220SLi: Roverdue Maintenance

[phil_lihp]

It's been 6 weeks of staggering progress on this.  Not.  Due to a financially distressing March I couldn't afford to renew the tax on it so it's been languishing in its damp lockup since the end of February.  

 

I finally went and visited it yesterday.  First stop was the local scrappies for a new battery, the long break had finally killed off the undersized old one completely so I binned it and coughed up £12 for a much bigger, newer-looking one which they tested and confirmed working plus they gave a 7 day promise to swap it with another one if it didn't work.

 

No need for that though, my goodness but a bigger fully-charged battery doesn't half make a difference, I've never heard the engine spin over so fast and it started instantly even after being untouched for weeks.  

 

I treated it to some new spark plugs and absolutely did NOT spend a further hour trying to work out why it was suddenly running like crap.  I definitely didn't swap the old plugs back, clean the HT leads with GT85 and generally despair as it was fine when I put it away.  Did you know cars run better when they're not running on petrol vapours?  I do.  A big glug of premium unleaded and it purrs.  Have a terrible video.

 

 

My next job is to get the tracking done as since the new tyres were put on it handles like a shopping trolley, then I need to sort out the bodywork.  

 

Now I know this will never, ever be concours but I'd settle for 'not a complete mess' or even 'OK from 10 feet away'.  My plan is to rub down the brush-primered patches I did a couple of months ago (some surface rust is breaking through again even though the primer is supposedly rust-stopper laden and was laid on thick over rust-eater and I rubbed the worst off with sandpaper) and then I'll spray paint them - suitable rattle can paint has been ordered.  

 

However, how will I stop it breaking through again?  I assume I need to rub it back more aggressively, this is new to me so would a wire wheel on a power drill do the job?  Presumably then spray-primer and then paint on top should tidy it up.

 

Alas, it remains SORNED and therefore interred in the garage as, unusually for me, I've mislaid the V5 and I'll be damned if I'll pay £25 for another one until I've exhausted all possible options for where it might be.  I'm running out of ideas there though, I have a nasty suspicion I might have left it in the brown envelope and accidentally chucked it out during a paperwork clearout over christmas.  Bugger.

[phil_lihp]

Well, I've made good use of the sunny weather today.

 

 

I've been getting rather fed up of the patches of grey primer all over the 220, it looked rubbish and didn't achieve a great deal.  

 

So after 5 hours of work...

 

 

 

 

This is the end result.

 

 

 

 

 

That wheelarch was the main issue as its the one that's been replaced and brush-painted so I'm glad to see it at least a little bit presentable at last.  

 

Close up, it's not a great job, mostly because of the white.  The colour doesn't match, although it's supposed to, and there are runs aplenty, both of which I did expect.  I found it very hard to use, it came out of the can at a very high rate and was difficult to control.  Fortunately the grey was entirely different, an excellent colour match and much easier to control.

 

I decided to go with a thick coating of paint and not worry too much about runs as I can then rub it down to smooth it off. 

 

I'm fairly happy with the results to be honest given that I am a complete muppet when it comes to spray paint and I had neither the time, tools nor inclination for full bare-metal prep on the affected areas.  I have loads of paint left so I can tidy up and reapply as and when it's needed but at least now the car doesn't look utterly terrible - in fact from a few feet away it looks almost tidy.

 

In a week or two I'll subject the whole car to a properly thorough wash, t-cut and wax which ought to help blend the repairs in a little and I'll try and source a replacement hubcap, then it ought to look semi-presentable, which is all I will ever want of it.

 

Incidentally, it's the little things which make the difference.  After an infuriating time fighting with the world's worst masking tape which just constantly tore and came apart on the roll, I swapped to another one I'd bought which was 100x better and made the whole job so much less of a pain, much to the approval of my quality control supervisor.

 

 

"If you're not going to use this, can I have it?"

[Rusty_Rocket]

That looks great

[Vince70]

Did you repaint the quality control supervisor while you were at it...

He looks a perfect colour match in rover grey..

[phil_lihp]

Tempting.  Very, very tempting.  Luckily he didn't show up until I was done, otherwise I'd be trying to explain a two-tone cat to my landlady.  Not that he doesn't deserve it, he's just a constant source of irritation usually.  

 

Note: Before I get sent anthrax in the post from a concerned cat owner, I should probably point out that I like animals, would never spray-paint a cat and nor should you.  Other less annoying pets are available.

