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[Lazydocker]

I'd put money on HG... Especially as they didn't skim the head! Never known a K series not need skimming, and I've done a lot of them!!

As for the water pump/matrix issues... News to me! The most common cause of HG fail has always been Thermostat IME... For some reason they always seem to fail closed on the K series

[tmx]

hmm from my rover K series experiance

i have a theory to the headgasket!

The radiator fitted to K Series engines isnt particually very strong and so over time develops a leak! thus leaking all the water out.....

K series engines HG is a weak design it would seem to me that once a K Series engine overheats the HG is damaged!

thats why when i changed the mrs old rovers one i also done the thermo and the rad!

also dont put radweld in a kseries rad as again they use very narrow channels that radweld blocks up! creating more cooling issues!

thats my theory anyway!

HG is a easy DIYable job though on all K Series rovers

i should add that the thermostat didnt fail on the mrs's old rover! her's was the 1.4 14KN4 engine the radiator fitted to the 1.4 is the same that K series metros have an its tiny compared to the omegas

i must say though that the k series rover we had never missed a beat it never failed any mot and never broke down! apart from its HG it was a very reliable motor! and very very very cheap to run it did nearly 50mpg and had 130k on it before i sold it on!

[Marks DTM Calib]

Your theory is a mile off the mark!

Its a fundamental engine design issue which no approach, parts or the like will sort.

There are some things that will lessen (slightly) the possibility of it happening again but, it cant be cured (without expensive machining!)

The bottom lin is that the liners are not to stable....that coupled with full bock head bolts and you get a little bit of 'walk' around the fire rings.

[TheBoy]

Your theory is a mile off the mark!

Its a fundamental engine design issue which no approach, parts or the like will sort.

There are some things that will lessen (slightly) the possibility of it happening again but, it cant be cured (without expensive machining!)

The bottom lin is that the liners are not to stable....that coupled with full bock head bolts and you get a little bit of 'walk' around the fire rings.

The warranty engineers say it is to do with the tolerances around the temperatures around the block/head join that is the fundamental issue - further development of the engine could have overcome this in their opinion  :-/

[Iain]

I served my time at a college in Glasgow which was part funded by Arnold Clark and Rover,and i served my time on the K series,when they were pretty new to the automotive industry,

Basic set up,electronics,fuel injection systems,emmisions were all pretty much ahead of their time and were really pretty good......

Rover's big boo boo was they did not take the time to design decent set up to go with it...i.e thermostat set up,water pump,radiator,alternator all came from older set ups already on the market,which didn't really cut it with the new engine.....

As said above the K series did eventually suffer from heat problem,which was something that could have been rectified without too much expense or real hardship to the design teams......

Electronics and fuel injection set up,coupled with the emmision levels it produced were pretty much second to none......
But unfortunately they skimped on the ancillaries which made it 'overall' pretty much a let down......

[theowletman]

25 will have the K series,or newer version thereof.......

There rubbish,very easy to damage the HG on rebuild,or not having it skimmed correctly...my money would be on poorly done repair or done on the cheap,therefore not done properly....
If its loosing water and its not pouring onto the road then i would be pretty confident its HG,either that or when it was done before the head itself has a crack and been put back together with the defect, the new gasket would just split again at the crack....

Probably this was the engine that killed Rover once and for all,
Some Landrover Freelanders had them,hence why you can buy a Freelander today for around £300 to £500! and thats for a 2001/2002 model....

The K series is actually a very good engine, despite its age (20yrs since its release this year), but unfortunately under the BMW years, never got the development it needed.  

How many 20yr old engines could still meet today's emmissions standard? How many 20yr old engines can still match its main competitors current engines on performance?


Landrover did improve its HG issue massively towards the end of its production - sadly Rover chose not to do this (despite Powertrain - a Rover company - supplied both Rover and Landrover).  A HG failure on a Rover K series is guaranteed in the same way as a crank sensor failure is on a GM V6.  It WILL happen, just be prepared and try to catch it as early as possible.

With all due respect that quote must be from someone who has never worked in the motor trade, they are rubbish. They will meet any emission standards when they are parked up, broken down and won't run. Absolute rubbish the K series engine in my opinion and experience. A major contributory factor in Rovers decline.

[TheBoy]

25 will have the K series,or newer version thereof.......

There rubbish,very easy to damage the HG on rebuild,or not having it skimmed correctly...my money would be on poorly done repair or done on the cheap,therefore not done properly....
If its loosing water and its not pouring onto the road then i would be pretty confident its HG,either that or when it was done before the head itself has a crack and been put back together with the defect, the new gasket would just split again at the crack....

Probably this was the engine that killed Rover once and for all,
Some Landrover Freelanders had them,hence why you can buy a Freelander today for around £300 to £500! and thats for a 2001/2002 model....

The K series is actually a very good engine, despite its age (20yrs since its release this year), but unfortunately under the BMW years, never got the development it needed.  

How many 20yr old engines could still meet today's emmissions standard? How many 20yr old engines can still match its main competitors current engines on performance?


Landrover did improve its HG issue massively towards the end of its production - sadly Rover chose not to do this (despite Powertrain - a Rover company - supplied both Rover and Landrover).  A HG failure on a Rover K series is guaranteed in the same way as a crank sensor failure is on a GM V6.  It WILL happen, just be prepared and try to catch it as early as possible.

With all due respect that quote must be from someone who has never worked in the motor trade, they are rubbish. They will meet any emission standards when they are parked up, broken down and won't run. Absolute rubbish the K series engine in my opinion and experience. A major contributory factor in Rovers decline.

