Rover 214Si K-Series coming to end of its life...

Hello all.

My shiny new* Rover 214Si, N-Reg K-Series engine has been gulping coolant for a year now without any obvious problems.

I put it in for it's 72,000 mile service today (12k since the last one) and asked them to check into the 'coolant leak' which has resulted in my putting in 1 litre of coolant and one litre of water over the past year and hoped they would find anything other than the obvious as the cause. They said they could find no real reason for it losing coolant and suspected the head gasket was failing, which is what I thought it was originally.

It is chugging along well and appears to be working perfectly at present apart from me topping up the coolant a bit every week.

How long do you think it'll be before it just decides to conk out and never start again? Is that what will happen or will it just go down gradually (or quickly?) - what are the more immediate signs of it giving up on life?

I've not seen any of this "mayo" in the coolant reservoir or on the oil filler cap yet.

Thanks for any pointers!

If it dies then I wont be annoyed, just saddened as it's been a really good and reliable car otherwise! I think I'll just get a motorcycle licence instead as they're cheaper to run and insure!

--Nick.

*Eight years old when I bought it for £1k at auction + 1 year in my possession, 72,000 on clock now.
Reply to
Nick
Loading thread data ...

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Nick decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

It's a K series. HG failure is a way of life with them. If you're happy putting coolant in it, then keep running it. Anyone who comes to look at a K powered rover will check for signs of HG failure anyway. Run it til it dies, then throw it away / put it through auctions.

Reply to
Pete M

You paid HOW MUCH for an 8-year-old Rover 214????????

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

Reply to
AstraVanMan

The message from "AstraVanMan" contains these words:

Bit startling, innit!

Reply to
Guy King

:) Oh well!

--Nick.

Reply to
Nick

Water pump posswibly. Mine failed at about 70k and it only leaked a little drip when the engine was running, and since it fell on the camblet it just got flung around and atomised so you never saw it happening. It eventually dripped when stationary after about three months.

Swapped the pump and never had any problems since.

Ah no. I've had my head gasket fail as well and that is very obvious when it does go. First you get a scum floating on the expansion bottle and then you get total loss of oil pressure and a very hot engine very fast. I didn't warp my head fortunatly but only cos I could coast it home downhill!

Mmmm. I got a third of a million miles from mine before it was pinched.

Reply to
Chris Street

The message from Chris Street contains these words:

That depends on whether the gasket has failed between a waterway and an oilway. Yours may have gone between a waterway and a bore. Just as common, but without the oil in the water.

Reply to
Guy King

I think it actually went first between bore and waterway, eventually pressurising the coolant so much that it blew from there into the oilways. I was surprised that the coolant hoses took it until I saw how dismally sealed the head gaskets were. I was fortunate it never went again after that - I've heard of some people in Sheffield climbing hills and getting hot engines who blew CHG's every year or so!

Reply to
Chris Street

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.