Re: Watchdog and freelander

On or around Wed, 22 Oct 2003 10:27:53 +0100, "Andy.Smalley" enlightened us thusly:

except that 99%+ of freelanders don't get offroad.

Don't be silly - I see the Mums taking the kids to school putting two wheels on the pavement every day!

PoP

On or around Wed, 22 Oct 2003 21:17:48 +0100, PoP enlightened us thusly:

well, yeah, but that doesn't really tax the engine.

It does when the engine is run twice a day for 90 seconds to take the kids to and from school.

PoP

What I should have said is 'Theoretically' the freelander engine would be pushed harder than any other vehicle fitted with this engine I mean mud, hills and rocks can be hard on an engine

the vehicle was designed with off road use in mind and I think was used on the camel trophy , probably not with the 1.8 engine though

I can just imagine, you go to your local dealer, start fancying the 1.8 Freelander, to be told "sorry sir you don't have children and it's not really designed for anything more strenuous than a

9:00am jolly to the local primary school" "and you want to do what in it, off road. Ah you mean park on a rough car park, oh I see you mean mud, as in wet slurpy brown stuff actually if you read the section on warranty it does say mud will invalidate your warranty "

Andy

-- Check the Tony "Llandrovers!" Luckwill (convicted paedophile) web archive at

For people's information (apart from one, most on this thread seem not to know):

Watchdog's report was perfectly valid if, as is usual, slightly inflated. 'Many' K-series are afflicted with head gasket failures - it's one of those things that has never been corrected. The K series when it was produced was almost revolutionary with it's construction and efficiency. Unfortunately as they tried to make it bigger it became less reliable and head gaskets fail. Often, if the problem isn't identified by the driver quickly, it's cheaper to replace the whole engine than try to correct the thermal problems resulting from the failure.

It's not a new problem - Rover 216's have had similar problems for years

- it's just that it's now being brought to light. As far as I'm aware there are no problems of that type with the other Honda derived engines used by Rover at the same time as the 1.6 K-series - that includes the V6.

Perhaps the reason for more apparent catastrophic failures in 1.8 Freelanders is, as someone suggested, due to more physical loading resulting in extremely rapid overheating, thus more likelihood of damage than in similarly equipped cars? Perhaps it could also be related to the requirement for a weaker mixture for emissions? Just guesses but, for the record, I wouldn't buy a K-series 1.6 or above in anything ...

Interesting thing is that the Lotus Elise uses a 1.8 K-series and doesn't appear to lose head gaskets as regularly yet it is usually far more 'rev stressed' than an average car ... perhaps this does relate to cooling efficiency and torque load?

The T-series 2.0l engine in the 820s had a known head gasket problem caused by a thin patch between the #4 cylinder and the cooling channels. If you ever needed a head gasket done on one of these you also needed a head and block skim - £800 to you mate!.

This wrote off a rather nice 820 I was running last year. Pity - it was a bit nicer in some ways than the 75 I am running now.

P.

Just one clarification, the V6 in the Freelander is the Rover designed and built KV6. Andy is right, this family of engines were revolutionary. One 4 cylinder block covered the whole range. 1.1, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8. The liners sit on a 2.5 mm shoulder half way down their length. There is no gasket on this, it relies on the pressure of the head to seal them. I know that Rover (as they were), were aware of problems with the head gasket failure. This was traced to the head gasket working as a sacrificial anode and just disappearing. It was the reaction between the aluminium head, what ever metal the head gasket was made from, the cast steel liner and the alloy block beneath that making a nice little multi metal sandwich with long steel bolts only touching the head face and sump face. We all know how our precious aluminium body panels dissolve before our very eyes if not isolated from the steel frame of the Landy. Maybe someone who listened in science can explain what is going on. Regards Bo

On or around Sun, 26 Oct 2003 06:25:01 -0000, "Bo" enlightened us thusly:

Does this apply to the KV6 as well though?