Help..my Rover 114 SLi is boiling up

[XMG5]

I got my son an 'N' Reg Rover 114 SLi as a first car after he'd passed his test 3 weeks ago.

It has 42,843 genuine mileage (I've seen it's last 4-5 MOT's which show average mileage per year of 2-3K).

When we picked it up from a local garage it overheated after about 25 miles and lost some oil resembling melted chocolate from an oil seal in the bottom of the engine. I had to get it towed back to the garage and they replaced the oil seal, cam belt (some oil had got on the cam belt apparentle) and the head gasket.

We got the car back but the temperature gets up to 'normal' running temperature (about half-way on the guage) and drives fine but whilst driving on the M4 yesterday evening the guage went into red. we stopped and lifted the bonnet to find the expansion tank was steaming like it was fit to burst and very hot.

No water or oil on the road but even after cooling over an hour later it still overheated with minutes/yards of trying to get it home. Yet the air coming from the internal fan/heater (set to maximum) was cold?

It's now back at the garage (towed there by me using my own car) and awaiting inspection.

Anyone got something constructive to suggest (besides scrap the thing)?????

Any advice would be welcomed........

Editted to say that garage is suggesting "an air lock" in the cooling system?

Edited by XMG5 on Friday 15th September 11:43

[K 5ive]

The Head gasket has gone. The head will have to be checked and skimmed. This is a common problem on K series engine. Caused by the thermostat being to close to the exhaust manifold. Find a garage with the cheapest labour rate as it will be expensive. Around the £300 mark.

[XMG5]

K 5ive said:

The Head gasket has gone. The head will have to be checked and skimmed. This is a common problem on K series engine. Caused by the thermostat being to close to the exhaust manifold. Find a garage with the cheapest labour rate as it will be expensive. Around the £300 mark.

As you see from my earlier post, the garage says it replaced the head gasket? Are you saying they've told me porkies?

[red_rover]

Maybe they did change it - but a lot of the time, most garages don't do a proper job - hence why they suffer it again. If it was done properly, it would have been totally reskimmed and a modified gasket used.

So I'd start talking to the garage!

[XMG5]

Thanks folks.

[K 5ive]

red_rover said:

Maybe they did change it - but a lot of the time, most garages don't do a proper job - hence why they suffer it again. If it was done properly, it would have been totally reskimmed and a modified gasket used.

So I'd start talking to the garage!

What he said! No way was it done properly with what you say has happened. It should be under warranty for 3 month after the work was done. Take it back and get shirty!

[XMG5]

The garage has just told me the car's got half a radiator of sludge built up which has prevented full ciculation of the coolant to cool the engine.

I should be getting it back tomorrow, after they've flushed it through (or replaced the rad if it can't be done). I'll keep my fingers crossed that it'll then be okay.

I guess the 2k - 3k average miles per year by the previous keeper (a few miles to the shops and back) never allowed it to warm up and expose the problem until we started driving it some distance and for some time. More than the car had been used to I suppose.

Anyway, thanks to all for the advice, I'll post again when it's had time to tell if it's going to be okay?

Edited by XMG5 on Monday 18th September 11:37

[K 5ive]

XMG5 said:

The garage has just told me the car's got half a radiator of sludge built up which has prevented full ciculation of the coolant to cool the engine.

I should be getting it back tomorrow, after they've flushed it through (or replaced the rad if it can't be done). I'll keep my fingers crossed that it'll then be okay.

Edited by XMG5 on Monday 18th September 11:37

That is something they should have checked in the first place. I can't believe that they didn't flush it all out after the mess it was obviously in.

[Pistol Pete]

XMG5 said:

Editted to say that garage is suggesting "an air lock" in the cooling system?

Incompetent garage??.. When they fixed the head gasket the first time, they didn't bleed it properly.

The K series is a bugger to blead. I usually end up with about a gallon of water on the workshop floor before I get the air-lock in the head out of it.

If it starts to overheat at all, don't run it. the K series only holds a small amount of water, so it does damage very quickly.

Take it back to them. If you have paid them for the first repair then I'd expect them to fix it. Or maybe you want your money back for the car.

Pete

[XMG5]

The latest situation since the rad was flushed through....is that it now runs okay. There is a chance that the thermostatic switch which governs the engine fan needs replacing as it has been suggested by a mechanic friend of mine that it may have a "lazy switch" which activates the fan at too high a temperature.

The car appears to be running 'normally' at present time so it seems likely that the garage has sorted it out for me and that's all I wanted at the end of the day.

Thanks again for all the advice.

[paul1]

hi same thing happened to me had the head skimmed and new gasket put on. also would recommend buy some K-SEAL you put it in the water tank and it will seal andy leaks in the future it only cost a tenner and it has saved many customers cars which were showing signs of the head going. it is compatible with all type of anti freeze

[andymadmak]

My daughters Rover 111i does something weird. When you just drive around at 30 - 40mph it stays perfectly on the middle of the guage. but if you go faster than this then it goes to mid way between middle and the start of the red section. It goes no higher than this, even at 80mph! The fan cuts in as it should. The thermostat was changed, there is no sign of a HGF. Oil and water are clean, freah and spot on their levels. - could this be a knackered radiator?

