Reginald Nutsack's K-series Kapers - ROVER 623 MOT GUFF

[Grundig]

Some cars just fight you all the way - like a dumb animal that bites the vet who is trying to make that animal well again 

[Lankytim]

I think you should have a cup of tea and a nice sit down and persevere with it. I'm sure you'll crack it in the end, but then i'm not paying for it.

[Danblez]

If you let this beat you I will have to believe all the k haters and I really don't want to do that!

[TRW]

I wish you the best Mr B.

 

I replaced the HG (MLS kit) on our 216. After checking the liner heights and straightness of the head ensuring that everything was fine, measured with a shiny new straight edge everything went back together.

 

The fucker was still pressurising the coolant just as before. Ended up buying a MOT failure 1.4 25 to rape the engine for the Cabriolet. Its done 5K on that donor engine whilst the K-16 sits in the garage waiting for me to look at why it shitted. I recon its a crack in the head, What else could it be?

 

 

[Barry Cade]

Mr B.

 

Payen gasket is just under 30 quid from Partco. Re use the bolts, no issues with doing this. VVC isn't that complicated as long as you have a decent manual- if you can change a timing belt, you can sort out VVC.. Worth getting heads pressure tested if at all unsure..
 

 

Please listen peeps. MLS GASKETS ARE PISH.

[Geep]

I say go for the win. You could spend more than you need to fix it on a night out and end up with nothing more than a headache. At least you get a car after this.

[dollywobbler]

 

Worth getting heads pressure tested if at all unsure..

 

This seems sensible. If it's still pressurising after a new gasket, perhaps there's a small crack somewhere? Easily possible if it had been properly cooked at some point.

[Joey spud]

I feel your pain Mr B,head gaskets on these can be rights shits.

Years back when i was self employed i would dread these things getting booked in,oil / water mixing was usually ok but the hot ones could be right bastards

 

I have in the past gone the same route as you,swapped water pumps and rads even drilled holes in the stat etc.

The last one i had doing the pressurized hoses and boiling in the tank was cured by changing the head for another one off a scrapped car.

 

I never used to bother getting the heads skimmed or crack tested as their owners didn't want to spent the extra £60.

 

If its building up enough pressure to push coolant out of the H/G joint then i would say that where the problem is,if the heads flat,has a decent gasket and correctly torqued down then it shouldn't leak even under pressure.

All the ones i did were fitted with a ''payen type'' gasket which i think were a little more forgiving of low liners or head defects.

 

Don't let the thing beat you...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yeah i'm feeling more inclined to keep on with it today, the pressure test and flatness check by a pro seems like a good idea which i think i will employ. Theres an engine remanufacturer in Derby that i've seen, think i will take it along there and accept a mild bumming. A K-series boiling up is such a routine event that i dont think i could continue to call myself a mechanic if i was defeated by one. Must keep on!

[Rusty_Rocket]

What happens when the lower liner seals leak? Presumably just dump coolant into the sump?

[jbz2079]

I agree with don't let it beat you, I think everyone who has messed with mechanicals has suffered a problem like this, I certainly have.

I had an XUD 1.9 that had just started using water, pushing it out of the header tank and making the hoses rock hard.

I took the head off, found nothing horrid, just an old gasket so cleaned everything up, new bolts, gasket and back together, exactly the bloody same.

 

I ran it for a while with the filler cap loosened then got another head re-conned .

That cost nearly £300, as it had new valves, shimmed and checked for straightness and crack tested.

 

I changed the head with a new gasket, I also replaced the water pump, timing belt and the radiator.

While the head was off I checked the block with a straight edge, nothing amiss

I put it all back together and it ran ok but was still pushing water out the header tank!

 

I was by this time sick as a parrot with a rubber beak,  To crown if off one cold frosty night I started it at work to warm up and defrost and when I came back to if I could not find the car from the cloud of white steam coming out the exhaust, the smell of burning anti-freeze was in the air too.

 

I drained the coolant off and left it at work for a while, pondering on what to do next.

 

I bought another car that was an mot failure, but I was assured a great runner.

I swapped the engine to my car, using the new belt and water pump from the old motor.

 

This engine ran for a whole two weeks the started pushing it's coolant out the header tank and making the hoses rock hard.

 

By chance I was telling a friend about my plight and he said a bloke at his work had a 1.9 XUD from his BX that his daughter had crashed for him.

 

I went to see this guy and he assured me the engine had been fine and defiantly used no water.

The only problem was it was an old small port XUD and it had a few differences to the later ones.

 

I pulled the engine again and replaced it with this one, I had to change a few bits around on the engine and also had to find the older type air filter and hoses to suit this engine.

 

This one ran for two days and the water level light came on, on the way home one night.

I was nearly sick.

Turned out to be a leaky water pump!

Fortunately that was the only problem I ever had with that old engine, it covered thousands and thousands of miles on top of the 160,000 it had already done when I got it.

 

I don't think I would have the patience these days, but you never know until you are the owner of something like this.

