the plastic type often discussed on this forum and, even if it is, is it wise to change it as well as the belt ?
Also, when cleaning and flushing the cooling system, I noticed that the expansion/make up tank, contains a fair amount of maionasse type "gunge".
Have I seen a posting recently which indicated that the heated manifold gasket gives problems on this engine and could this be the likely cause or, could there be head gasket problems which, on a general check and test, does not appear to be faulty. Any advice/comment would be much appreciated.
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My wifes Metro 1.1S is the same age as yours, but only has 34k. The belt should be changed at 60k or 5yrs according to Rover. I felt safe leaving ours only because of the low mileage, but I am planning to get it done this summer.
Normally I do all my own car maintenance, but can get the belt changed at a place in Leicester for only £80.
As far as I know the tensioner is metal. If you don't get a definative answer, add a note to this thread next week and I'll try and find out for sure from my ex-Rover buddies.
Mayo in the water sounds like a head gasket fault between a waterway and oilway - which might not show up on a compression test. Get the cooling system pressure tested at a local garage. If there is any signs of trouble have the head removed and checked for flatness before reassembly. If the engine has been run short of water at sometime it may have overheated and warped the head. Any sign of water in the oil? If the gunge is just a brown layer on the inside of the bottle this could just be a result of corrosion. The reason for changing antifreeze every 2 yrs is that the anti-corrosion properties go off after this time and there is a build up of corrosive acids in the water, which if left unchecked will wreak havoc at some later date. Aluminium engines / heads are especially prone. Have a look at Red Lines website under the technical info for Water Wetter for more detail.
If you tackle the belt yourself, I'd love to know how you get on. Particularly I'd like to know how you achieve removing the crank pulley and what size allen key you need for the belt tensioner.
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I would agree with the Cyclone... it looks like the head gasket. You could persuade a garage to stick its exhaust gas analyser in the header tank and give it a sniff, if any hydrocarbons are present then there's the problem. Do not let them suck antifreeze up the pipe, it cost £6oo to fix ours and recalibrate it!
Regards
Mike
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Thanks CC and Mike, much helpful information to absorb. Yes CC, I will do the belt myself and, because I have various pullers etc (just done the belt on my Toyota Masterace) I am hoping that this will be straightforward. Likewise, the tensioner allen key should not be a problem. As I am only a few miles down the road from Leicester (Loughborough), your mention of an £80 cost for the belt change sounds tempting but, retirement does allow more time for these jobs so, fairly soon, it's out with the toolbox.
Thanks for the information.
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The cambelt on your Metro is a cinch to replace. No more than 2hrs, IMHO
You'll have no need for pullers etc for the crankshaft pulley. All you'll need is an 8mm hex key to slacken the tensioner.
The steel tensioner on the K series 8 & 16 valve have been known to get noisy, but I have nver had one fail as the GF50 Vauxhall ones do.
The muck in the expansion tank could be from a previous head gasket failure. I'd tentatively clean it out and keep an eye on it.
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Thanks Dave for that encouraging information
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No hurry - my daughter's Metro cambelt didn't fail until 96k miles....
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