You're entitled to your view, I'm entitled to mine

I made my mind up on not only have owned some, but also having access to the stats on warranties and breakdowns against numbers sold.

And it is fact that the K series can meet the lastest emissions standard, despite being first released 20yrs ago.  It is also fact that it is more than a match for similar engines from other manufacturers performance wise, and with the additional bonus of being a very light engine, even when 'wet'.


Rover's (not Austen's) demise can be fairly squarely laid at BMW's door with a disjointed strategy - initially they bought it primarily to gain 2 key pieces of technology (4x4 and mass production techniques - both of which worked out quite well for BMW).  Then they decided to try to take a mass market manufacturer upmarket, but using mass market components - ie simply overpricing (a trick carried on by MG Rover, which eventually killed it - not that it was ever viable business, as with no money for new designs, and the Rover designs being taken by BMW before the sale (Mini, and the then new R30 which became the BMW 1 series))

So, no, the engine - which, granted, did need futher development to increase reliability (as Landrover managed to improve, though not entirely fix) - was not Rover's demise.


BMW aside, Rover's other big problem, which stemmed back from the BL days, was Londbridge, and the mentality of the workforce there.

[theowletman]

25 will have the K series,or newer version thereof.......

There rubbish,very easy to damage the HG on rebuild,or not having it skimmed correctly...my money would be on poorly done repair or done on the cheap,therefore not done properly....
If its loosing water and its not pouring onto the road then i would be pretty confident its HG,either that or when it was done before the head itself has a crack and been put back together with the defect, the new gasket would just split again at the crack....

Probably this was the engine that killed Rover once and for all,
Some Landrover Freelanders had them,hence why you can buy a Freelander today for around £300 to £500! and thats for a 2001/2002 model....

The K series is actually a very good engine, despite its age (20yrs since its release this year), but unfortunately under the BMW years, never got the development it needed.  

How many 20yr old engines could still meet today's emmissions standard? How many 20yr old engines can still match its main competitors current engines on performance?


Landrover did improve its HG issue massively towards the end of its production - sadly Rover chose not to do this (despite Powertrain - a Rover company - supplied both Rover and Landrover).  A HG failure on a Rover K series is guaranteed in the same way as a crank sensor failure is on a GM V6.  It WILL happen, just be prepared and try to catch it as early as possible.

With all due respect that quote must be from someone who has never worked in the motor trade, they are rubbish. They will meet any emission standards when they are parked up, broken down and won't run. Absolute rubbish the K series engine in my opinion and experience. A major contributory factor in Rovers decline.

You're entitled to your view, I'm entitled to mine

I made my mind up on not only have owned some, but also having access to the stats on warranties and breakdowns against numbers sold.

And it is fact that the K series can meet the lastest emissions standard, despite being first released 20yrs ago.  It is also fact that it is more than a match for similar engines from other manufacturers performance wise, and with the additional bonus of being a very light engine, even when 'wet'.


Rover's (not Austen's) demise can be fairly squarely laid at BMW's door with a disjointed strategy - initially they bought it primarily to gain 2 key pieces of technology (4x4 and mass production techniques - both of which worked out quite well for BMW).  Then they decided to try to take a mass market manufacturer upmarket, but using mass market components - ie simply overpricing (a trick carried on by MG Rover, which eventually killed it - not that it was ever viable business, as with no money for new designs, and the Rover designs being taken by BMW before the sale (Mini, and the then new R30 which became the BMW 1 series))

So, no, the engine - which, granted, did need futher development to increase reliability (as Landrover managed to improve, though not entirely fix) - was not Rover's demise.


BMW aside, Rover's other big problem, which stemmed back from the BL days, was Londbridge, and the mentality of the workforce there.

The fact that the engine problems were never properly rectified says a lot about Rover. Having been at the sharp end of the motor trade in sales and repair for a lot of years I speak from experience and from a wallet severely dented by this awful engine. I estimate that for every K series equipped Rover I sold, 75% came back for a head gasket, that is about 300 out of 400 ( approx ) sold over a 10 year period. In many cases we gave the buyer their money back or an exchange and sent the cars to auction as they are never 100% right again, in fact they never were even when leaving the factory. Advertise a Rover ( petrol ) and the first question is " Has it got the Honda engine ? ) That again speaks volumes. We were Autocross racing at Croft a little while back and a competitor had put a K series in a car after being told how good they are, lasted 2 laps and guess what happened ? I fully agree that some people may have been fortunate and never suffered the problem during ownership, the fault tends to occur after a couple of years, well past Rovers ( at the time)12 months warranty which may explain their low figures.Also the statement last year from the new Chinese owners that they had spent considerable time " examining engine reliability issues " speaks volumes. I re-iterate, it doesn't matter how advanced something is, if it doesn't work its from the stone age.
We will have to agree to disagree on this one.

[TheBoy]

The K is particularly prone to poor servicing.  Neglect the coolant on a GM V6, the oil cooler fails.  Do the same on a K, and dead cert HG failure will come knocking at your door.

Warranty claims aren't just for 12 months, and most Rover owners will take their car to Rover dealer (when they still existed), and thus on the stats

As to the Honda (ie Had One Never Drive Another), had one, not a bad engine, but desperately uneconomical (my MV6 returns better economy) as you have to keep the revs above 4000 rpm else its gutless.  Also, suffered with duff ignition electronics - thats guaranteed to let you down at least once in the same way a GM V6 will screw you with a crank sensor failure.

Every engine has its weakness, Rover K and earlier LR K, its the HG - fortunately dead easy to change

Now the early Rover KV6 engines, now that did have issues around block design (mostly resolved on later ones, but its reputation already destroyed by then)