K Series engine - head gasket

catflea

Another advocate of mg-rover.org - get yourself on there and get some proper advice! :rolleyes: You can find me lurking on there under the same name

Before being determined that you are suffering from HGF the K series can throw out some confusing signals so ensure you check the diagnosis thread on the forum. Because K series "always" suffer HGF then thats the immediate assumption when anything goes astray and its not nessecarily true (bit of a self fulfilling prophecy imho)

As to whether its worth it, only you can answer that, you have 4 options from what I can see

1. Price up the parts (ask on .org exactly what you are likely to need) and have a crack at it yourself - its not a paticuarly difficult job but needs a methodical approach.

2. Ask garage to do it (and decide if the quote feels worth it)

Alternativly

3. Sell the car spare/repairs - there will always be someone who will do the HG

4. Scrap it (and prob get less back than 3)

Personally when making descisions like that I tend to err on "better the devil you know" and I also don't think you would get a decent replacement car without a lot of investment of time for the outlay to get your car fixed.

For the record, I have a 114 which suffered HGF (turned out this was due to the negligence of the monkey who did it last time - didn't even do up the out of sight bolts on the inlet mani properly and the manifold support was missing totally :eek:) and all told it cost me approx £200 and about a day to do the job properly - note, just me my old man and some tools (my brother for one :rotfl:) to do the job no garage expenses!

Personally, I dont have the inclination to argue the toss with people who immediatly say "K Series BAD" every car out there has design flaws to a greater or lesser degree. The 114 is one of the most fun daily drivers I've had and the K lump is a dream to sit behind.

Inactive

catflea wrote: »

Personally, I dont have the inclination to argue the toss with people who immediatly say "K Series BAD" every car out there has design flaws to a greater or lesser degree. The 114 is one of the most fun daily drivers I've had and the K lump is a dream to sit behind.

Usually on a breakdown truck.:rolleyes:

goldspanners

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!!!

the k series is probably (and i say that with no real facts other than experience on here and knowing a few folk with the same problem) the most unreliable engine when it comes to head gasket failure in a long time. im not saying ever, as im sure there must have been a worse engine than this but if there was ever a top 10 of rubbish engines this would be in the top 5,definatly in my top 5 anyway.

goldspanners

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.
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,

i would agree with most of this, the k series was an engine that required constant attention,where as most of the competition always had a get in and drive factor, if it had no coolant or even lost some it was no big deal stop and top it up and away you go again, for every day motoring thats what folk need.
and again i agree renaults are rubbish aswell, the quality of electrical parts are on a par with the older rover stuff, total rubbish and totally over rated. but as second hand well under priced which attracts buyers.

pwllbwdr

Many of the K series installations had very small coolant circuits. That is fantastic in winter when everything is working because the engine warms up really quickly and you get full heat out of the heater within a couple of minutes of setting off. But when something goes wrong (leak etc), you are very quickly at the boiling over point.