[Inspector Morose]

If it's gotten under your skin that much then stay with it. I'd advise, if at all possible push it away into a corner for a short while and get on with something else. Usually the answer to problems like this usually come to you when you're not thinking about it, unlike lost keys when they more readily turn up when you are.

I only suggested sacking it off as it's not that important as to lose you money hand over fist while you rack your brains and spend more money on gaskets and things for a car that is not that rare in the first place when that money could be spent on others of your cringeworthy envious fleet of motors.

Then again, if it's money you can readily lose, forget what I just said. I CHALLENGE YOU K SERIES. BRING IT ON!

[catsinthewelder]

You could push it into the corner knowing that you either have to fix this or the Mazzer

[cort16]

Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again ? I work in IT, it's all I've got .

[phil_lihp]

Stop giving out trade secrets! I'd be out of a job if that got around.

 

I'd say fix it, you've got a history of resurrecting lost causes so it'd be a shame to let this one slip through.

[Ratdat]

You could push it into the canal knowing that you either have to fix this or the Mazzer

 

There... fixed that for you.

[meggersdog]

Whilst it's all apart have a look at that ball bearing/ jiggle pin in the inlet manifold.It's about 3mm in diameter and sits in a brass tube.The end of the tube is bent over to stop the ball bearing coming out.Open it up, tap the ball out and you  will find the tube full of brown gunk.

 

One of the MFG's I bought from the auction would bang and pop from the header tank yet the gauge never read hot.I took the manifold off removed the ball bearing (then lost it as it pinged out) cleaned out the brass tube and didn't have any trouble afterwards.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I have just bought a Payen non-MLS gasket for this so am comitted to having another crack at it!!!

[Bren]

You have nothing to lose.

 

Except your sanity.

[nigel bickle]

That long enough away? Wouldn't be for me -resentment would be bubbling at the second setback!

 

Top marks Boll. Look forward to the updates

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Well I went up the garage today and picked up the head, srtipped all the camshaft-related shite off it and now have it in the boot of my car ready for a trip to Spot Engineering in Derby this week.

[cort16]

James brown is waiting

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'm trying to imagine how I will feel when I have spent another £100 on pressure testing/machining, gaskets, loctite, coolant, oil etc and the damn thing is exactly the same, i know I have to be mentally prepared for that scenario.

[Skizzer]

i know I have to be mental for that scenario.

 

Fixed that for you

[Mr_Bo11ox]

 

right the head off this shitbox has now been pressure tested (ok) flatness checked (not ok), valves removed, skimmed by 0.25mm, valves replaced and chucked in a hot wash. Total cost 96 quid. It had better fuppin work this time!!!! Hopefully get it back together this weekend. SHAZAM!!

[Bren]

I really admire your persistence - i would have been out long before now.

 

Incidentally, I am surprised that nobody has come up with a design / patent for installing K series lumps into UK domestic hot water supplies - they are much simpler than a combi and probably the next best thing to "free" energy that scientists keep telling us exists.

[phil_lihp]

I really hope for your sake that it works properly this time, it must be one of the most mechanically sorted k-series out there after all this.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

BREAKING NEWS: New PAYEN BW750 single layer head gasket arrived today

[Barry Cade]

Jiggle valves oot.

 

This read will perfectly clear be.

 

http://www.vgkracing.com/rover-serie-k-motor.php

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Been up the garage tonight believe it or not for some MIDWEEK MEDDLING

 

 

Check out my rack, this is the 'cam rack' of the VVC engine, pretty odd how the inlet cam is in two halves innit. Not sure I understand myself why that is. Anyway I had to clean up the mating surfaces with 600 grit W+D.

 

 

Bought new seals for the VVC units off Rimming Brothers. Like a cheapskate I went for the aftermarket ones saving about 4 quid on the price of the pukka ones. They were an absolutely shite fit. Bet I end up changing them again which will be fun to do 'in situ' cos if you take the VVC actuator off the end of the cam a number of little bits fall out everywhere, ask me how I know Also check out the workplace cleanliness.

 

 

Got everything cleaned up after a fashion, sprayed shedlaods of WD on it then blasted it off with the air gun.

 

 

I'd seen K-series guru 'Dave Andrews' gobbing off elsewhere on the internet about the perils of using instant gasket gloop on the cam box so I splashed the BIG DOLLAR (£7) on a tube of the pukka Loctite 574, got it off ebay. Normally this stuff costs £20 which would be too much for me.

 

 

Eventually got it all together. The VVC system uperates smoothly by hand until you nip up the 4 bolts on each actuator at which point it seems to go rock solid which seems a bit worrying. I'm hoping with some oil pressure behind it it will work OK as I can't see anything that I could do to change that. Would have put the VVC belt on but I forgot to make a note of how you time it up properly so I'll do that at the weekend.

 

Go an all-dayer at the garage on Saturday so who knows, this thing might be squirting its coolant out the expansion bottle again by Saturday night!!!