Rover 25 maintenance advice

Weird_Nev

Mark_Mark wrote: »

Not having a go as it's good practice, but does anyone really do daily checks?

I don't see my neighbours with the bonnet up or the tyre pressure gauge in their hand on a weekly basis yet alone daily. Modern cars tell you most things on the dash and some BMs don't even have a dipstick.

What is acceptable for home maintenance and checks? I know if you have a defect and crash the answer would be different.

Daily, no. Though I do make a point of casting an eye at the tyres to check for punctures as you walk around and get in the car.

Checks every time you drive that are easy to do:
Brake check/test: Put your foot on the brake as you start the car. It should be firm and not dropping before you start the engine, as the engine starts the pedal should drop as the vacuum boost kicks in. This means your brake vacuum is working and you have pressure in the braking circuit. This is the 'static' brake test.
Then, when you move off, you perform a 'rolling' brake test which is in reality the first time you stop or need to slow on the brakes: You give yourself a bit of extra leeway, and ensure that the brake pressure is normal, and the car does not pull to either side or make any undue noise when braking.

Oil checks, I generally check weekly when I first get a car, then monthly when I'm in tune with how much oil it might be using. I just do a simple under bonnet check after cleaning the car, which works out about once a month: Oil level, trans fluid level, brake fluid level, power steering level, coolant, washer fluid level, pull the air filter and see how it looks, check battery terminals, wiring and hoses and belts just to check they look alright. I grab the wife and check lights are all working. Takes 5 minutes. I did it yesterday as it happens!

Tyre pressures should really be a weekly check. Doesn't take a moment. However, we off road most weekends, which involves adjusting tyre pressures several times. I also have a tyre compressor mounted in the car, so it's no hassle to adjust them on the drive way if I need to. However, checking the tyre for visible cuts or bulges, and debris lodged in them does need doing, it's those that cause blowouts. I make a point of doing that before long motorway trips or 'spirited' driving.

Everyone should really check oil, brake fluid and tyres at least once a month. Lights on the dash tell you that something HAS gone wrong, not that something IS going wrong. You can save yourself a good deal of expense and hassle spotting warning signs early.

Not sure I'd buy a car without a dipstick! Probably won't be for some time anyway, since I buy bangers generally. I'm sure there will be a dongle and a cable to hook a laptop/my phone/retinal display up to by then.

Ebe_Scrooge

Mark_Mark wrote: »

What is acceptable for home maintenance and checks? I know if you have a defect and crash the answer would be different.

I think a lot depends on your mileage. I do about 400 miles a week, work away from home, so I'll check every weekend. The car always needs a wash, so that's the first job. Whilst washing the wheels, it's nigh on impossible NOT to see the state of the tyres ( general condition, tread depth and any obvious low pressure ). On my car it's also very easy to see the brake discs and pads, so again a quick visual check takes no time. I always need to top up the screenwash, especially at this time of year, I get through a lot during the week. So whilst I've got the bonnet up, a quick look at the coolant reservoir takes 2 seconds. Whilst I'm there, may as well check the oil level, maybe 10 seconds.

I don't think daily checks are necessary ( unless you've got a known problem, such as losing oil or something, and you could argue that you need to be tackling the cause of the problem in that case ). But the very basic weekly checks really do take a matter of a couple of minutes.

Case in point - just the other week a friend of mine noticed a bulge on the wall of his tyre ( which was only a couple of months old ). No idea what caused it - he reckoned his wife had hit a kerb ! Anyhow, that's irrelevant - he obviously got the tyre replaced pronto. A bit of a pain in terms of the money it cost, but as he said, suppose that had gone pop on the motorway ?

Clive_Woody

Lots of good advice already but as a back up plan I would suggest looking at getting some sort of breakdown cover (AA, RAC, etc...). Have a look at the links on here for getting cheap cover.

arcon5

Lots of do this and do that posts that are completely unnecessary.. HT leads, thermostat for example probably don't need doing now. Based on some of this logic you may as well refurb the whole engine, replace every component possible, renew all 4 corners from strut to suspension arm.

Probably just needs a service and a cambelt.

Although cars at this price are quite disposable so the latter could be argued as unnecessary. Depends how you see your car though

bigjl

arcon5 wrote: »

Lots of do this and do that posts that are completely unnecessary.. HT leads, thermostat for example probably don't need doing now. Based on some of this logic you may as well refurb the whole engine, replace every component possible, renew all 4 corners from strut to suspension arm.

