Hi, I have a 1998 Rover 416i with about 70,000 Miles on the clock. I bought it in 2000 at 50,000 Miles and it has been doing no more than 5000 Miles a year.
After driving it for 2 years, I suffered the dreaded K-series curse - Heat Gasket Failure !!
I removed the head and had it skimmed and pressure tested. The workshop told me that the head had been off once before, but I noticed that as the old dowels were plastic [not steel], I assumed that this would be a permanent repair.
After 2 further years of trouble-free motoring, I decided to do a precautionary coolant change to reduce the change of further failure which I did back in September of 04.
I have just been told by the MOT tester (who is a neighbour of ours and 100% trustworthy), that he noticed a drip of coolant falling on his head during the MOT Test. This got me concerned as:
a) I have been noticing that there has been a small loss of coolant which requires at least an additional pint of water to be added to the expansion tank every week or two, however I have never soon water on the road under the car when parked.
b) After 2 recent long journeys (over 60 Miles), we noticed that the radiator fan was running-on for at least a minute after stopping the engine.
c). For the last few weeks, when I crank the engine, it appears hestitant to turn over for a split second, then turns over fine (which makes me wonder if there is a likelihood of coolant leak into the cylinder bores after the engine stops and the presurised water is "looking for a way out".
There is no sign [yet] of oil contamination and no mayo under the filler cap.
It is not convenient, at this time, for me to do a big job on the car but I would like to be able to stop, or at least slow-down the leak so I can get the job done in Mid February.
I have bought a can of Wynn's "Radiator Stop Leak" to see if this would help but I am not sure whether it would have any beneficial effects on a minor internal block leak and I don't want to make things worse !!
What do you think ??
Steve Harvey
steveharvey [at] dsl [dot] pipex [dot] com