blown head gasket

chrisw

If it's only scrap value and not losing water too quickly and your dumping it soon anyway, leave it as it is for now but carry a bottle of water in the car and just keep an eye on it.

Likeadeal_2

Hi All,
I have a very big smile on my face.

I've done all the things Quinny suggested and everything is clear (no bubbles or mayo or leaks etc)

I've put a new radiator cap on as Chrisw had suggested because the only thing i could see wrong after doing Quinnys suggestions was water coming out of the radiator cap after a run.

The new cap has stopped this happening and the car sounds and runs smoothly with no leaks or anything amiss and the temp guage is staying mid range. Before all this happened it had gone into the red.

I can't believe that it may be ok, so thanks to you all for taking the time to help me out.

I will let u all know in 6 months time if the car still running.
Fingers crossed
Likeadeal

Quinny_2

That is damn good news for a Friday.:T

Just think,a garage would have charged you a fortune for that,so the beer is on you with what you've saved.:beer:

If you can do it yourself,or know someone who can do it for you,now might be a good time to replace the anti-freeze/summer coolant as I suggested.

On a final note,do check the water level again tomorrow before you start the car up,and make sure it's ok.

And well done that girl.

Ken.

Cumbrian_Male

Yep, good news.

It is not uncommon for the caps to get hair line cracks due to age. Remember that they get hot and are under pressure.

As Quinny says replace your coolant, water boils at 100C, but when you put it in a closed system under pressure it will raise the boiling point to about 130C ish.

Coolant will raise the boiling point to 160C ish. Also if you have an alloy engine as my Volvo has then it is critical to prevent corrosion. If its all alloy you may need up to a 50% mixture, which is what mine runs on and it takes 10 litres to fill the system.

Will post back tomorrow with full costs.

Quinny_2

Don't you get a good feeling when you've helped someone?

Lets hope that's the end of your problems.Keep us posted Sue.

Ken.

Cumbrian_Male

Quinny wrote:

Do tell what the final bill actually was when you get it back.

Ken.

£869.83 which includes a new radiator hose and a ignition timing sensor.

The misfire, oily fingerprints and scratches to my paint work were all free extras:rolleyes:

Their bodyshop is repainting the door on Thurs. and I will be going to see them about the misfire tomorrow.

Dredd to think what my MPG is only running on 5 cylinders.:eek:

movieman

Rovers are infamous for head gasket problems especially K series engines..which probably lead him to that diagnosis.. maybe time to swap it..?

Yep. I had a Rover 214 for about a year... great car, except every 6,000 miles or so it overheated, blew the head gasket and cracked the cylinder head. The garage told me it was so common that they had a hard time getting hold of replacement heads whenever someone brought one in. Cost me an insane amount of money before I was able to get rid of it (at the time I was commuting about 120 miles a day, so being without a car wasn't an option).

I don't think that's the case with the 600s, though: from what I remember the 214 had a design fault in the cooling system where a valve could get stuck and cause overheating.

DM2007

ALL rovers without the honda engines (most models in the last 8 years) - which are PETROL models (with the exception of the city rover) suffer Head Gasket faults.

Its a well known fault and one of the reason for Rovers demise.

lets hope the chinese sort it out.

wdyw

Cumbrian_Male wrote:

As Quinny says replace your coolant, water boils at 100C, but when you put it in a closed system under pressure it will raise the boiling point to about 130C ish.

Coolant will raise the boiling point to 160C ish.

These values look too high for me, but I can't find any source of info on the net to see what the values are roughly (apart from a formula 1 site and their pressure/temperatures are miles out to what they should be). Also, does anynoe know aht pressure a standard pressure cooks works at (I remember hewaring it was round about 1.5 - 2bar(a) and 111 - 120C), but again can't find any hard facts.

Great news on the cheap fix!

northern_munky

wdyw wrote:

These values look too high for me, but I can't find any source of info on the net to see what the values are roughly (apart from a formula 1 site and their pressure/temperatures are miles out to what they should be). Also, does anynoe know aht pressure a standard pressure cooks works at (I remember hewaring it was round about 1.5 - 2bar(a) and 111 - 120C), but again can't find any hard facts.

Great news on the cheap fix!

A 50/50 mix of antifreeze/water raises the boiling point to 106C and the pressure cap roughly raises it another 25C. Those years at college weren't wasted after all