NiceCupOfTea

Couple of minor points:

1) Head gasket revised around the launch of R25 (99/00) to include metal locating dowels, which greatly reduces chances of HGF - my 00 1.6 25 now on 56k miles and running fine.

2) K-series engine is designed to have a low volume of coolant in the system as I understand it - this means the engine gets up to temperature much more quickly. Unfortunately it also means that low coolant levels are more serious and can cause damage more quickly. However, if you check your fluid levels often then it shouldn't be a problem!

Don't let people tell you that it's an inevitability - sure, a lot of the earlier 200s did have some problems, but I know of a lot of people who have never had a single failure. There was a thread on www.mg-rover.org recently with people saying whether/not they'd had HGFs and plenty had been to the moon and back with no problems! I think a lot of it is down to maintenance/servicing - no doubt there were plenty of old duffers in old wedge shaped 200s who didn't even know where the bonnet realse was!

200vi - great car though, insurance was a bit steep for me when I bought my 25 a couple of years ago or else I would have had one. Steering and suspension a lot sharper than the standard car, drives very nicely, a real wolf in sheep's clothing

logiclee

Currently have this little K series unit in my current run about.



Lee

madfiddler

I've got a 92 1.6GSi (Honda engine). 132k miles on the clock (owned since 20k). Can I expect the head gasket to go soon? And, um, what's a head gasket?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Nope, Honda engined Rovvy's are fine as long as you change the coolant as per service guidelines.

But with the distributor....you may expect something to go on that; either the ignitor unit or one of the (3??) Camshaft sensors

Seeing this is the first sober day since I've last posted here, I can't completely remember what the debate was on about now ...... Hmmm, am I getting the suspicion that John is hinting that faults with Rover has something to do with that they're built not too far from where I live??

Well it's the Brummies fault...they can never do anything right, nope us Blackcountry folk would have done the job right in the first place.....and not built them at all

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

There is a world of difference between the Honda and K series engines and runing gear. Had a 1.6 Honda twin cam which did 101k before I sold it. Original head gasket, clutch and gearbox with no leaks . Then had a 2.0 K series turbo. Head gasket went at 57k, various oil seals quickly after and finally the gearbox died at only 65k Got rid and avoided the £1500+ repair bill. That'll teach the dealer for not test driving

logiclee

I thought the 2.0 Turbo was a T series?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Err yeah, there isn't such thing as a 2.0 Turbo K-series.

It's a T-series/M16/O-series Austin Princess engine or whatever

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Hmm, now I come to think of it, it was a T series. Ah well it was still feckin unreliable whatever it was

MGJohn

2.0 Litre ARG-Rover Petrol Turbos can be 0, M or T series. However, there is now a K series turbo 1.8 fitted to the MG ZT and IIRC, some R75s. Its designed to attract the company car user with their tax margins in mind....its output is around the 150 bhp mark...

I have TWO T Series Turbos, both T16s. One in my Tomcat Turbo has 113,000 up and runs turbine smooth and gives things like 540is more than a run for their money (huge outlay Money!). There's not even a trace of the "They all do that" oil weep near cylinder no. 4. Plus, it regularly returns around 30 mpg irrespective of how I drive it.

The other is an R800 Turbo (another T16 Turbo) which does have a minor headgasket problem .... that's why I was able to buy it for a relatively small sum. T16 Head gasket replacement is easier than the SOHC O series which is easy enough and the "Klinger" head gasket should at least reduce or even eliminate future HG problems. I've since sold the R800's interior (half-leather Recaros) recovering much of my outlay leaving the engine which I will transplant into a Montego turbo. The alloys with good Pirellis and lowering kit when sold will mean that this turbo engine and management cost me zilch ....The plan is for this T16 Turbo Montego car to be used for club events by myself and two sons ....The R800s previous owner(s) had fiddled with non-standard filters, lowering springs etc etc and if they'd paid more attention to less important things ...)like routine maintenance and fluid levels instead, that engine would no doubt be giving the same level of service my T16 Tomcat Turbo still does .... all the signs are there! Apart from pressurisation of cooling system, this car drives fine and goes well.

My 6 month old MGZS 120+ 5 door has just completed a 400 mile round trip over the past two day holidays with four adults and a boot full of Christmas presents and food etc. Even fully loaded, I used this trip as a shake down now the car has sufficient 000s miles on the clock. I used most of that little K series engine's performance whenever (quite frequently owing to very light xmas traffic) and I was delighted with both the performance and fuel consumption. The car is usually driven by my wife and this trip is certainly the hardest one of its life so far. Used but not abused, I was ever mindful of the "They all do that" stuff. So, I watched that temperature gauge frequently over the whole trip. After initial warm up, the needle never moved from its steady reading of a little below halfway. I "matched" speeds with some other cars during that journey, using the gearbox in such a way to maintain a very good average (what I'm trying to say here without giving too much away is that several drivers of so called superior cars, certainly much more expensive ones, now know otherwise .... Despite being fully loaded - there were four or five adults in it for all of the journey - the performance of this car and my point to point times were a real surprise. Why a surprise, because this is my least powerful and slowest car. I could not have completed that journey that much quicker in any of the turbos even if risking licence points awards....

Three hours after journey switch off, I checked ALL the levels of the now cool engine. Delighted to observe no change and better still, the oil still has that semi-transparent appearance usually expected only with freshly changed oil. I was expecting some lowering of levels and discolouration as I really did use that little K series motor.

However, there is always a first time so I will be vigilant and when I drive it, I'll watch the little K series' coolant temperature gauge ...... like a hawk ..... after all, you never know there maybe summat in it all ...

[Edited by MGJohn - 12/26/2003 10:41:10 PM]

MGJohn

ALi-B WROTE: (much snipped)

>>Hmmm, am I getting the suspicion that John is hinting that faults with Rover has something to do with that they're built not too far from where I live??<<

No .... not at all. EXACTLY the opposite in fact! But repeatedly spreading the bad word about cars built in the area by know-all know-nowts in the anti-British motoring media (and here I include both "Germany" Clarkson and "Tiffany Needle" high on that extensive list) will eventually destroy the Midlands Industrial base completely. It's not simply those connected with MG-R that will suffer. As I said, my hero Isambard Kingdom Brunel will no doubt spin in his grave should the workshop of England die!

I bought my first "Rover" product in 1959 when I was 17. I have lost count of those products from Cowley, Abingdon and Longbridge I've had since as either company or privately purchased cars. With all those new cars one or more years AA cover is included. I have never had to call out the AA in 44 years of regular motoring. In my experience, provided they are well maintained, these cars give as reliable service as those built anywhere on the planet .... and do not cost anywhere near as much to buy and run as some of those.

I did not make this up. I'm simply telling it like it is and has been for me.

Modern Brits are far too quick off the mark to look to blame others when it is THEY who are at fault. My son works part-time between studies on the tills of a VERY busy supermarket garage..... about thirty six pumps involved .... Sometimes twice a day (for crissakes) someone puts the wrong fuel in their car then irately complain that those behind the tills should never have armed the wrong pump. There is always a queue of people at the tills during the whole shift .... it's that busy. Then there are those who drive off only to discover their mistakes a little way down the road. Many car drivers are really clueless! Some of the stories .... nuff said ....They really are. Is it any wonder.

madfiddler

Thanks for that info Ali.

Funnily enough. I had a distributer problem a couple of years ago where the car tried to cut out below 3k. Nasty when pulling out of junctions.

Garage replaced it with a 2nd hand one (no guarentee) for £115, and now it only tried to cut out under 2k