Rover 75: Its life in your hands

[Skizzer]

Right, it's decision time for the ex-Wuvvum Rover 75.  I've been wrestling with my conscience for a while on this, and now I'm asking for your help.

 

Rover 75 by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

It's an early-ish (so Cowley built) 2.0 KV6 in middling Club spec.  I've never seen another this colour (it's a sort of pond sludge green).

1. The MOT is (over-) due.  Last time it had advisories on the brake pipes, which won't have got any better after a year out in the epic rain.
2. It needs another ABS sensor, which means the old one will need drilling out of the hub, a job I don't have time to take on (and can't get stuck with a three-wheeled car in the drive).  
3. It's massively overdue a cambelt, which is a seven hour engine-out job.
4. It has chosen this week to suffer total electrical shutdown, for reasons which so far elude me.
5. The rear screen still leaks.  This may not be the only leak.
6. It's pretty scruffy - LOTS of old giffer dings and scratches, some remaining mould stains inside from the water leak issues, door cards rattly from repeated removal to fix jammed door handle mechanisms.
7. You can get a nice one of these for about £300, so it's worth the square root of f*** all and will be a complete pain to sell.
8. I don't need the car any more and do need the space, as the SD1 is due to come home next week.

But scrapping the 75 will feel exactly like taking a faithful, loving but arthritic labrador out the back and shooting it.

 

CharityCar will donate the bridge money to charity, which might ease my conscience a bit.

 

Thoughts?

[ShiteRider]

As you say it's worth nowt, so the slow boat to china beckons.

Charity car sounds like a good plan.

[RedSparrow]

It's a real shame (and somehow hard to believe for a car like this) but yeah it's probably worthless.

I hope some mentally ill shiter takes it off you.

[barefoot]

 

I hope some mentally ill shiter takes it off you.

 

Although I am mentally ill, I don't want this car.

[Ratdat]

They can't all live forever. To the bridge!

[fordperv]

Why not offer it for bridge Money with the faults, I'm sure someone with mental health problems will buy it

[Tetleysmooth]

Engine out to do a cambelt

 

Drilling out an abs sensor

 

plus a zillion other faults.

 

Cartakeback I reckon

[The Moog]

Offer it here first for a set time then bridge it.

[Junkman]

Bridging it for charity is probably a good idea, depending on which neo-fascist eugenist cause it benefits.

Then adopt a retired greyhound for your conscience.

[CortinaDave]

Don't assume you'll need to drill the ABS sensor, mine came out no problem on the ZT.

 

I'd say this looks a cartakeback case though, there's still gazillions of them left and the cam belt is a proper bastard.

 

That allied to some major electrical failure would write it off if it was mine.

 

I love these, but Sometimes it's just not worth it.

 

You could always offer it for bridge money on the 75 and ZT club forum ?

[saucedoctor]

Hate to say this about a Rover, but I'd bridge it.

[phil_lihp]

It's not a rare or valuable car and it sounds like it's had a full working life so yes, the bridge beckons!

[Ratdat]

Any car that needs the engine out to replace a service item probably needs to be bridged anyway. What a hopeless bit of design work.

 

Personally, I'd find a big field, some concrete blocks, pallets and scaffold boards and do some stunts in it first. Yeehaa!

[RobT]

I can't bear to bridge things that I've grown attached to, so I'd go for the above suggestion about offering on the 75 forum first.  If the next bloke ends up bridging it soon after atleast you weren't the one to do the deed!

[Lankytim]

Break then bridge? Maximise the profit innit. Fuck charity too, keep the dough yourself.

[Negative Creep]

Surely at this price you wouldn't bother doing a cambelt and just take a chance? That said, electrical failure does sound like a one way ticket

[barefoot]

Any car that needs the engine out to replace a service item probably needs to be bridged anyway. What a hopeless bit of design work.

 

 

I think a Ferrari 308 needs it's engine removing for a major service every 3,000 miles.

Hopeless design.

[cort16]

If you're not bothered about the money can you denote it to a college or school for their mechanics course or something? If you're looking for stuff to practice fixing then I imagine these things are right up your street.

[messerschmitt owner]

take the saleable parts off and scrap it.

[Ratdat]

I think a Ferrari 308 needs it's engine removing for a major service every 3,000 miles.

Hopeless design.

 

Never knew that but it's the kind of thing I'd expect with a Ferrari. 

[Junkman]

Entirely btw, the engine does not have to come out to change the cam belts. The job isn't difficult, just laborious.

Also, the engine of a Ferrari 308 doesn't have to come out for a service and the service interval is 10.000 km, not 3.000 miles.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Take it to the bridge!!! Sounds like 100X more bother than its worth.

[cort16]

All the front wheel drive v6 cars I've encountered have been a right pig to work on. On my 166 the rear cylinder head, rocker cover, sparks plugs, coil packs etc only existed in theory as I never did see them during my ownership experience. 

 

I think you needed to be Mr Tickle to change the rear spark plugs.

 

[barefoot]

 

Also, the engine of a Ferrari 308 doesn't have to come out for a service and the service interval is 10.000 km, not 3.000 miles.

 

I stand corrected, but when I went to look at one in Graypaul, they told me that the service interval was 1,500 miles

and that a major service at 3,000 involved engine out and repainting the sills.

The bastard, I bet he thought I couldn't afford one and was just trying to fob me off.

[Richard]

Somebody has selected the "I'll take it away" option. Problem solved.

[Skizzer]

^ Yes - but WHO?? Fess up, you tease.

 

I stand corrected about the engine coming out for the cam belt, but apparently it does still take seven hours. I have been playing Russian roulette with it, but can feel the odds worsening each journey in proportion with the distance from home, the number of passengers and the badness of the weather.

 

No votes at all for spend'n'save, then? You're a heartless lot

[carlo]

I had one of these for a few weeks and the potential costs frightened me to death even with nothing wrong with it.

 

Still remember that lovely suspension though.

[Station]

Spent about 12 hours in December replacing (removing) a leaking oil 'warmer' and blanking the in out pipe with a loop. Horrible. Sounds like too much hassle, I'd just scrap it or offer it someone on MGRover for weigh in value for a day.

[eddyramrod]

Donation to a convenient school or college's tech dept sounds like a damn good idea to me.  I'm sure they would be positively delighted to tow it away for you.  Good deed done for the week in that case.

[dollywobbler]

 

^ Yes - but WHO?? Fess up, you tease.

 

I stand corrected about the engine coming out for the cam belt, but apparently it does still take seven hours. I have been playing Russian roulette with it, but can feel the odds worsening each journey in proportion with the distance from home, the number of passengers and the badness of the weather.

 

No votes at all for spend'n'save, then? You're a heartless lot

 

The problem is, you can get a better one by just buying a different one. A Rover 75 is a bit of a complex nightmare as a fixer-upper. Cambelt isn't necessarily that bad if the one at the other end was replaced last time. If they all need doing, then it is ballache city. Some specialists do indeed remove the engine as it makes life a lot easier!

 

General electrics fault isn't the age old blocked-drains-fry-ECU is it?