[MGJohn]

Now you have completed the car and I presume it has MOT on it, you bought it for £465 on ebay, including parts, collection costs etc and any other sundry items, which was the cheaper option, buy the car and do the repairs or buy a car complete in full working order already had the head gasket etc done.

Parts, coolant, filters, jet wash etc have pushed cost outlay up to £100-ish making £570 in total including collection.

Car with known head gasket fault ~ honest description ~ 11 months MoT ~ two new tyres on the front ~ nice spec ~ plus I know the Cylinder Head Gasket and all the essential important other jobs associated with that have been done to a high standard ... for a 'Monkey' using betting ring or car dealership nomenclature ... ....Whereas buying another car not needing any work ( they usually do anyway ) would cost considerably more and still be an unknown quantity. Could mean it needs all that work and more done say a month into ownership.

You pays your money ....

A R25 in this spec, age and condition would be £1200 ~ £1500 on a used car forecourt. My son could use the car for a year or two and still recover his initial total outlay ~ indeed show a few quid profit if he looks after it which I know he will.

My time and labour is his Christmas and Birthday present 'til the end of time ... Job's a good 'n.

...:rofl:...

I drained the coolant completely this morning after a five mile run to get it all warmly mixed up in suspension .... Took several pictures of the process which shows how effective the Flush has been ... very!

I also ran my garden hose through the rad and elsewhere and the water ran crystal clear after a few seconds. I recharged the cooling system again with only water ~ just in case there's still some muck to come out. I'll drain the system again in a few days and use the correct 50-50 OAT mix ... and that should be it. The pictures clearly show how effective the essential flushing of the system is following a so called gasket failure... it really was a filthy mess inside that engine ... soon you will be able to eat your dinner off it ... well, very clean anyway ...

Car now runs better than I had anticipated ... done about 100 miles now.

The boys have been on the web getting quotes ... this will be his first Motor Insurance ~ no 'fronting' in this family ... Best quote £900 ... not bad... if he waits a couple of weeks when he will be 22, it will be less expensive... be worth it for him.
..
.
P.S.

Watching Practice Three in Brasil on Freeview Channel 301 whilst I type this ... Hope Vettle stays fastest ...
.
Looking forward to Qualifying in a few hours...
..
.
If it's wet for the race tomorrow, I'll have a few quid each way on the Button ... He's usually a good price each way ...
..
Just watched him practice the start ... Clutch applied @ 14,000 rpm...
..
.

 

[starlight14]

ues the bus. it would be cheaper.

 

[gshaw]

ues the bus. it would be cheaper.

But who in their right mind would want to willingly choose public transport

Nice job on the 25, a nice set of alloys would finish it off a treat

 

[MGJohn]

But who in their right mind would want to willingly choose public transport

Nice job on the 25, a nice set of alloys would finish it off a treat

We have a 200vi in the family currently on SORN.... Nice Alloys on that ....thinks....

More seriously ~ a selective search of the local breaker yards should be productive ~ so many still good stuff folks throw away nowadays ..
..

 

[starlight14]

But who in their right mind would want to willingly choose public transport

Nice job on the 25, a nice set of alloys would finish it off a treat

are you saying I am mad. you must be right to concider public transport, how shamful of me.

 

[MalcQV]

ues the bus. it would be cheaper.

Yes it would but then no where near as convenient.
I probably should not tell you what insurance quote my daughter has just got for her Mazda 121 (Ford Fiesta) :yikes:

Well done John, a good car for the money I think

 

[MGJohn]

Thanks to the helpful kindness of another enthusiast over on PistonHeads ~ they are not all anti-Rover/MG badge snob plonkers over there... ~ I can now put up a better picture of those coolant samples taken from the Expansion Bottle soon after inserting the SPEEDflush. Here is the picture which clearly shows the remnant oil-mix that is always left in the engine even after the best of pressure washing ~ all held in suspension and ready to be drained away. Quite unlike the crystal clear water I filled it with earlier.

Back flushing the system with the garden hose at full pressure after the initial drain off into bowls ~ two bowlsfull ~ showed the water to run crystal clear almost immediately the hose was turned on.