[overrun]

 

 

You had a lucky escape.

 

The Offending Wheel by Tayne, on Flickr

 

 

Indeed.

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Smashing work there phil_lips. The Rover is looking better than ever!!! Its making me want to chuck jn a cheeky one on that 420 tourer on Ebay

[phil_lihp]

You absolutely should.  There's not a good reason not to.  It's Nightfire Red too, isn't it?  The best colour they came in.

[overrun]

Lovin the paint work.

 

Is the bottom half on your R8, Hurricane Grey?

[phil_lihp]

It's Tempest Grey and White Diamond apparently.  Although the white is not the same shade as the car's paintwork, but that might just mean a good session with the t-cut is needed.

[Lord Sterling]

Seriously, I'm getting Rover withdrawl symptoms here and it isn't helping, certainly looking at this thread again. I really need a Rover in my life again.

 

Good work on the car Ph_il_leeehp, at this rate, this Rover is probably going to end up better than new.

[phil_lihp]

Thanks for the kind words chaps, though I'm afraid LS it will never, ever look like new - not under my ownership anyway, not unless the factory finish was paint runs, mismatch patches and welding repairs!  I'll be perfectly content with a decent coating of paint and a minimum amount of rust.

[Split_Pin]

Good stuff there, I find rattle canning hugely satisfying, regardless of end result.

 

I do like these Rovers particularly the dash which looks like a proper effort and nicely contoured.

[phil_lihp]

Remember this car?  I do, it's sat on my drive sharing light duties with the turquoise turbo brick.  

 

 

Shortly after my last update above, I sold it to RobT.  It then landed on Essexman's driveway a few months later, went to the Scottish highlands with him and then got traded back to me in exchange for a Mk4 Escort with a loud exhaust.

 

Since then, I've just been using it with very little of interest to note.  Since the last update, it's got dirtier, rustier and gathered a few more miles but otherwise has just kept on being fantastic.  In fact, the most interesting thing to happen was a very minor mileage milestone:

 

 

That's how much the car has done, mind.  The engine, if I'm right, will be nearer 200,000 miles by now as it already had 120,000ish on it when Mr_Bo11ox installed it over 70,000 miles ago.

 

It is now, however, starting to need a bit more TLC to keep it going.  The paintwork repairs I did last year were a very quick, rough attempt to tidy it up and as such they did the job for a while but every area I painted has now broken out in fresh rust.  It needs doing properly, back to bare metal, so that's a fairly pressing job for the list before holes start appearing.  I have an old Dremel multi which, with some sanding attachments, should do the job nicely.  I also need to try and find the right white paint, the stuff I used last time was rubbish quality and a completely different shade of white to the car.  

 

Today, however, perhaps as a celebration of its mileage achievement, a new issue arose.  I started it up for the first time in a week earlier and it ran badly, misfiring on at least one cylinder.  It didn't stall or produce any obvious smoke but sounded rough.  I left it idling for a couple of minutes and it gradually settled down to a smoother idle but I have recently been noticing a very slight lumpiness at times.  It still goes like stink and starts instantly but hasn't felt quite right for the last few weeks.  The spark plugs are quite recent and the plug leads look fine so I'm thinking the engine's mileage might be catching up with it - it's the same symptoms as I've seen before in a Fiesta Zetec with worn valves where oil would accumulate in the cylinder when sat for a few days, causing a misfire on one cylinder until it burnt off.  I will check this theory with a check of the state of the plugs though, if I'm right I'm expecting to find at least one a bit oily.  

 

In addition to this, the head gasket oil leak is not getting any better and the exhaust manifold is blowing ever more loudly so combined with the tatty paintwork it's starting to become a bit of a shed.  It deserves better.

 

This means that in a few weeks when I move to a new house with a garage, I'm intending to pull it off the road for a while and attempt something ambitious (at least for me).  It's head is coming off.  I'm planning to strip it down, get the head skimmed (if it needs it) and the valves/guides/seals done and put it all back together with a new head gasket, timing belt and any other seals it might need.  That, combined with the paintwork rejuvenation, should keep me occupied for a while.  Oh, and I still need to replace the broken clock and driver's door lock solenoid too.  

 

Anyone care to weigh in with advice, particularly suggestions on the right gasket to go for?  There's a few options to choose from and I've seen various opinions (Klinger seems to be recommended most and I think that's what Bo11ox fitted last time) but I'd appreciate any guidance as this is new territory for me.  The main thing I want to achieve, other than a healthy engine, is oil tightness.  It doesn't use any coolant at all since I had the pump and radiator done last year so I'm fairly sure it's in otherwise reasonable health.

