the missus wants one of these cars, in the past we have had a rover 214, we know about problems with the head gasket on these engines, so anything else you can tell me about the zr please do, do they drive well? good/bad on fuel? etc etc
It'll be much the same as your 214. The MG bit just makes the cheap trim posher, still fragile and prone to ageing quicker than most.
The age-old thing about head gaskets, sadly is not really a head gasket fault. The head gasket is the victim, not a cause.
This engine is a wet liner design. Instead of the bores being machined into the block casting, they are separate cylinders, sealed at the bottom by an O-ring and the top by the head gasket.
This allows a smaller coolant volume in the block, allowing faster warm-up. Downside is it will not tolerate any water loss, a problem when Rover have never managed to keep water inside their water pumps dating back to the A30.
Even a small loss of coolant can cause the engine to run hot. The cylinder liners sit on a narrow ledge in the aluminium block, which tends to sink a little when too hot.
The liners drop a little, and the head gasket no longer seals. Replacing the gasket effects only a temporary cure as it is trying to seal a gap that is too large.
Genuine Unipart, later Rover's own remanufactured engines have the liner ledge machined and special, longer liners fitted to make all good again. These are exclusive and not available elsewhere.
Never buy one with any signs of overheating problems.
Watch the coolant level, any loss, fix it immediately, or sooner!
Once the "head gasket" has gone, replacement is probably only a temporary fix. Only permanent cure is a genuine factory remanufactured engine.
Super little engine otherwise.
Sorry, that's not true. The very early (pre around '95) engines had wet liners sealed with O rings, but post '95 engines have 'damp liner' engines where only half of the liner is surrounded by coolant, the lower half is a hand press fit into the block. The ledge is sealed with hylomar.
Please don't pedal lies - for a start, Rover never made the A30, as the 'A' signifies Austin who manufactured the car 35 years before the K series was even designed and nearer 40 before it was launched. The K series is no more leaky than any other; the water pump is cam belt driven like many cars and is no more likely to leak.
Actually, this is rare - you'll have absolutely trashed the engine through overheating to get the lowest part of the block hot enough to soften the quench hardened aluminium. Coolant loss through a radiator failure or leaking hoses is no more a cause of failure than any other car.
No. The head softening will be the cause, the quench hardened deck surface of the head will get too hot, and the fire ring of the gasket will hammer into the surface, along with micro porosity allowing coolant in. What the K series cannot tolerate is running on a low antifreeze/anticorrosion additive concentration, suffering from rapid erosion of the block/head and other parts if run on neat water.
No they don't - there's no such thing.
There is no factory in the UK making the K series (OK, the updated version - the N series - is being made in China, but is different in a few important ways), so getting a factory remanufactured engine would be difficult. Permanent cure to gasket fail is to inspect the head carefully, do a hardness test on the surface around a number of points and bin if too soft. If the head is good, a light peening around the fire ring locations before skimming can help compress and consolidate the aluminium and help prevent future issues.
True, but they still suffer the same problems of this ledge receding a little.
Lies? Bit strong isn't it? As a moderator you should be looking to control such language, not propagate it.
Austin - BMC - British Leyland - Austin Rover - Rover. Water pump leaks in them all. A-series was being produced alongside K-series for a short time during changeover from Austin Metro to Rover Metro and in the mini until end of production, under the Rover banner.
Water pump being cambelt driven makes no difference to whether it can keep water inside. Just that leaks are more difficult to determine. My experience is that K-series water pumps are the most likely first leak, and if not rectified and coolant not topped up will lead to engine failure. Water pump usually only leaks while running, so escaping coolant evaporates. Hidden inside cambelt housing staining is not seen, so not diagnosed.
So the quench hardened block will not suffer, but the quench hardened head will. ?
Your information comes from where? Mine from working for the company that supplied the engines on behalf of Rover, which owned the company that remanufactured the engines.
I have not mentioned making the engines. Remanufacturing is different and not the same as rebuilding or refurbishing.
Only permanent cure is a genuine factory remanufactured engine.
Err, I don't believe that moderators should suddenly stop having a view on something.
Err, I don't believe that moderators should suddenly stop having a view on something.
Of course moderators are entitled to their views. I doubt anyone on here deliberately lies, they just state their opinion or what they believe to be true. Other opinions and experiences are welcome, the more different views we get the better we can understand the bigger picture or whole story.
Moderators should control bad behaviour, rudeness or accusations. "Moderate" in all its meanings.
K Series is a really nice, innovative engine. It's light, too! Main drawback is it's not oversquare enough, so never develops the same kind of power figures as a Zetec or Ecotec.
BBR used to offer a 300bhp turbo version with some kind of guarantee............
Typically the k series was a bloody brilliant engine, which suffered a few fundamental design errors, but by the time they were sorted the reputation was already shot.