K Series engine - head gasket

dehaani

Mankysteve wrote: »

I believe my mistake came from the fact that rover did make some cars that used honda part and engines such as the rover 200.

Honda and Rover worked together on the long bolt configuration; a significant advancement which was present in the K-Series engine. I believe the resulting engineering knowledge was utilised in Honda's V-TEC but I'm not 100% on that last part.

I remember reading a very interesting article about it a few years later.

goldspanners

Inactive wrote: »

I gave you the best advice at post#9, get shot of it, the K Series engine, despite what some people will tell you on here, was a design disaster.

Don't believe me, Type; K series or Head Gasket in to the search forums on here.

i would echo this. the risk of getting the head gasket repaired poorly is just too much in my opinion. i would flush the coolant and add some "k seal" (aptly named some might say) then get it off to auction or trade it in for something a bit better.

pitkin2020

james_joyce wrote: »

If my car already has a HG problem, but is still working reasonably OK after I added the 'gunge', what should I do next? Presumably I could top-up the gunge again and hope for the best, but I imagine there will come a time where I get serious HGF and need either a new engine or a new car. Is it worth spending a few hundred pounds now, pro-actively getting the HG replaced? Or if not now, when should I do this?

this comes down to wheter you feel the expense is worth it, the cost will also come down to how bad it has got, if it has overheated the head could be warped and will need skimming, although i would say its best to have it skimmed anyway to be safe rather than sorry, id also look at getting a done by someone has the experience to do it rather than the cheapeat guy as you only want to do it once

dieselhead wrote: »

I'm suprised that no-one has mentioned the MLS gasket, which is a modified gasket and was used by lotus and landrover when they used the K series. It is a much better gasket and shouldn't fail again.

Try www.mg-rover.org for many knowledgeable people

your right if you have the work done you will need the uprated HG with new stretch bolts.
mg-rover.org is an excellent site and you can ask on there for recommendations for mechanics to do the job

Inactive wrote: »

Strange that I have never come across any Honda that uses a crappy Rover engine, there are many Rovers that used Honda engines of course, that was before the final demise of Rover, and after it decided to use the inherently troublesome K Series engine.

My mistake it was the L series (Diesel) that honda used from rover not the K series.
ANd you call it a crappy engine, when the k series was designed it was ahead of its time, At one time Ford were interested in buying BL/ARG to get the K series, it was way ahead of its time, still is in many respects but like most Govt funded projects it did go off the rails a bit and could have been so much more still! the only problem i see is that as rover started decline there was less money to improve an old engine

Inactive wrote: »

I gave you the best advice at post#9, get shot of it, the K Series engine, despite what some people will tell you on here, was a design disaster.

Don't believe me, Type; K series or Head Gasket in to the search forums on here.

Every manufacturer has problems, look at the recent threads, vauxhall problems, ford problems etc etc, like i said most HGF are down to poor maintainence if things arent checked and you loose coolant the engine will overheat, im not saying the OP has poorly maintained the car, the previous owner may not have bothered and the OP has just inherited the problems

dehaani wrote: »

Honda and Rover worked together on the long bolt configuration; a significant advancement which was present in the K-Series engine. I believe the resulting engineering knowledge was utilised in Honda's V-TEC but I'm not 100% on that last part.

I remember reading a very interesting article about it a few years later.

I dont know about the long bolt configuration but i was just reading that the Rover VVC engine was entirely their own design, some of which honda did in fact utilise in designing the V-TEC engine

goldspanners wrote: »

i would echo this. the risk of getting the head gasket repaired poorly is just too much in my opinion. i would flush the coolant and add some "k seal" (aptly named some might say) then get it off to auction or trade it in for something a bit better.