 

Watch this space...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Wow exciting!!! I did fit an all-steel "kilnger' gasket last time but I dont think I would do that again, I'd be looking for a gasket with a rubber bead cos I reckon after reflection thats bound to have more chance of sealing that damn oil way. Or if I did fit a steel one, I'd add a rubber bead of my own round the oilway with some carefully-applied Hermetite or something on both sides of the gasket then allow it to dry before fitting the gasket.

 

145,000 is amazing innit, It only had about 65k on or something when I got it.

[phil_lihp]

It's done alright, hasn't it? No breakdowns that I know of since you sold it either (unless you count a flat battery and me running it out of fuel).

 

There's also an increasingly noticeable drivetrain shunt to investigate. Not sure what that would be; driveshafts maybe?

 

I've heard of Payen gaskets being a good choice, time to peruse the Rover forums for suggestions as well, there's plenty of talk on there about T-series oil leaks from times past.

[phil_lihp]

Right then, not time for the big mending session to start yet but there is unexpected work to be done; for the first time, the 220SLi is poorly.  

 

I haven't been using it much lately but I've been noticing for a couple of months that when starting from cold it's just a little bit hesitant, just not quite 'right' but nothing I've really worried about.  However, very quickly over the last week this has deteriorated to a lumpy misfire from cold for about 2-3 minutes.  If revved, it sounds fairly OK but the idle is unsteady and it bogs down on acceleration, then once it's got to a certain point it suddenly runs more or less fine.

 

I did take a video tonight but it's too big to upload off the phone, I'll try again tomorrow.  My first thought from some research online was the dizzy cap and rotor arm - I've never touched either of them.  Tonight I took the cap off and it was a bit mucky but not terrible, I've cleaned the contacts on the cap and arm with sandpaper, then gave the whole lot a good cleanup with some brake cleaner so it's squeaky clean but it's made no difference at all.  I will get these changed anyway at some point as they're past their best.

 

Now I know the spark plugs aren't that old, the oil is reasonably clean as Essexman changed it a few months ago and it's on the midway mark on the dipstick, the plug leads *look* absolutely fine and it has had some decent long-ish runs lately together with a bit of an italian tuneup but if anything that seems to have made things worse.

 

My concern is that the engine, now on 200,000 miles or so, might be showing signs of wear.  It doesn't smoke (that I can see, anyway) but there is some indication on some forums I've seen that the T-Series is prone to sticking exhaust valves which can cause this sort of thing.

 

Other than throwing a complete new set of spark plugs, HT leads, rotor arm and cap at it, what else might be worth looking at?  I have my doubts about any of the ignition parts being at fault because it seems to be dependent on the engine temperature and I'd have thought if any of these bits were to blame it would affect it all the time.

 

This is outside my limited experience and knowledge so if anyone has any suggestions on where to start with the troubleshooting before just replacing parts ad hoc, I'd be much obliged.

[Honey Badger]

Do they have a cold start valve on the throttle body. Could be worth looking at.

[mrbenn]

Any coolant loss?

 

Might be worth pulling the plugs to check their current state.

[phil_lihp]

No coolant loss, plugs will come out tonight if I get time, ran out of daylight last night.

 

Cold start valve: maybe, can give it a cleanup but not sure how else to diagnose it.  To be honest, to my untrained ear it sounds like it's running on 3 rather than over/under-fueling but I have been wrong before.

[oldcars]

Do these have a vacuum advance? Could be perished pipe conections, happened on the reliant.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

they dont have a vacuum advance as such although there is a vacuum pipe going to the ECU.

 

Pulling the plugs sounds like a good idea to me, plus maybe cadging a compression tester and giving that a whirl, see what that tells you. Also start it up from cold when its dark and inspect all the HT ignition bits for escaping sparks. I fitted new HT leads when i had it but they must have done a lot of miles now so might be getting tired

[phil_lihp]

Do they have a cold start valve on the throttle body. Could be worth looking at.

 

I think you might be on the money here, I went out to it tonight to pull the plugs, got as far as taking the leads off and then found that the spark plug wrench I need is missing, presumably still at my parents where I used it last.  I put the leads back on, started it up...and it ran perfectly!  For about 30 seconds, then settled to a lumpy idle again.  I left it for 5 minutes to warm up and when I came back out it was idling smoothly again.  