Andy

[XMG5]

andymadmak said:

My daughters Rover 111i does something weird. When you just drive around at 30 - 40mph it stays perfectly on the middle of the guage. but if you go faster than this then it goes to mid way between middle and the start of the red section. It goes no higher than this, even at 80mph! The fan cuts in as it should. The thermostat was changed, there is no sign of a HGF. Oil and water are clean, freah and spot on their levels. - could this be a knackered radiator?

Andy

How old is the car?

It could be sludge in the radiator reducing the circualtion of the coolant or it could be a "lazy switch" which doesn't trip the fan soon enough, allowing the temperature to rise higher than it should before kicking in to cool it?

[andymadmak]

its a 1995 car. Radiator looks a bit flakey from the outside. Coolant is clean though. done 46k miles (genuine)

Edited by andymadmak on Thursday 30th August 13:16

[XMG5]

Might be worth a flush through the radiator and perhaps look at changing the switch (neither expensive) and that may do the trick.

[jimtyjimjim]

i would flush the water system with a good rad flush i use winns costs about 8 qid use the 1 in a tin its the best i found it removes all the crap including oil and yes bledding a k ser engin is a pain it takes time the get all the air locks out the sysetm dont you just love these engins lol

[Vicky_chic69]

Hi guys im vicky im new but i to recently had the same problem with my car. I found a really good company on the internet that sorted it for me. It was £450 for the job and they came to my house. only thing is i had to pay £150 extra for a piston line? they showed it to me it was cracked on the one side. Is this normal on these cars i have the thing in my boot. looks like a metal toilet role. I can see the crack though. car runs much better now though. there site was www.head-mechanics.co.uk i think

[corsaman132]

Hi all,can anybody tell me how to bleed the cooling system on my 414 as no heat is coming through the matrix,the doesnt overheat but is losing some coolant after a trip(think it might be the water pump gasket-or the water pump itself),there are no signs of hgf,The hoses to the matrix get hot but are cold next to bulkhead,so im presuming there is an airlock! Thanks in advance-Jay

[MGJohn]

corsaman132 said:

Hi all,can anybody tell me how to bleed the cooling system on my 414 as no heat is coming through the matrix,the doesnt overheat but is losing some coolant after a trip(think it might be the water pump gasket-or the water pump itself),there are no signs of hgf,The hoses to the matrix get hot but are cold next to bulkhead,so im presuming there is an airlock! Thanks in advance-Jay

We recently bled the cooling system on my son's R214 following fitting a replacement cylinder head gasket (CHG). The gasket did not need replacement but, some valves needed attention hence the new CHG ~ a MLS a saver shim was used available from XPart factors. When he took it for it's first drive following reassembly, the temperature gauge soon warmed up to normal, then went towards the red not quite reaching.... It would then settle down and again move towards red. That's when he called me over to have a look.

No big deal, these sophisticated little all alloy motors are asked to punch well above their weight and need efficient cooling kept in good shape. They are a bit tricky to bleed ~ even so called 'professionals' get it wrong quite frequently.

I suggested my son bleed the system in the following way. Replace coolant bottle pressure cap. New ones not expensive. Old may look OK but they do wear out ( valve becomes weak )and then fail to do their job which can lead to other more serious problems.

Flush system and drain. Used Holts Speedflush ~ about fiver Halfords or ebay ~ excellent. Then fill with correct 50-50 mix of OAT Antifreeze. Run engine with heater set to full on, and pressure cap removed. There is an 8mm Blled bolt (IIRC was 8mm ~ maybe 10mm and two bolts on some cars )bolt in one/two of the hoses to-from the heater. Keeping hands clear of rad fans and hot parts, with extra care, as engine warms, squeeze both top and bottom radiator hoses alternatively to expell any air in the system, and top up the coolant bottle to MAX if level falls as air is expelled. Continue to squeeze hoses until coolant level stabilises in plastic bottle. That should take less than two minutes. Replace coolant bottle pressure cap firmly.

Continue to run engine until quite warm to get the essential coolant pressure up to normal ( feel hoses are warm ~ careful ), then undo the bleed bolt(s) in the heater hoses until coolant and not air emerges... tighten bleed bolt when it does.

Take car for a run with heater on fully ~ with fan running to feel hot air coming from the vents # good sign. Observe temperature needle does settle to normal level with no going towards rted. If it does, system has not been bled properly or, hopefully not, something else is wrong.

All being well, switch engine off and allow to cool fully ~ next morning, check coolant level in bottle and top up if necessary. keep an eye on levels and gauge for the next few days...

That is not the way most Professionals do it ~ they often use vacuum equipment or other methods. However, the above method has worked perfectly for the K-Series engined cars in our family for many years.

It's not rocket science.

Good luck ~ lets us know how you get on, that way we all can learn.
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