That's what I wanted to see. I put only water in the system again and will run the car for a few more days with only water to allow any small bits of the old oil-mix lurking to be drained again if still there. Then it will be the 50-50 OAT coolant and the car will be set up for the winter.

There's still a few little niggles to sort. The rear wash ... doesn't ... assume sediment blockage. The first two speeds on the heater fan ... don't... easy fix apparently ~ and the AirCon works but, it's nowhere near as cold as it should be. I'll wait til the £25 winter offers are again available before getting the regass.

Almost sorted.

Oh yes ~ the boot light ... doesn't. Bulb and connections fine ... but, the voltage available shows only 1.5 on the Multimeter ~ Very strange ... any ideas on that one ?

P.S.

What's a Bus ?
..

 

[pscott]

1.5 volts at the bootlight suggests damaged wiring causing a high resistance, no easy cure other than having a good look at the condition of the loom.

Car looks good, and will doubtless prove to be reliable transport after your efforts on it, and will always beat catching a bus.

 

[SnapdragonGT]

ues the bus. it would be cheaper.

I like the red, it suits you.


John, well done! Top quality work as always

I'd agree with pscott, check for damaged wiring at the hinge area of the boot, also check the switch is working properly, I think it's part of the boot latch assembly.

 

[CCM]

I like the red, it suits you.


John, well done! Top quality work as always

I'd agree with pscott, check for damaged wiring at the hinge area of the boot, also check the switch is working properly, I think it's part of the boot latch assembly.

+1 dont know why this guy is still here and not banned tbh.

also good job with the hg repair i too wanna have a go at this next year.

 

[1955diesel]

Just need to take that header tank off now and give it a clean.
A good shake with dishwasher tab and some dried beans or smooth pebbles would bring it up a treat.

 

[MGR_Petrolhead]

Great work John! :broon:

 

[MGJohn]

Just need to take that header tank off now and give it a clean.
A good shake with dishwasher tab and some dried beans or smooth pebbles would bring it up a treat.

It's already done ~ I took pictures of all the various works on the car over the past two days but, I've exceeded my Photobucket quota with this project and will have to wait until I can put more pictures up.

Here's before and after Coolant Bottle condition pictures on the first K-Series HGF I worked on:~

Before:~

After :~

Big difference.

As I've said in the past, the engine compartments of my cars are often much, much cleaner than the rest of the car. That's how I like it.

I use long screwdrivers and junior hacksaw ( without blade in place ) with cloth on their ends to wipe the crud away from the inside. Takes a few minutes but they come up like new. A squirt of two of washing up liquid helps. Then rinse thoroughly after an hour soaking in a weak bleach solution.
Comes up like new.

Boot light :~

It's been suggested that the switch unit in the boot hatch catch may be full of crud. I'll check that and give it a good clean. That could be the problem as these things are rarely serviced and filth build up causes problems. If no go, then a loom check is on the cards. I'll get my older son to do that when he gets back from Paris tomorrow as he know the wiring on these K-Series cars like the back of his hand.

 

[garythesnail]

Boot - light.

I don't know if it's a possibility as I'm not sure where the light switching mechanism is mounted, but it's pretty common that the loom routed from the body to the rear hatch suffers breaks and fails in 200/25/ZR. This could be the cause if the switch is located in the hatch locking mechanism. The loom passes from body to hatch on the driver's side IIRC.

Maybe worth a look John? It revealed the cause of issues with rear wipers on both our BRMs. . . . . and come to mention it rear wash didn't work on one because the flex tube had suffered in a similar fashion on the passenger side flexi rubber conduit thingy.

EDIT - nice job getting yet another UK piece of automotive transportation back in to a usable and serviceable condition BTW:broon:

 

[MGJohn]

Boot - light.

I don't know if it's a possibility as I'm not sure where the light switching mechanism is mounted, but it's pretty common that the loom routed from the body to the rear hatch suffers breaks and fails in 200/25/ZR. This could be the cause if the switch is located in the hatch locking mechanism. The loom passes from body to hatch on the driver's side IIRC.

