Sold Rob's Rover 75 - now carlo's

[Shep Shepherd]

The older the Rover 75 gets, the more appealing it becomes

[purplebargeken]

Mine is best. It just is so there.

[Split_Pin]

The earlier and further away from 'Project Drive' the better, so I have read anyway.

[Bren]

I'd be frightened to put my foot down in a 1.8 turbo in case the bonnet did an impression of an icelandic geyser.

 

1.8 + turbo = stupid idea.

 

K series needs no encouragement to shit itself even without a turbo screaming at it.

[purplebargeken]

Everyone should try a R75 at least once in their lives. 

[Hendry]

Not strictly a 75 but a schoolmates dad bought a brand new ZT in 2004 on a 54 plate, 2.5 V6 190+ in black with black leather and (I think) 18" factory multispoke alloys, union jack badge delete option, all the toys, a stunning car, IIRC he shat it when Rover went bust 6months later so waited till the MG was a year old and traded it in for a brand new 55plate 520D BMW and lost a 3rd world countrys debt on it.

 

What always put me off 75s was valeting a 54 plate facelift when I worked at Arnie Clark in 2009, was a well kept low miles FSH 2.0 CDTI 135 in firefrost red, cant remember the spec, it was decent though, half leather and climate control, auto dim interior mirror, possibly a "Contemporary" spec, anyway it was only 4.5 years old andalready rusting on the rear arches.

[skattrd]

Thanks looks nice Rob.

The abs thing may be split rings, cheap and easy to replace as long as it isn't part of the hub.

[purplebargeken]

Mate of mine bought a brand new 75 diesel tourer with all of the toys fitted. He had it for about 2 years then traded it in against a Pious. He lost a huge amount - he wouldn't even tell em how much. Silly sod should have kept it. I also believe it was the 'Rover is Over' syndrome that triggered his journey to the dark side. He now has an 18 month old 1.5 dizzler Clio or something.

[purplebargeken]

That is a nice looking car by the way Rob. Very nice actually. Good purchase.

[Roverageous]

I once knew* a bloke who was utterly obsessed with Rovers - in particular the Rover 75. He was 10 when the Rover 75 was launched and remembers gawping at the forecourt of the local Rover dealer (Welptons, Hull) which looked like it had been filled with rows of Jaguars in September 1999. He was so obsessed that he spent 48 hours a day reading Aronline throughout most of his teenhood, and between learning to drive and turning 26, he owned 5 of the things. Oh no, wait, that's me.

 

I'm now on my 6th 75 in 9 in years so I thought I would chime in.

 

Mr RobT, Sir. That is a wonderful looking car. Incidentally my previous 75 was also a 2.0v6 and the numberplate was X987 RJX - so looks like they were from a similar part of the world. I notice you've said you're having ABS issues... does it kick in suddenly at low speeds? If so that's likely to be a wheel bearing on the way out somewhere. The ABS system itself doesn't generally go wrong. It could be the reluctor rings (in which case you need to change the whole unit inc. wheel bearing anyway).

 

As for engines; the diesel is the safe* bet. The 75 I'm smoking around in at the moment has 280,000 on the clock so naturally I've just had it remapped to see if I can kill it a bit quicker. If anyone does buy a 75 diesel on here it will either be in 114bhp, or 131bhp form. The latter is acceptable for motorway cruising, but the former is not suitable for anything. The best thing to do is search out a local T4 operator (Rover's proprietary diagnostic system - you can find a map of where these gents are on a certain Rover 75 / MG ZT owners' club) who will be able to give you 160 horses - it doesn't matter whether you're coming from 114 or 131.

 

The V6 engines probably suit the car best and have a good reliability record. There are people who swear blind that they're as fragile as the 1.8K, but they are not. They have their own issues though, namely thermostats tend to fail.. The (plastic!) housings either crack or the things stick open. A bit of a pig to change but not too bad - my 2.0 V6 had a stuck open thermostat when I got it, and by crossing the palm of my mechanic with £100 it was magically fixed. The other thing is rattly inlet manifolds. They have a stupid plastic variable inlet system which fails / becomes loose and flaps about. You can either put up with this (AFAIK it can't cause any damage, but you'll perhaps lose a few BHP and MPGs), bash the insides of the inlet manifold out, and do without, or spend £800 on a new manifold. Mine was starting to rattle (it sounds a bit like tappet rattle - an if a V6 is sounding tappety, it's likely to be this rather than actual tappets) but I put up with it - you couldn't hear it over 3000rpm anyway. The other thing is the variable inlet motors (VIS motors) tend to fail resulting in a bit of power loss, and MPG loss - these can be reconditioned by return of post by people on aforementioned owners club for reasonable money - or you can live with it. The MPGs you'll get from either V6 are not exactly brilliant. 40 miles to a tenner was normal for my V6 round the doors.

