AS communal Rover 75 / MG ZT lickers thread

[wuvvum]

On a 10-minute journey today I passed three Rover 75s going the other way, two of which were Copperleaf estates (one facelift, one 03-plate).  There's a fair few of them round here but I don't often see them in that sort of concentration.

There used to be a LWB saloon round Wroxham way which I used to see occasionally, but I haven't spotted that out and about for a whie.  Mind you I haven't seen the Sabberton Omen for ages either.

[Cookiesouwest]

Its been quiet on the R75 front lately.

Audrey has developed a non start issue. @Mally advised me of a starter motor repair kit.

So I have ordered one from DMGRS along with a front bumper bolt kit. Garage had advised that bumper was not secured correctly, so thought I might as well get some nice stainless steel bolts.

I've also got a bonnet cable kit, to stop the cable failing and a new cup holder as current one is broken.

A new IPK has been ordered from Rick Bhullar. Now have to work out how to remove instrument cluster, so I can post it off, for the new one to be fitted.

Also bought a staple gun, so I can do a temp bodge on the saggy headlining.

When all parts are here, will update personal thread with appropriate pics.

[Split_Pin]

The exhaust on my 75 is only just over 3 years old but one of the tailpipes has rotted off.

A new one was £88 from ebay so that arrived and I set about removing the old one. Frkm experience, these are an utter bastard to take off as the rear rubbers are usually rock solid and quite inaccessible.  I managed to cut and peel back the centre join which was originally stuck solid, so that's loosened and ready to come off. I tried and tried to get the old rubbers off at the back to save them but a heat gun, penetrating fluid, waterpump pliers, a lever,  and a punch could not shift them so I'll need to go to Halfords first thing tomorrow to get 2 new rubbers as the old ones will have to be cut off.

Hopefully the new exhaust fits OK.

[Split_Pin]

6 minutes ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Its been quiet on the R75 front lately.

Audrey has developed a non start issue. @Mally advised me of a starter motor repair kit.

So I have ordered one from DMGRS along with a front bumper bolt kit. Garage had advised that bumper was not secured correctly, so thought I might as well get some nice stainless steel bolts.

I've also got a bonnet cable kit, to stop the cable failing and a new cup holder as current one is broken.

A new IPK has been ordered from Rick Bhullar. Now have to work out how to remove instrument cluster, so I can post it off, for the new one to be fitted.

Also bought a staple gun, so I can do a temp bodge on the saggy headlining.

When all parts are here, will update personal thread with appropriate pics.

Starter motor removal on a diesel is really really easy. Rebuilding it with the kit is even easier, I did it before breakfast on my gold 75 on a Sunday morning. Moving the EGR pipework makes access even better.

[Cookiesouwest]

HELP

Trying to remove cluster to send off for IPK fix.

Someone has been here before me and snapped the locking tab on the wiring plug, when re-installing cluster.

How the hell do I get this off now????

Also how do I disconnect the wire for the central vent so I can get the dash trim out??

Ta

Anyone want a R75 OEW Aubergine interior? Starting to lose the will to live.

[TheOtherStu]

I'm proud to say that I too was once a member of the Rover 75 club (in fact, I may have been a founder member back in about 2001)!

Navy Blue Rover 75 2.5V6 Classic SE (with connoisseur wheels which I did in a trade).

Bought it ex-showroom and ex-rental with just 175 miles on the clock and under a year old for about 60% of the "new" cost so showed as the 3rd owner which was bizarre.

Did 100,000 miles in it and sold it back in about 2006 to my now ex-father-in-law. He's kept it absolutely mint from what I'm told and has done less than 14,000 miles since I sold it him (I checked the Gov website when I saw this thread).

Only problem I ever had with it was it going into "limp" mode a couple of times. Both times, an ECU reset fixed it (still to this day have no idea what).

Got some crap in the tank, so for the last 6 months I had it, sounded like tappits were gone. Rover and others couldn't diagnose it. A mechanic friend suggested that i get the tank professionally emptied and cleaned and hey presto, £85 later, it stopped.

I thought I had some pictures, but can't find any sadly.

 

Replaced it with a Company 307 Diesel. I quickly realised what a cock up I'd made.

[TheOtherStu]

OK, I'm interested in a ZTT 2.0 Diesel.

Anything to watch out for? Last 5 years MOTs have all been clear (except a Windscreen on the last one). Smells a bit fishy. MOTs are rarely clear on 17 year old cars.