Maybe worth a look John? It revealed the cause of issues with rear wipers on both our BRMs. . . . . and come to mention it rear wash didn't work on one because the flex tube had suffered in a similar fashion on the passenger side flexi rubber conduit thingy.

EDIT - nice job getting yet another UK piece of automotive transportation back in to a usable and serviceable condition BTW:broon:

Thanks for that pointer ~ others have highlighted that this is an area which can give problems on the hatch where the connections run from the body to the hatch on these smaller Rovers.

 

[MGJohn]

EUREKA !!

Until today, I had no idea what had caused the damage to this car's cylinder head gasket so that it failed to do the job it was designed to do.

Cylinder head gaskets rarely ever fail .... invariably, they are damaged first by some other agency, usually overheating folowing coolant loss.

I've been driving the car frequently since I fixed it and have been pleased with the result. Done about 200 miles so far now. So, earlier I drained the cooling system again as it only had water in it. Then refilled it with 50-50 OAT Coolant. Did a bit of shopping and when returning to the car in the Supermarket car park, noticed a small pool of coolant under the front of the car. Funny thing was the colour ~ yellowish green ~ OAT is Orange. As the floor was wet anyway I called over a chap who was checking parking durations and asked him what colour he thought the stuff on the floor was... Green, not Orange... was it my car of a previous occupant of that space...

Drove home and after parking up in front of my garage, took the shopping in then returned to the car. This time there was a very small pool of ORANGE coolant directly underneath the Timing side of the engine. Looks like the car's Water Pump has worn and allowing coolant to escape.

So, fairly certain that's the problem which caused the failure. As it was getting dark drove to my nearest UNIPART Stockist in another car and got all three drive belts ~ PAS, Timing and Alternator belts, plus new Water Pump. £48 in total... UNIPART were the original Parts supplier for ARGroup before it was taken over.

In a way this additional task is good news. It confirms the reason for the so called failure was coolant loss ~ via the worn water pump.

I shall replace the water pump soon. All three Drive Belts have to be removed to renew the water pump .... so FOUR birds with one stone.

Had I handed the car over to my son shortly after fixing it, because of his very limited experience of these things, he could have driven it and not noticed the loss of coolant .... and a repeat would be possible undoing all my work.

There's always a reason for these 'failures' ... trick is identifying that reason.

Looks like I've IDed the cause....
..

 

[traineecollins]

Even more good news. I'm really please by this thread. This car is going to be like brand new when your finished with it.

 

[MGJohn]

Why didn't you replace the Pump at the same time John Boy ...?

Why didn't you replace the Pump at the same time John Boy ...?

Had I replaced the Water Pump at the same time I would have worried that the actual cause of the so called 'failure' was something else. My son suggested I did the pump at the same time but, wanted to find out why there was progressive coolant loss first.

I now have that answer and so when the Water Pump and all three Drive Belts are renewed ~ [ probably Thursday now as busy Weds, looking at another project if it doesn't rain ] ... I can be more confident about the car when handing it over to my son.

The reason I had not identified the water pump leak until today is quite simple. There was only water in the cooling system. It had rained most of the past few days since fixing the gasket so wet underfoot most of the time. Thus, unable to see any leaks until today when the coloured coolant showed on the floor... Only about an eggcup full but, easy to spot as it spread widely over the wet ground...
..

 

[MGJohn]

Latest Update

Have now done close to 300 miles in this Rover 25. It runs really well. Better than I had expected.

Just one niggle to sort. Since I first saw the car and turned the key when I picked it up from the previous owner, the EML ( Engine Management Light ) is continuously illuminated as soon as you switch on. Does not go out as soon as engine starts as it should.

Before I check all possibilities, can anyone suggest what might be causing the EML to stay on all the time?
..
.

 

[MalcQV]

Not sure how many sensors the EML is connected to! I know mine has been going on and off for a month or so especially when the weather was very wet, but the car would on occasion mis-fire. I had new plugs earlier this year so other than a manufacturing fault ruled them out. I took the cover off to reveal the two coils, took them out and the plug leads and blew out the plug holes with compressed air :yikes: the **** that came out of one. Car runs like a dream and the light stayed out! I sprayed with WD40 just for good measure too.