 

The 1.8 K series has the usual foibles in N/A and turbo form. I won't bother talking about them too much. A friend of mine (and actual friend) had a K series that did 160,000 miles on its original gasket and it still hadn't gone when he sold the car. But in my experience he is very much the exception. I have no doubt that the gaskets are fragile, but I don't think they just pop out of free will. On every car I've had that has suffered the OMGHGF there have been circumstances that have lead to it. I wouldn't have another (the n/a 1.8 doesn't really suit the car as you have to work it hard, and I wouldn't trust a 1.8 turbo).

 

This is very important : The temperature gauge on all 75s (and Rovers, in fact) is so heavily damped that by the time it moves upwards from the middle point on the gauge your engine / headgasket will be OMGTOAST. The needle remains at the 9'o'clock position from 75'c through to 112'c. There is a diagnostic mode that you can enable on the mileage display on the dashboard which will display the actual water temp in celcius. This is very worth doing if your car is new to you, and you want to make sure that the temperature is okay before doing anything else. Instructions for this can be found here : http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=365420

 

Clutch hydraulics are known to be a weak point. Master and slave cylinders do pop. The slave is inside the gearbox housing (and made of crappy plastic) so is also a pig to change. Places will try and charge £1000 for a clutch (inc master & slave cylinder change), but there are very knowledgeable people dotted around the country (who will also travel and do the job on your drive) and do the whole job with up-rated parts (metal cylinders) for less than £600. Having said that all my 75s have been manual and I've never had to do a clutch on any of mine. The DO go though. Another glimmer of hope in this respect is that my current 75 did 225,000 miles on its original clutch & hydraulics. I suspect if they're treated well they last, but as most owners will be traditional giffer-clutchers there's not much hope unless it's already been done.

 

Front springs are known to let go and also take your front tyre(s) with them. Rover did implement a spring guard later on in the 75's production life, but unfortunately this was sourced from the Chocolate Teapot Company Ltd. You just need to inspect and replace if they're looking dodgy - again none of mine have ever gone and I've never had to replace any either. Rear springs also like to crack almost right at the bottom. You probably won't notice though and plenty pass MOTs with them like that - just need replacing as and when.

 

As for rust 75s and ZTs are known to be very rust resistant. The only cars I've seen with wheel arch rust have been repaired after an accident. Certainly none of mine have had any sign of corrosion around the rear arches. What owners are finding is that rust is beginning to attack early cars (15 years on...) around the rear jacking points on the sills. It seems that body shops tend to charge about £150 a side to chop this out and sort it out. Mine are starting to go, but will do a couple of MOTs yet before causing any problems. Again a few owners are finding their cars failing MOTs on the rear arms rusting / having holes in. Funnily enough this seems to be affecting younger cars rather than older ones. I wonder if MG-R used a cheaper component later on in the car's life.

 

One last point : Interior trim. It's actually generally quite hardy and it does clean up well. The kick panels by all doors will work loose and you or your passengers will kick them off. They are held on with BMW clips. You can buy fir tree clips from ebay that are a better fit and seem to hold everything in place nicely. Later plastic dashboards can rattle - they don't look as good as the earlier real wood ones anyway. I'd always swap the plastic out for wood - usually available on ebay. Rattles can be caused by the body control unit (behind the glovebox) but if you're feeling adventurous a bit of foam around it will sort that, and again door pins rattle against the door cards. This can be fixed with a McDonalds straw. Door cards can rattle but it's usually down to damaged clips. If you've got a rattly one, take door card off, refresh all clips, refit. Sorted.

 

Sorry for the long winded post, but it does take care of a few things owners should be aware of. But it's worth it - especially when your interior looks like this:

 

[Split_Pin]

Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing your knowledge of the 75. There are more and more members on here that now own one and will find it useful.

[Joshua_090]

I find myself coveting your Rover. I was looking at getting a ZT a while back, but that interior looks very lush.

[Jim Bell]

Great post and much appreciated:

 

All the Rover 75 things.

[RobT]

Great post and much appreciated:

 

+1,000!  Thanks Mr Roverageous for all the info.

 

So the ABS light can't be ignored then.  It's off for the first few minutes but then comes on for the rest of the time you're driving.  There was an advisory on front brake pads at the MoT so if they are very low I'll get them done, and also get the garage to check the ABS situation out.

 

I do get the odd random rattle from the engine, and on start up it sounds a bit tappety, but if it is the inlet manifold issue I'll just deal with it.

[Roverageous]

+1,000!  Thanks Mr Roverageous for all the info.

 

So the ABS light can't be ignored then.  It's off for the first few minutes but then comes on for the rest of the time you're driving.  There was an advisory on front brake pads at the MoT so if they are very low I'll get them done, and also get the garage to check the ABS situation out.

 

I do get the odd random rattle from the engine, and on start up it sounds a bit tappety, but if it is the inlet manifold issue I'll just deal with it.

No problem at all!

