Cost of head gasket replacement Rover 200

arrowsmith

scatz wrote: »

Difference is, you shouldn't need to repair the Renault quite so often as the Rover .

:rotfl: The Rover consists of mostly a Honda design bar the engine. Renault have for a long time been one of the worst if not the worst brand with regards to reliability, they are the bottom of most surveys for a very good reason. Stick to Rovers.

scatz

arrowsmith wrote: »

:rotfl: The Rover consists of mostly a Honda design bar the engine. Renault have for a long time been one of the worst if not the worst brand with regards to reliability, they are the bottom of most surveys for a very good reason. Stick to Rovers.

What you are saying is true, but not in my experience. Obviously it is a matter of opinion and experience also.

As I stated, if you own a Rover and has never let you down, then good luck. One thing I will say against Renault is the fact that they appear to build their cars around everything rather than putting everything in the car, hence possible higher repair costs.

To add, I surrender now, I've had my moan about Rovers and am quite happy.:p

Gorgeous_George

I had to have the headgasket replaced on an Astra with 40K miles on te clock.

My Rover 216 cabriolet has done 48K and (touch wood) is not showing signs of HGF. My ZS has done 4,600 miles and is the bees knees. Soon be time to swap them around.

My DSD has a 216 with a HGF but that's the Honda engine.



GG

Rally_Matt

HI,
we run a feet of MG ZR rally cars, and a host of other Rovers so know these cars inside out. Generally they are at very very reliable however Head Gasket Failure is common amongst all modern alloy engines due to materials, high loads and fuels used.

Be warey of cheap fixes, they don't work. We charge £1000 to fix HGF properly on a K series engine. Most of the work is labour, stripping parts down and cleaning them properly plus re-engineering the engine with the latest parts to solve the issues.

The head should be hardness tested and be subject to a valve leak test, in all but the luckiest situations the head will need a full skim to remove scoring caused by the fire rings in the old gasket, where its softened due to overheating, it will more than likely need the valve seats re-cutting and the valves lapping in, and need stem seals should be fitting at this point too.

The lower oil ladder should be renewed for the uprated version, new engine through bolts are stongly suggested, the latest head gasket design in a multi layered version with a head shim plate to spread head loadings. Most later engines already have the steel dowels (plastic dowels were used as a tech fix for corroision problems with steel and alloy parts) newer dowels are stainless steel. Things like the oil collecor need to be stripped and cleaned out as the cam carrier gasket coating breaks up during over heating, this gets caught in the oil ways and importantly blocks the oil strainer which can lead to total engine failure if not correctly cleaned out.

We insist on a new cam belt and tensioner. Its a false economy not to. There is no way this job can be done properly for a few hundred pounds, there is just too much work and too many parts required.

Just as a very important pointer, if you ever replace the coolant yourself, never never never use neat coolant and top up with water. The coolant should be mixed to the correct concentration BEFORE being added to the engine, failure to do this can lead to serious damage to your cooling system.

If you are thinking of doing any work on your car, make sure you know what you are doing, its probably cheaper to get an expert to do it first time and get it right. A head gasket repair is a major job and should not be taken lightly.

HGF affects all cars, its actually more common with other manufacturers than Rover, no make is immune to it.

like-saving-money

hello Matt:beer:

bet you are confused as to who this is

give you a clue............... Typhoon

sam1970

my wife's r reg. rover 200 needed a new head gasket just 6 months after we bought it (at 55000 miles)... the cost of doing the job at £350 was silly for car which is propably not worth more than £700 so she drove it till the engine blew up and we scraped it...i will never buy a rover again...no wonder they have gone bust if this is the quality they are producing:mad:

leelandy

hi just a quick line to say a lot of these replys are good advice but what i could add is that YES the head bolts are strech bolts but they can in some situations be reused . they have a length measurement were if they have not stretched over that limit thet can be reused. this is a rover/landrover measurment so be aware of it . not trying to jump on any ones toes or ruffle my own feathers but thought i would just mention it . also just a quick note some times it is also the liners that are at problem aswell !!!!

goldspanners

the op's rover is very common head gasket failure,to do the job properly it will cost around £350,but for this price i would expect head skimmed,new gasket set,new head bolts,water pump,radiator at the least flushed out,engine oil and filter,and a new timing belt to be fitted,pointless doing the job and not replacing these parts.
i had one done last year and this all cost £350.

Wig

I want to know why OP was quoted £350 but when he opted to have a cambelt (and tensioner???) done aswell the price has jumped to £518. £168 for a cambelt? (and tensioner???) Maybe he had a new waterpump fitted too.

goldspanners

Wig wrote: »

I want to know why OP was quoted £350 but when he opted to have a cambelt (and tensioner???) done aswell the price has jumped to £518. £168 for a cambelt? (and tensioner???) Maybe he had a new waterpump fitted too.

i noticed this aswell,the belt would be already off to do the head gasket,so it should really only be parts to be paid for.