Simple answer-no.

In the days of BMW ownership the 1.8 4 cylinder had its problems which showed in the 75 1.8, the Freelander and others. This was sorted by MGR with a redesigned head gasket.

The KV6 in the 75 and ZT has no track record of hgf and it really is a great engine.

hth

Mike

 

Make sure you check the coolant regularly, and they'll be no problems!

 

the kv6 in the old 800's were terrible, but they did eventually sort out the problem with the 75/ZT

 

the kv6 in the old 800's were terrible, but they did eventually sort out the problem with the 75/ZT

Was the BMW that sorted them out?
Didn't they have tiny coolant pathways that got blocked up?
Or was it the block they re-designed?

 

Read http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/enginekseriesf.htm for more information.

 

Aah so they redesigned the whole engine then, that would do it!
Shame they never did the K4 whilst they were at it!

 

Aah so they redesigned the whole engine then, that would do it!
Shame they never did the K4 whilst they were at it!

Hear Hear!

Why didn't they tighten up block / liner tolerances on the K4?

Apparently it completly cured the HGF problem on the KV6.

 

Thanks for your help everyone, now all I have to do is decide between the Subaru Liberty (Legacy) 3.0 or the MG ZT, probably the 220s.

Hear Hear!

Why didn't they tighten up block / liner tolerances on the K4?

Apparently it completly cured the HGF problem on the KV6.

With the KV4, as I understand it the engine is pretty different, with long throw bolts giving it much of it’s structural integrity, for example. So I think that there are a few design issues with it that need to be addressed before they can truly say that they have solved the reliability problem. There are a few posts already here on the KV4, so I’ll shut up now.



BMW probably thought that they already had a very good 4 cylinder engine which they could use and the benefit that they would get out of the V4 would be marginal, so they didn’t need to invest resources fixing the problems on the KV4. But I don’t know of any V6’s that they had at the time, they pretty much relied on their straight 6, which, even if you hate BMW you have to admit that it is a very good engine in itself. So it makes sense that they wanted to develop the KV6 for their own use, so from me, a big thank you to BMW.

 

One of my best mates used to work for landrover (actually he works for pendragon and gets sent to wherever they have an interest he is currently working on integrating cd bramhall into pendragon group) he told me that the freelander engine bay was to tight at the back for the kv6 so they altered the back of the engine casing by reducing the water jacket this resulted in a cooling problem which is why they suffer with hgf probs.

 

Thanks for your help everyone, now all I have to do is decide between the Subaru Liberty (Legacy) 3.0 or the MG ZT, probably the 220s.






With the KV4, as I understand it the engine is pretty different, with long throw bolts giving it much of it’s structural integrity, for example. So I think that there are a few design issues with it that need to be addressed before they can truly say that they have solved the reliability problem. There are a few posts already here on the KV4, so I’ll shut up now.



BMW probably thought that they already had a very good 4 cylinder engine which they could use and the benefit that they would get out of the V4 would be marginal, so they didn’t need to invest resources fixing the problems on the KV4. But I don’t know of any V6’s that they had at the time, they pretty much relied on their straight 6, which, even if you hate BMW you have to admit that it is a very good engine in itself. So it makes sense that they wanted to develop the KV6 for their own use, so from me, a big thank you to BMW.

Erm, just to point out some info:

K-series comes only in straight 4 or V6 arrangement - there is no V4 K-series.

As for the BMW straight 6's, well there have been quite a few revisions/versions up till now, but yep, they aren't bad.

Also, historically, the long stretch bolts haven't been that big a problem with the k-series. And the idea has been used in other engines aswell.
The K-series just suffers from the fact it doesn't use a comparatively large amount of coolant so any problems with the water system are important. OK, so the head-gasket and alloy bits like the cylinder head doesn't stand up to the punishment of overheating as well as some other engines so its not the most resilient engine on the planet, but still it is widely used happily by other car makers & kit car manufacturers and builders which says something considering that if your making a kit car you usually have a large amount of choice.