Re: Rover K-Series

Tell me about it - the Honda lump in my 213 went for 150,000 miles
> with nothing more than routine maintenance, never went wrong, never > consumed any oil between changes, never failed to start. Still > running perfectly when scrapped due to the Rover bodywork crumbling > to dust around the bulletproof mechanicals. Bodywork on the Mk2 200s > seems much better, mechanical bits much worse.

The 16v single point 414 I had did 120k before the head gasket failed, that was a couple of weeks after losing all coolant due to a hose split on the M1 at speed. Problem with the K series now is that they are in the hands of people that do not look after them - mine only ever got regular oil changes (6000 miles, cheap oil change from local tyre house), weekly level checks and annual plug, air filter and rotor arm changes. Other than that I replaced a crank sensor, track rod (after a hard kerbing...), pads/disks (don't ever remember doing the shoes) and I ran it from 70k to 160k miles in three years. Paid about 1800 quid for it with 70k miles on and really did hammer it.

Let that coolant level drop (and they are known for poor hoses, causing loss of coolant, causing head gasket failure, causing loss of coolant, causing blown engine) and its the only disaster they have. I also had a 2.0 KV6 rover 75, only engine problems I had in 80k miles were a cam sensor and a failed cambelt (oooops) again, as I was traveling europe a lot in that car it was regularly at the redline in top for extended periods of time (170 mles / tank anyone???)