 

Hmm, the ABS light doesn't act quite how I'd imagined. With that behaviour it may be something else rather than a wheel bearing. Jack it up and check for any play anyway, if you can. A T4 session should be able to pin point any other ABS problems - trouble is finding someone in your area with the machine. Usual ODB diagnostics won't work with these.

 

Tappety engine on startup will (99%) be inlet manifold rattle. Won't do any harm. Have a look at the condition of the oil though, if it looks grotty might be worth changing it.

 

Another thing I forgot to mention... Are you familiar with the famous 'plenums'? They are chambers at the back of the engine bay hidden under part of the scuttle panel which hold the pollen filter and the engine ECU. The drains from these regularly get blocked which means they fill up with water, and have the potential to fry the ECU. This is rare on petrol models though, which have a sealed ECU (rather than the diesels which aren't sealed against water ingress!). It's worth popping the covers off, and making sure the area is free from debris and leaves. You could get a plumber's flexible rod thing to poke down the plenum drain holes (on the floor of the plenums, - they're about 6 inches deep). If you can't see where the hole is it is just guesswork!

 

EDIT - If you check the plenums take care not to lose the securing clips for the scuttle panel (you should only need to pop one or two of these) because without them in place you might find you get wet toes!

 

There is a good guide to doing this on the owner's club again, and should be easy to find via google!

[RobT]

Thanks for that.  I'll have a prod with my plenums at some point as there was a bit of cack and leaves (although it is autumn) in the scuttle area when I bought it.

 

Oil looks quite fresh but as that's an easy job I'll do that one myself before winter sets in.

[saucedoctor]

Further to the above:

 

All models, up to VIN RJ 138975

 

• ABS lamp stays on
• Water ingress to ABS control module/hydraulic modulator

Cause

• Water travelling by capillary action inside wiring harness of front ABS wheel speed sensor to ABS control module/hydraulic modulator

Remedy

• Repair front wheel ABS wheel speed sensor harness using repair harness and connectors.
• Parts:
• Harness          YMQ104730         QTY:1
• Tube               YZV000010          QTY:24
• Tube               YZV000020          QTY:4

 

Also listed is the wiring harness chafing on the inner wing, near the fusebox.

[EssDeeWon]

Spotted this very lovely and very very rare Primrose yellow Connie today - Isn't it lovely 

 

Missing its chrome mirror back and has a few marks, but I would !!

 

 

 

[Split_Pin]

Now have a massive WOULD!

[Roverageous]

HELL YES.

[purplebargeken]

Hell yes x 2. There is a white 75 parked up on my route to work, that would also be a hell yes. I have been seeing lots of the 75's over the last week. 

[RobT]

The owner obviously loves it, that looks mint. Rover kept their colours going a long time didn't they, Primrose was around in the early 80s as was Arun white (if that's the one you're talking about Ken).

[purplebargeken]

Not sure what it is mate but it does suit it. Be sure to pop over to the rover forum. The amount of support and info is amazing.

 

You look to have a good one there mate.

[EssDeeWon]

Primrose is a British Heritage colour only offered as an option for a 'few months' in late 1999 and into early 2000, and each dealership was only allowed one primrose example for display purposes - Now this might not be 100% accurate but I have read that only 180 cars were painted primrose for the UK market, with less than a 100 now remaining. 

 

Other yellows have been an option on Rovers over the years (e.g. Barley & Turmeric), and some 'off whites' like what Purple is describing, this shade on the 75 is 'Old English White' IIRC

[xtriple]

Never had a Rover 75... nearly bought a 1.8 turbo with all the toys, low mileage etc but read forums and chickened out! However, there;s a guy who comes round here occasionally with a ZT260 and it's bloody lovely and sounds 'epic'!!!

 

Really would like the 260 V8, but the other engines scare me.....

[stuboy]

even my cat likes the rover ive borrowed

 

[Junkman]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-2005-05-ROVER-75-CONNOISSEUR-SE-AUTO-4-6-V8-MUSTANG-49K-/271512761676

[Mr_Bo11ox]

YES

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I've learned something about these Rovers lately, which is don't bother dealing with this 'DMGRS' parts supplier, they are a proper 'keystone kops' operation. I could have started putting mine back together tomorrow if I had not tried to buy some stuff of these shitehawks. Having googled them I find 50% of posts say 'Great guys DMGRS' and 50% say 'How in gods name do I contact DMGRS, they are totally impossible to get hold of, i ordered XYZ and it hasnt arrived and theyre not answering any mails I send em' etc etc etc which is exactly whats happened to me. It took them about 2 mins after I orderd the bits for them to tell me I'd incorrectly used a discount code, then after that total radio silence despote me sending them various emails and facebook messages. Wankers.

[Roverageous]

Yes, well, I had already decided to give DMGRS a wide berth. All power to those who do set up a decent business, but we play by the rules. Like publishing our trading addresses and phone numbers. Matt at DMGRS has flat refused to do both of these. Not on, IMO. Even if you do a whois on his domain there is no phone number, and I know that he has moved his 'office' (home address, I reckon) and not updated his domain info.