Rover 75 KV6, HGF?

[Angrydicky]

Right.

 

My dad has a Rover 75 Connoisseur SE Auto, 2000 on a W, with a 2.0 KV6 engine. It's been generally reliable, but ever since he's had owned it it's had two coolant leaks - one from the thermostat housing, which caused the coolant to collect in the 'V' of the engine, and a slight leak from the header tank cap, mainly on longer journeys.

 

Anyway, he's just spent several days stripping all the fuel injection, manifolds etc off to replace the 'stat housing. It's all back together now, and there's only one problem - coolant is being forced out of the header tank at high pressure, after even short runs. He's already replaced the cap (new) and a secondhand tank, no difference. He has told me the coolant smells of exhaust, so I'm guessing one or both of the headgaskets have gone? Or could it be something simpler? The car overheated on the M11 recently, after topping up the coolant it seemed ok. Looking through the history the previous owners spent £800 having the cooling fans replaced in 2009, so perhaps the car has a history of overheating?

 

Anyway, he's ordered some K seal, which he's going to try before resorting to the scrapyard. He does like the car, it drives superbly, runs quietly and on all 6 cylinders, is very comfortable and has all the toys, so he doesn't really want to scrap it if at all possible. Having said that it only cost £500, so he hasn't done badly even if it does come to that.

 

Any advice gratefully received!

 

Rich.

[RichardMoss]

Like all K series engines, these need to be bled properly to get the air out.

 

The KV6 is the world's best advert for the T-series (NASP and turbo )

[dollywobbler]

Like all K series engines, these need to be bled properly to get the air out.

 

 

That would be my first thought as well. Head gaskets don't tend to suddenly fail quite so dramatically. Just hope it hasn't got too hot...

[Angrydicky]

Surely the coolant wouldn't smell of exhaust if the system hadn't been bled properly though? He tells me it has been bled properly, but there's none of the usual signs of head gasket failure - no mayo in the oil, no clouds of white smoke from the exhaust - it's just that the cooling system appears to be being pressurised by the exhaust.

[dollywobbler]

You don't always get all of the symptoms - it depends where the gasket has failed. Is the heater working?

[Morgan84]

Faulty thermostat or airlock ? High pressurisation in the cooling system could well be a sign of a failed gasket as previously said; how long has it been pressurising for ?

[Angrydicky]

It's had the odd small leak for a while now but after the leaky thermostat/housing was replaced the pressure in the header tank suddenly got a whole lot worse.

 

My dad bought some K-Seal off Ebay and popped it in the car, after blasting around for a bit the leak from the header tank seems to have stopped, touch wood. He's going to take it for a long blast up some A roads tomorrow to give it a better test. He tells me the heater is now working much better than it ever has before, which is interesting.

 

Current thoughts are to run it around until it expires again and then either weigh it in or palm it off to webuyanycar. I don't suppose the K-Seal is a permanent fix, but who knows.

 

Thanks for the advice!

[Angrydicky]

It's had the odd small leak for a while now but after the leaky thermostat/housing was replaced the pressure in the header tank suddenly got a whole lot worse.

 

My dad bought some K-Seal off Ebay and popped it in the car, after blasting around for a bit the leak from the header tank seems to have stopped, touch wood. He's going to take it for a long blast up some A roads tomorrow to give it a better test. He tells me the heater is now working much better than it ever has before, which is interesting.

 

Current thoughts are to run it around until it expires again and then either weigh it in or palm it off to webuyanycar. I don't suppose the K-Seal is a permanent fix, but who knows.

 

Thanks for the advice!