Rover 200 1.6 (bubble) K series noise

Damn .. I checked this 3 times before posting and still screwed it up : (

It's a 99 Rover 200.

Cheers, Mark

Have you checked the tinny looking heat-shield between the radiator and exhaust ? They fracture at the bottom. It'd be nice of it was that simple !

Ah, no I haven't - I don't remember seeing this, but I will definitely check!

Many thanks, Mark

Clutch bearing?

Ah, that's an interesting thought. I changed the clutch + bearing over a year ago with an el-cheapo ebay job. Perhaps this wasn't the smartest move :(

Cheers, Mark

if it was the clutch bearing it would still be noisy with the pedal down. more likely is the gearbox input shaft bearing, I have had to change those before. The lower the gear the noisier it will be .

OK - this makes sense. How difficult is this to replace on an R65 gearbox ... any idea? It's not clear from RAVE as to how this can be done without stripping the gearbox :(

Cheers, Mark

it is a gearbox out and strip the gearbox job. I had no real difficulty doing the job in one day, no special tools are needed to dismantle the box or replace the bearing and the seal that goes next to it, gasket glue to put the box back together and fresh oil. BUT, I do have a lot of mechanical experience and a good workshop although I would not put myself down as a speedy mechanic, I like to take care. It would not be economic to get a garage to do it. IIRC I charged the guy 450 quid for the whole job inc. a clutch, but that was about 5 years ago.

Many thanks for taking the time to explain. I'm quite happy with the mechanical side of things, but lack decent a workshop - but if I can confirm that this is what is wrong, I'll give it a go :)

Cheers, Mark

It was logical diagnosis, first thought is thrust race, but that would stay loud with the clutch down and reduce or stop with the clutch up. in the case of the one I did the noise varied depending on the gear selected. the bearing was quite small for the job (I thought). when the gearbox was out it was fairly easy to confirm the diagnosis by turning the input shaft/feeling the play and roughness. I did initially think of getting a secondhand box, but then you have no idea what state that would be in, at least I knew the box I had changed gear ok and only seemed to have the one noise. also if there is a weakness then they will all have the fault to some degree, so unless you could drive a secondhand box first it would not be worth it.