Which is why its best to check out the forum with others who know what they are talking about and get some recommendations, but at the end of the day if the car is only worth £500 say is it worth spending between £250-£500 to have the job done, only the OP can decide

Inactive

pitkin2020 wrote: »

My mistake it was the L series (Diesel) that honda used from rover not the K series.
ANd you call it a crappy engine, when the k series was designed it was ahead of its time, At one time Ford were interested in buying BL/ARG to get the K series, it was way ahead of its time, still is in many respects but like most Govt funded projects it did go off the rails a bit and could have been so much more still! the only problem i see is that as rover started decline there was less money to improve an old engine


Every manufacturer has problems, look at the recent threads, vauxhall problems, ford problems etc etc, like i said most HGF are down to poor maintainence if things arent checked and you loose coolant the engine will overheat, im not saying the OP has poorly maintained the car, the previous owner may not have bothered and the OP has just inherited the problems

Come on, get real, anything and everything Rover ever threw together was total junk, plagued with reliability problems, not just the K Series engine stuff.

I wouldn't touch anything with a Rover badge attached with a bargepole.

Did you do as I suggested earlier and type " Rover Head Gasket " in to the search forums on here?:eek:

flang

Inactive wrote: »

Come on, get real, anything and everything Rover ever threw together was total junk, plagued with reliability problems, not just the K Series engine stuff.

I wouldn't touch anything with a Rover badge attached with a bargepole.

Did you do as I suggested earlier and type " Rover Head Gasket " in to the search forums on here?:eek:

I coudn't have put it better myself.

pitkin2020

Inactive wrote: »

Come on, get real, anything and everything Rover ever threw together was total junk, plagued with reliability problems, not just the K Series engine stuff.

I wouldn't touch anything with a Rover badge attached with a bargepole.

Did you do as I suggested earlier and type " Rover Head Gasket " in to the search forums on here?:eek:

well thats just your mis-informed opinion, you hear a couple of stories and WOAH mustn't go near that brand, having had a few rovers myself i cant see the big deal they have always been reliable and never had any major problems, had 2 pugs with HGF though, maybe shouldnt ever have a pug again!!!

Anyway im not going to argue with you over this topic as you will have someone for and against and your opinion is yours, but its not mine

Inactive

pitkin2020 wrote: »

well thats just your mis-informed opinion, you hear a couple of stories and WOAH mustn't go near that brand, having had a few rovers myself i cant see the big deal they have always been reliable and never had any major problems, had 2 pugs with HGF though, maybe shouldnt ever have a pug again!!!

Anyway im not going to argue with you over this topic as you will have someone for and against and your opinion is yours, but its not mine

Well I did invite you to see the evidence by suggesting that any doubters could quite easily type " Rover Head Gasket " in to the search forum on here, they cannot all have imagined their K Series Head Gasket's had failed.

If you need further evidence, try typing the same in to Google.;)

pendulum

pitkin2020 wrote: »

well thats just your mis-informed opinion, you hear a couple of stories and WOAH mustn't go near that brand

A couple of stories? Probably the biggest understatement I've heard this month. There is, undeniably, thousands of people with a story to tell about Rover headgasket failure as its just a fact that those engines blow headgaskets all the time. Go and ask some mechanics for the best example they can think of of a car that was prone to blowing its headgasket. See how many reply "Rover K series".

K series has a reputation for blowing headgaskets and being unreliable, and it is totally, totally deserved. And it also happens to be true that most cars Rover made weren't generally very good at all. Certainly a brand to steer clear of. They went bust for a reason.

pitkin2020

rover do have a reputation for HGF im not disputing that, but HGF doesnt just happen if the car is properly maintained and coolant is checked on regualr intervals like it should be there is no reason why the K series wont go on and on.
As for checking this forum for Rover HGF sorry but i didnt realise MSE forum was the be all and end of car related questions, as with any forum people only put things up when they have a problem, no body puts a post up to say there car is running perfect can you help me!! Trying going to some of the specfic forums like mg-rover.org and ask the users on there most will tell you they havent had that many issues, but of course there are a few that will have.
Take renault (new ones) thats a brand still running thats need to be avoided, most lagunas have a total meltdown as the overloaded with poor quailty electrics that arent up to the job,

Inactive

pitkin2020 wrote: »

rover do have a reputation for HGF im not disputing that, but HGF doesnt just happen if the car is properly maintained and coolant is checked on regualr intervals like it should be there is no reason why the K series wont go on and on.
,

Strange that it doesn't happen so frequently with other makes of vehicle that will also have been neglected to a similar degree.

Just face facts, the K Series engine was a design disaster..end of.

Oh, and try Google if you are not convinced by users on here.