Probably just needs a service and a cambelt.

Although cars at this price are quite disposable so the latter could be argued as unnecessary. Depends how you see your car though

Thermostat could gum up due to lots of short trips.

This could cause overheating in a K Series very easily.

It is a well known occurance for a car regularly used for short trips for many years bursting hoses and overheating when first put back into more regualr use such as a 100 mile run a motorway speeds.

No i wouldn't be changing HT leads or plugs unless there was signs of degradation and perhaps a minor misfire.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

bigjl, car with low miles used on short trip will most certainly have signs of poor water and oil (a mayo look under the oil cap) as the engine hasn't run to temp condensation builds up under the rocker cover drops down into the oil. engine flush will remove most of it and ready it for checks of bigger problems later on not to mention if it hasn't had a decent oil change in a while there maybe signs of slugding in the sump as well and the last thing a rover needs is poor oil circulation.


second looking for leaks in the water hoses, my 75 had degraded water hose, and only leaked under pressure, it looked like a black hose had blistering with red antifreeze all over it and not a cheap pipe to replace.


HT leads only if its missing a beat. plugs would part of the service items I would have these redone.

Mark_Mark

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

bigjl, car with low miles used on short trip will most certainly have signs of poor water and oil (a mayo look under the oil cap) as the engine hasn't run to temp condensation builds up under the rocker cover drops down into the oil. engine flush will remove most of it and ready it for checks of bigger problems later on not to mention if it hasn't had a decent oil change in a while there maybe signs of slugding in the sump as well and the last thing a rover needs is poor oil circulation.


second looking for leaks in the water hoses, my 75 had degraded water hose, and only leaked under pressure, it looked like a black hose had blistering with red antifreeze all over it and not a cheap pipe to replace.


HT leads only if its missing a beat. plugs would part of the service items I would have these redone.

How do you know it's only been used on short trips?

I had a low mileage car that did about 500 miles a month. One of those was a 450 mile round trip.

Din85

Well done at getting one at that mileage !

I have had Rovers for years, mainly due to the fact that i did my apprenticeship with MgRover.

As said, every car has its common faults, the K series in my experience is actually a very reliable motor if looked after, of course it has a weakness, that being steel liners with an aluminum head and block etc all sandwiched together with very long stretch bolts.

The K series heats up very quickly, and as the metals expand and contract at differing rates, its pull on the elastomer seals on the head gasket, now at some point these will break and the head gasket will fail, though if looked after it will take a long time.

The other reason they go is simply lack of lifting the bonnet and checking the levels as said, if the water pump leaks and the engine over heats, it quickly warps again, the head gasket fails.

The issue is that once a K series head has gone soft (they are temperature hardened) and there are indents around the fire rings in the head... then the head is effectively scrap.

The great thing is, if you look after it, it will be reliable, and if it does go wrong, its both easy and cheap (relatively) to fix.

You can also get uprated multi layer steel head gaskets now, these where developed by land-rover along with a strengthened oil rail.

Though in my opinion, a good quality OE style gasket is best, particularly if liner heights are suspect.

Anyway to the original post.... (i could yap Rovers for ages), get the cambelt done, it will be the auto tensioned type at that age and should be replaced at 90k or every 6 years, DO get the water pump done at the same time, they are cheap, and i have had them fail way before the belt is due, a nice dose of fresh antifreeze and an oil and filter change and you should be good for many miles to come.

If you ever need any more advise on the subject don't hesitate to fire me a PM.

Straight_edge

Many thanks for the advice, very much appreciated!

Got the car home last night and seems perfect, I take the points about preventative maintenance.

Could someone give me an idea of the cost to replace all those things please?

Also it has all service stamps last one completed about 14 months ago, it doesn't actually indicate what was done though. What does the stamp tell me?

Also as I said im completely clueless about cars (slowly learning) is there a link/video for doing these daily/weekly checks, how to do them and what to look out for?

Weird_Nev

You may find that there's a label on the side of the engine, near the top, with a date and milage on it in biro and 'cambelt changed' or similar, if it has been serviced.

Check to see if you can find it, or any note of it having been done in service history or reiepts (it can be as obscure as a parts receipt for belt and tensioner or similar).

Then, work out if you've exceeded 6 years of not.

If it's actually been properly and diligently serviced, then you could well have got a right bargain!