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Head Gasket Failure 1998 Rover 414 K series Engine - HELP

Have been told by my garage today that the head gasket has failed on my rover after 40kmiles. I have been told that water has seeped through 2 cylinders and on closer inspection (when spark plugs were removed) a fountain of water gushed from the 'holes'. They have taked the top of the engine off and have seen water in the engine all the way down to the hydraulics (!). They have said that the best case sceaniro - new head gasket and skimming - cost £400.

Most likely - is engine is 'kippered' - cost £800 or s/h - considerably less

The car had been showing early signs of ghf - overheating, massive loss of coolant, white steam and smoke from exhaust - but no mayo in coolant reservoir or oil filler cap. Had szensor replaced two months ago - the same garage hinted that more problems may follow and suggested that I thought about getting rid. This garage has serviced and mainted car for over 15 months and have always been upfront with me - I had recently been offered araounf £1000 for car as part ex - as these cars depreciate dramatically. Because car is now non-starter - part ex- now a lot less. I have been offered £300 by garage question is - Is what garage saying likely to be correct - should I consider their offer - car is in very tidy condition.

Would really like some help/advice on this

However - Part of me feels that I should cut my losses - as I do need a bigger car now - but have had car for a while - and it is nearly part of the family!!!

What do you think????

Reply to
Karen
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My opinion is this :

£800 for a new engine. say £400 fitted for a recon engine the car is worth £1000 as a part exchange therefore maybe £800 as a straight sale (going purely from your figures) If you spend £400 ona recon engine you wont increase the value of the car. you then may get £800 for the car. Meaning you have got £400 after you take your bill off of this. they are offering £300 now. You may be able to persuade them for a bit more. or find someone else that will buy i in its current state for a bit more.

Secondly

If you spend alot of mone yon the car now you will be reluctant to sell it for a while. And MAY end up spending alot more money on it.

I would get rid of the car before it does become part of the family. (you have a good enough reason to anyway as you need a bigger car)

Rob

Reply to
Rob Beech

The other way of looking at it, the garage have offered you £1000 as a trade in they are now offering you £300 for a car that does not go!, unless they have an engine lying round the back? that car will be going to the scrapyard! In todays S/H car market that car is worth very little to the dealer. I feel they were actually only offering you £700 for the car and you could have posibly negotiated a £300 discount and sold the car yourself. So take the £300 discount they are offering and it will save you the hasssle of getting rid of the old car. Or ask what they will discount the car and you try and sell the Rover privately for £100.

Des

Reply to
Des

1.4k series engines are two a penny, you can pick them up in good order for around £200 from a breaker and can be fitted in around 3 to four hours by any competent garage. total cost around £300.

If this garage has been looking after the car then you really should be asking them a few questions. HGF on this engine is due to neglect of the cooling system. Failure to change coolant at regular intevals or using cr*p or no anti freeze will quickly lead to hgf. Changing the fluid every two years and using only the recommended anti-freeze will give problem free motoring. Remember the K series is an all alloy unit. it needs different antifreeze to the blue cr*p you put in most engines.

Take care of the coolant system and this engine is amongst the best peforming and most reliable on the road today (thats why companies like Lotus, Caterham, Rover and Land Rover use the engine).

Reply to
Bob

Same thing happened to me on my 1996 Rover 200 (lots of coolant loss, steam out exhaust, no mayo under oil cap / water reservoir, however I did not let it overheat). It turned out to be the inlet manifold gasket, a known weak point on these engines. The early design gasket tended to fail after approx

3-4 years / 35k miles. Of course, the Rover stealership that I took it to tried to convince me that I needed a new head gasket at a cost of £1000 as well! Gasket replaced over a year ago, and no problems with it ever since.

Just my two thoughts.

Gareth.

Reply to
Gareth Smith

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