 

I'll also take back my fears about engine wear, there's not even a slight puff of smoke at any point and no rattles at all from the engine, in fact it sounds lovely and smooth once it's warmed up.

 

I went out for a test drive and treated it to £20 of BP Ultimate, then had a little sunset hoon and remembered why I like this car so much, it steers and rides brilliantly, goes like stink but at the same time is just so comfortable.  This all confirmed that it's running absolutely perfectly once warm so it's just a cold start issue, not a particularly pressing one either so I'll get to it when I have time but for now I'll live with it, otherwise it's pretty much as good as ever.

 

The leads look perfect but if they're that old then that's another thing for the list when I have some spare readies for it.  They're nice Bosch ones so it'll get the same again when I do.  

[twosmoke300]

Nice Bosch !

Does

Not

Compute

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yeah I remember now, I bought some cheap ones off ebay but they were total bollocks so I binned them and got some Bosch ones that fitted properly.

[Noel Tidybeard]

they dont have a vacuum advance as such although there is a vacuum pipe going to the ECU.

 

check it aint full of oil- because rover

[Tetleysmooth]

Does it have a coolant temperature sensor?

[phil_lihp]

It does but I think it's probably OK - when I left it ticking over for 10 minutes the fans cut in at the right point and it warms up nicely without getting too hot.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Lots of R8 love going on at the minute!

[phil_lihp]

Right then, who's for a progress update?

 

Since it came back from a dirty month in south Wales (seriously, what's with the air quality?  The car was covered in black dust when it came back) the 220SLi has mostly been parked at the side of the road doing nothing and receiving no maintenance or attention whatsoever.  Despite this highly proactive approach, rough running continues to occur when it's started from cold although it's fairly erratic and clears up quickly.  It also still looked dirty and leaked oil.  Bewildered, I wondered if perhaps actually doing some work on it might produce more impressive results.

 

First up, a new MOT.  Oh dear... we've been here before and it's had a busy year with 3 different shiters but despite that, it gained a fresh certificate with only a large patch on the N/S sill required. Expensive, but it's sorted.  Other crusty bits of sill are still available.

 

Flushed with success, I took advantage of a fine Saturday morning to tackle a few jobs. 

 

 

First up, cam cover gaskets.  There's a not insubstantial amount of oil escaping from both of them and I discovered the back cam cover bolts were not all tight, odd but probably explains the state of the engine bay.

 

Everything looked in good order underneath, I'm no expert but this all looked nice and clean with no major wear.

 

 

 

 

 

Two new and significantly more malleable rubber gaskets went on after lots of cleaning, scraping and wiping to remove oil and blue stringy instant gasket remains.  Look at that!  Clean!  Ish.

 

 

 

A new distributor cap went on, new spark plugs went in and the rotor arm got a thorough scrubbing with wire wool as the new one I'd bought didn't fit.  I put the old plugs in 2 years ago and actually they still looked fine, nice even colouring with no oily residue, suggesting that the engine is still basically in fine health.

 

 

End result?  Still runs lumpy but no sign of any oil from the cam covers at all.  When it warmed up it did run lovely and smooth though so we'll call that a 75% pass rate.  I have a set of NOS Motorcraft HT leads which I picked up cheap on EBay so they'll go on tomorrow as I didn't have them at home this morning.  I reckon Mr Bo11ox's diagnosis is right, should find out tomorrow.

 

The fan belt started shrieking a few days ago and no amount of WD40 would shut it up for more than a few seconds so a quick stop at the local GSF furnished me with a new one to go on when I get time.

 

Finally, to celebrate this whirlwind of activity, I treated it to a blast at the local jetwash and, as the sun went down, took it for a drive on one of my favourite local roads, which has recently gained a new feature and seemed to be a good place for a photoshoot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's still crusty metal to resolve, the N/S wheel arch has holes and there's shabby bits on both sides but nothing too horrific.  That won't be my job though, I'll leave that to whoever takes it on afterwards as I just don't have the time to put to it.  There's also the perpetual head gasket oil leak and a noticeable bit of drivetrain shunt which might be a soggy engine mount but there's nothing to stop it being used.

 

Despite its advancing years and 147,000 miles (must be over 200,000 now for the 820-sourced engine Mr B put in it) it's still a brilliant car to drive, handles brilliantly, mega comfortable and a constantly amusing turn of speed.  I will miss it when it goes.