Looks interesting enough. Blue, under a grand, 106k. Seem reasonable?

[Cookiesouwest]

3 hours ago, TheOtherStu said:

OK, I'm interested in a ZTT 2.0 Diesel.

Anything to watch out for? Last 5 years MOTs have all been clear (except a Windscreen on the last one). Smells a bit fishy. MOTs are rarely clear on 17 year old cars.

Looks interesting enough. Blue, under a grand, 106k. Seem reasonable?

Unlikely to have had 5 dodgy tickets in a row.

If owner loves the car and has looked after it, its entirely possible to have clean MOTs.

Rear suspension arms can rot out and are a bit pricey.

Engine is pretty robust. Not a lot to worry about.

The owners club has a great online forum with loads of info, you might find helpful.

[TheOtherStu]

12 minutes ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Unlikely to have had 5 dodgy tickets in a row.

If owner loves the car and has looked after it, its entirely possible to have clean MOTs.

Rear suspension arms can rot out and are a bit pricey.

Engine is pretty robust. Not a lot to worry about.

The owners club has a great online forum with loads of info, you might find helpful.

Yeah, good point. Just had a look at the "for sale" too - looks like there might be some likely opportunities.

Budget is a grand and there's a guy nearby who has one for sale - it's just what I'm after. A bit rough around the edges, but honest.

[Split_Pin]

How did you get on?

Budget is good at a grand.

Things to look for:

Rear suspension arms. Heavy, bastardy, fiddly job. If they've not already been replaced, they will need it, regardless of what the MOT history says. New arms have happily been remanufactured by DMGRS and are much cheaper than NOS.

Rattle on start up: Rubber damped crank pulley falling to bits. Some garages aren't man enough for the job of taking off the bolt which will be FT.

Thermostats can stick open. Replacement is another total arse of a job and the new items are shite and fail in a matter of months. Acknowledged solution is to fit a Renault 5 inline item in the top hose for about £15, easily DIYable. All 3 of mine have had this, works fine.

Starter motor solenoids stick. A repair kit for the starter can be bought for £15, starter very easy to remove and fix.

Plenum drains in the scuttle absolutely must be clear otherwise the ECU gets drowned. Watch for weird electrical faults. 

Sunroofs, pull back each arch liner and snip off the duck bill ends of the drains to stop/cure blockages and wet carpets.

Sill ends rot out, replacements available.

The car should have a magic carpet ride and a planted feel. If not, new rear springs will fix this as the existing ones will be broken.

Diesels are very robust and will cover huge mileages. Chains never need looked at, obviously HGF is unheard of and there's no DPF. There is a dual mass flywheel in all manual models but they never fail or go out of spec.

Clutches are a real failing though. Unless you use quality replacement parts (not LUK) it will fail again in a few months.

Good luck,  I love mine, as said its my 3rd!

[Cookiesouwest]

Well after a few attempts, finally got the cluster out. Delay due to knackered connector. Damaged in some previous cluster change I imagine.

Anyway, I can now get it sent off to Rick Bhullar for a new IPK.

 

[Cookiesouwest]

Cluster now posted. Should have it back end of next week. 

Then I can get Audrey up and running, so she can be lent to @andyberg

She may need a new battery (again) but will worry about that next week.

[barefoot]

Does he supply actual 'new' IPK's or does he just re-juvenate the old one? I sent mine away to a specialist shortly after I bought it and it was momentarily improved, but has rapidly turned back to crap.

[Cookiesouwest]

2 minutes ago, barefoot said:

Does he supply actual 'new' IPK's or does he just re-juvenate the old one? I sent mine away to a specialist shortly after I bought it and it was momentarily improved, but has rapidly turned back to crap.

He fits new IPK screens.

Details on R75/MG ZT forum or the FB page.

[Cookiesouwest]

This is the guy - Rick Bhullar. Also has YT channel.

https://www.facebook.com/1061484263977940/posts/3906903872769284/

 

[wuvvum]

Can he also get them to read in English rather than French?

I've been half thinking about getting my IPK sorted as it's almost illegible now, but the information it displays is duplicated on the main infotainment (sorry) screen so I've not bothered so far - the only time it'll be an issue is if I need to use it in diagnostic mode.

[Cookiesouwest]

Not sure where the language option is coded. If ECU you would have to take car to him, rather than just post the cluster.

New IPK was 144 quid plus 11.35 for postage

[Cookiesouwest]

So my cluster arrived with Rick at 11.01 today.

