My Rover 416Si (K16 engine) has recently blown its head gasket. I did the repair myself except getting the head checked, skimmed and rebuilt using new gaskets etc. I believe I've put it back together correctly, i.e. head bolts torqued correctly, valve timing set correctly etc. However, when I now try to start it, it won't fire up. The plugs spark, and fuel is getting through. Any ideas ? Regards Gary please post replys to the group.
firstly you should have had the head resurfaced, secondly the head bolts in these are stretch bolts and as such should be replaced, thirdly, not sure if you meant you are using the original head gasket, but if you are, take it apart again and throw it away. if you had to remove the camshaft sprockets make sure you have put them back the way they came off, they are marked with "in" for inlet and "ex" for exhaust and is possible to refit each sprocket in 2 different ways on each camshaft, just hope that if you have fitted them incorrectly you havent damaged any valves while attempting to start it. email me if you require any further information, i have replaced head gaskets on hundreds of these engines, can now do them blindfolded. regards. steve.
Thanks for the reply Steve:- The place I sent the head to, skimmed it to remove a slight indentation caused by each of the four compression seals towards the exhaust ports. I've replaced the 10 stretch bolts as a matter of course rather than risk the original ones again also I've also changed the head gasket. I've followed the instructions on fitting the cams, i.e. the locating pin on the inlet cam in the four o'clock position and the locating pin on the exhaust cam in the eight o'clock position. When fitting the cam sprockets the marks on the sprockets are aligned when the crank is at 90 degrees btdc, i.e. the marking for exhaust points towards the inlet for both sprockets. I've even removed the cam cover again and cranked the engine over with a socket to check the valve timing in relation to the pistons to make sure I wasn't 180 degrees out but all seems okay, the rotor arm also alligns with cylinder one when both cams are shut as the engine approaches tdc on the compression stroke. I've checked the 90 degree btdc by rotating the crank until pistons 1 and 2 are the same distance up the bores as it's a bit difficult to allign the mark on the crank pulley with the lower cam belt cover as the car inner wing gets in the way. I think I've put all of the other plugs and pipes back on in the correct positions, generally they seem to only go on in one positions or location. Any other suggestions before I loose my mind !! Regards Gary
"steve" wrote in message news:rQAHb.11759$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfep4-glfd.server.ntli.net...
Just had the car looked at by my local Rover dealer, the reason why it wouldn't start were partly caused by two things, one was that the hydraulic cam followers weren't full of oil which meant the valves weren't opening fully, and secondly that the starter motor was deamed to be lazy, i.e. it wouldn't turn the engine over fast enough. Maybe now that the head's been rebuilt with a new gasket the compression is higher causing the starter to struggle. So all is okay now.
Trying to answer your questions Colin, if the temperature gauge has stopped working at the same time as your new head gasket was fitted, there's a possibility that the sensor cable hasn't been plugged onto the front of the engine correctly, if the 1.4 engine is similar to our 1.6 engine there should be two plugs on the same aluminium casting on the front of the engine (the bit with the large diameter water pipe to the top of the radiator).
As for using more fuel then I don't really know, maybe check for other loose connections and pipes following the repair, there's all sorts of bits which control the emissions.
Regards Gary
Colin, If there's something wrong with the temperature sensor then the engine management system will think that the engine is cold and compensate by running rich (i.e. increase the fuel/air ratio), which will increase the fuel consumption remarkably. Similarly, if the thermostat has failed and is permanently open, the engine will never get up to running temp and it will drink fuellike it's going out of fashion!
As Gary said, check the sensor connections. If not, then I'd replace the thermostat. They're only about £5 so not really worth testing the old one - just replace it and see if the problem goes away. My old 420 had a failed thermostat when I bought it and used about twice as much fuel as it should have done.....
Be careful about air-locks, leaks etc in the cooling system after you've done the job - there have been many posts here about the k-series being intolerant to overheating.
Good luck, Ade
indentation
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.