New battery keeps dying

cowbutt

Limey wrote: »

Is the water pump on the K series driven by the fan belt or the cam belt? Rover 214s also came with Honda engines which are pretty much bulletproof as far as the head gasket goes.

I'm pretty sure all 214s have Rover 1.4 K series engines. It was the 216 that had Honda engines.

I must have been really lucky with my 214SLi; I bought it at six years old and had it for a further nine years and had no problems with the head gasket. I'm probably a bit better than average at actually checking and topping up the coolant, though, and I did invest early on in a new radiator when the original started leaking.

threesacrowd

The cars sat outside now. wont start except with jump leads. when i poor coolant in it goes straight through all over the road. Also when it does start the exhaust blows white smoke loads of it so think it will have to stay there till i save up loads of money.

TiTheRev

threesacrowd wrote: »

The cars sat outside now. wont start except with jump leads. when i poor coolant in it goes straight through all over the road. Also when it does start the exhaust blows white smoke loads of it so think it will have to stay there till i save up loads of money.

It'll be cheaper to get it towed away and start again

Pssst

threesacrowd wrote: »

The cars sat outside now. wont start except with jump leads. when i poor coolant in it goes straight through all over the road. Also when it does start the exhaust blows white smoke loads of it so think it will have to stay there till i save up loads of money.

Can you see where the water is coming from? It sounds pretty terminal.Whats the age of the car? It may well be uneconomic to repair. Consider binning it,dont forget to maximise your road tax refund.

crazygeordiegirl

The fact the battery is constantly flat sounds like an alternator problem to me (battery not charging) however that sounds like the least of your problems, how old is the car?

pogofish

I would say it might be an alternator problem as well, a garage or auto electrician will check its output for you for free & an independant will probably be happy enough to fit a non-OEM or breaker part for a fraction of the cost of an original. When my alternator died last year, it was £45 fitted for a one from a breaker as opposed to £200 for the OEM part alone.

Also, did you give the battery a full charge when you fitted it & have you charged since the first failure? The cold weather is always harder on batteries & when cars are only used on shortish commutes, the alternator seldom gets a chance to recharge the battery fully when moving. That usually needs a hundred miles plus.

A periodic full charge from a basic auto charger (say every 3 months or so) can go a long way to keeping things running nicely.

As for the coolant problem, that sounds nasty. A head gasket is certainly a likleyhood - steam in the exhaust smoke is a dead giveaway. Also colour in the oil, usually cloudy/light. The rule of thumb is steam - inlet side, cloudy oil - exhaust side.

kez1234

hi three we have a rover and if we need help i always look here HTH someone
http://forums.mg-rover.org/forumdisplay.php?f=11