car ran out of water & blew gasket

sam1970

the same problem happened to me yesterday..the recovery guy said that the HG has gone and replacing it will cost around £350....the car is rover 214 (R reg.) so probably it is worth £600-£800 if drivable so i dont know is it worth repairing? the scrabyard will pay me £50 to take it away!!! is it better to replace the whole engine with a second hand engine? and how much will that cost??? dammn rover :mad: no wonder they closed down

maninthestreet

If the head gasket blew, it's possible the cylinder head has warped, and is either scrap or would need machining to correct. If the car is worth only £500, it is probably not economical to repair. From your comments about mistaking the screen wash tank for the cooling system expansion tank, I would enroll in a course on basic car maintenance to avoid making mistakes like this with the car you buy to replace this one.

HenryWeston

Rover should of stayed with the old A series engines!

cowbutt

maninthestreet wrote: »

From your comments about mistaking the screen wash tank for the cooling system expansion tank, I would enroll in a course on basic car maintenance to avoid making mistakes like this with the car you buy to replace this one.

I agree; all cars have weaknesses and need to be competently maintained. Cars with Rover K-series engines just happen to be a bit more vulnerable to blowing the head gasket if you don't keep the coolant topped up and the radiator in good condition, so you need to prioritise those checks if you own a car that uses this engine. I've had a 1993 Rover 214 since 1999, and whilst it had a bit of mayo in the header tank and is showing its age now, it's given a good 8 years service, and I'm looking to replace it with a similar vehicle. Certainly, it's been far more pleasant to drive, reliable and had lower running costs than my earlier 1979 Ford Escort estate and 1987 Ford Orion!

MrsTinks

I honestly think everyone should spend the money on a basic car maintenance course... I've spent a long time under the hood of cars, mainly old landrovers, and for a girl I know a fair bit about engines. But the amount of people I have come across who genuinely don't even know the basics of how their cars work shock me. You can't truely appreciate the need for changing sparkplugs (or glow plugs if you have a diesel) and HT leads etc unless you know how an engine works. Even if only to avoid being ripped off at a garage it's worth educating yourself

anewman

tine wrote: »

I honestly think everyone should spend the money on a basic car maintenance course...

:T agree. And you can't go far wrong by starting out looking for a haynes manual for your car. It tells you what things need doing, so even if you can't be bothered doing them yourself you can tell a garage to sort it. It gives a spanner rating out of 5 to let you know how difficult the job should be.

A headgasket for my car costs £5.99 so if I get silly quotes like £200+ if/when mine goes I'll be getting the socket sets out and trying to sort it myself. If I can do it myself then it will only have cost £5.99. If I can't it goes on the scrap anyway.

I wonder what proportion of car owners just buy cars and run them into the ground without a single service or oil change, and then wonder why things have gone wrong!?!