At 12.42 I got a message to say, IPK had been replaced, he had also replaced the broken trip button and cluster was back in the post to me.

Jesus H Christ, that is amazing service.

Better get off my arse now and buy a battery charger or a new battery, because the cluster will be here on Monday

[Split_Pin]

Mine has gone a bit senile as well but I rarely use it so haven't bothered thus far.

[Cookiesouwest]

Last night, I installed the new Bosch battery, then put the cluster back in.

Didn't work. But this is because I am an amazing* auto electrician.

2nd attempt and all went well.

Now have working R75

Just have to work out how to get the dash trim back in. Because I can't get it to go back and im paranoid I will break it if I push to hard.

And I forgot to take pics, cause I'm a muppet

[wuvvum]

Question:  I bought a replacement (used) driver's door switch pack off eBay.  Fitted it to the car, and now the mirrors work but the windows still don't.  Have I been sold another faulty switch pack or is it more likely that there is an issue with the BCM?  It's not the fuse(s) as the other three electric windows work fine off their respective door switches.

[Split_Pin]

You need to take it apart and clean the crap off the contacts. 

[Yoss]

I owned this for five years. 

I found out after I bought it that it was an ex West Midlands ambulance and once looked like this. 

Once I found this out the signs were obvious. A very small hole in the headlining exactly midway between the two sun visors. Another small hole in the rubber strip that runs along the roof with a bunch of wires pushed underneath. Some filler where the blue lights were in the bumber (I was looking for things by then). Then I started having trouble with the headlights and found a whole other fuse box wedged in by the battery. This had a  mini loom that amongst other things was spliced into the headlight wiring. Removing it all had the headlights working again. 

Being ex ambulance it had the lowest spec interior, wind up back windows (the window winders were tiny and cheap looking) and twisty heater controls but the most powerful engine, a V6 190.

It was also handy for carrying Triumph engine blocks. 

Had it been a Rover it may well have been too high. Probably not really but one feels Rovers would be above such antics. 

Like a few people on here I could see some big bills coming so I got rid. The clutch had started slipping andwe were on cam belt roulette being the main ones. But it was fun while I had it. 

[Yoss]

And then in April 2017 I found this a five minute walk from our house. 

 

Anyone familiar with the 75/ZT forum will recognise this as one of the pre production test cars. It never left the Longbridge site until they went under in 2015 apart from the odd TV job dressed as a police car. 

And here still wearing police colours but also an MG Rover logo, like Longbridge internal police. 

There were plans afoot on the forum to have it restored but it certainly hadn't happened by this point. It was even on trims, which are quite rare in themselves. 

 

It hasn't  been there for a while but this red one that was with it at the same time is still there. 

 

[andyberg]

I have the pleasure of looking after Audrey for a week 😁 I took her out today for a drive into Bath (there is a ? battery drain so she needs running every few days) She started absolutely perfectly btw, no evidence of a drain. Now this is the first time I have driven a 75 properly, I gotta say it was sublime. She gently wafts along floating over the bumps, and after getting past 20mph you cannot really tell she is an old diesel.I have always loved the interior of the 75, and even with a few bits still in the boot it is a lovely place to sit! I guess my only gripe would be that I find the seat bases a little short so there is no behind the knee support for me. She has the absolute potential to be a really lovely wafter and a great place to munch miles in. Approval granted 👍

[barefoot]

No, cars with names is twatty & childish.

[andyberg]

Ditto being abusive on a forum. 

[New POD]

24 minutes ago, barefoot said:

No, cars with names is twatty & childish.

If i were to name my cars, the omega would be called Twatty. 

And the Maxda MZ5 I'd call Ish 

[PrinceRupert]

Just renewed the insurance for my old 75, which means having had it for a year it is the longest ive ever owned a car! 

£600 bought sight unseen no history, i changed drop links, paid to get rear brakes rebuilt and new sensors/modules for parking and cruise installed, and an exhaust heat shield for the MOT, and other than that its been flawless. Rather impressed.

 

Shame it is let down by the bodywork (may be partly my fault...)

[PrinceRupert]

Oh and it needed a new battery.  It also apparently has a hollowed out inlet manifold and accordingly non-working VIS motors - apparently on the KV6 a rattling inlet manifold is a common fault and new ones are unobtainium and good second hand ones  difficult to find, so it is common just to take out the rattling gubbins and seal it back out.  Still drives fine, but may or may not (there is much online debate) have reduced power somewhere in the range.