Rover 220 1994 cooling problems

Head gasket?

Rob Graham

Well, the automatic response to 'Rover' and 'cooling problems' is 'head gasket', but a 2 litre isn't a K-series. I'd change the thermostat first and see if that fixes it. It could be the pump or a blockage, but that's where I'd start.

Cooling fan switch as well. Although I can't remember if it's ecu controlled on a 220

Your symptoms are very much thermostat-like. if the thermo is stuck shut then the rad water will remain cold, so the fan will not run, even if the engine is boiling hot.

Thank you to all those that responded. To test if the fan was working I removed the wires from the cooling fan switch and bridged them. Sure enough the fan came on as soon as the ingnition was on. So that removed the fan switch, fan relay, and fan fuse from the investigation. I decided to go for a drive with the fan always on but after a few miles the temp shot up again and the water in the expansion tank started to boil. I still hope it is not a blown head gasket - there is no sign of oil in the water, nor any water in the oil. So I assume it is down to the thermostat or water pump. Now the only Haynes manual I have seen is for the Rover 214 / 216, and it makes changing the thermostat sound really hard - in fact it says that you really need to remove the intake manifold and work from under the car. Although it is easy to test the thermostat once it's out, I think I have to admit my lack of competence and take it to a garage. Any idea what sort of cost I would be looking at to replace the thermostat and / or water pump? GTS

That doesn't tell you the fan switch works.

True, but it does remove it as a possible cause for the overheating as it still happens!

GTS

Thermostat next, or buy a head gasket test kit.

get the local garage to cjeck it.However if the fan doesn't come on when it's boiling & the fan switch works it's the thermostat or the pump. stick a kitchen thermometer on the radiator & see how hot it is next to the switch.

Yep thermostat did the trick - £9 including gasket. And I had not looked too hard for it - it is very easily accessible on the

220, and high mounted so did not even need to drain any water - whole job took about two minutes! Funny thing is that I drove the car for over a year and never saw the temp gauge move from minimum. Unitl recently when it started going to half way and then sometimes overheat. I realise now that the waxstat was probably stuck open before, and then became stuck shut. Now the car slowly gets to half way on the temp gauge and stays there...