Rover 800s - Fleet update

[R Lutz]

I sold Rover 800s new, something which I've wrote about on AROnline many times. I love these cars, and this thread has amused me.  Congratulations on the work done. 

[Austin-Rover]

The green saloon has received a wholly inappropriate upgrade* in the form of some vivid green rubbing strips. The chrome insert in the door rubbing strips had degraded and the clear outer plastic had started to peel, allowing water inside to trash the 'chrome' part. As it's more of a car for using, than taking to car shows I bought some heavy duty tape, took the rubbing strips off, removed the insert and stripped the plastic off as best I could before wrapping the tape around and reassembling. The chrome in the bumpers is still good, so these simply have the tape stuck over. Having finished the job, I think I can say that I don't hate it as a look. 😄

Anyway, off it went to the storage unit last weekend so that the J reg saloon can come home for an MoT and wedding car duties. It drove home fine, and went straight through the MoT without issue. The next day however, it's not running right and becoming difficult to drive. Just what you want with an important deadline approaching and an important journey to undertake for the bride! When it was last on the road the idle had started to do funny things and the throttle gained a mind of its own. The garage reset the throttle body settings and all seemed fine. The same fault it back but much worse. Hopefully the garage can fit it in and get it sorted! 😐

The new Sterling is in the garage, the interior has been stripped out today so that the carpets can have a good clean with the wet and dry vac. All the plastics and the seats will get a good scrub too before reassembly. Looking forward to it not smelling so bad and being so grubby! The mice really did make a mess and a stink! Once the interior is back together then we'll start on some mechanical work...

 

[R Lutz]

You used to be able to buy the chrome* insert by the metre at the at NEC classic car show. 

[Austin-Rover]

Update time; 

Back in September the J reg 820 was on wedding car duties, tasked with taking the bride to the church. The throttle sensor problem was still present. Of course the early T Series cars use a different throttle position sensor than the later ones, and the early one has been NLA for decades. I couldn't even source a second hand one in time for the wedding. Thankfully, the trick to reset it (ign. on, depress throttle five times, ign. off) saw us through the day without drama. 

Since then, my mechanic has found me a second hand one in his parts stash, so I might get round to fitting that this weekend as the weather is due to warm up - the car is currently encased in a block of ice!

The Sterling project progresses well. The interior is back together and smelling much more fresh. Everything is clean and pleasant to touch again. Underneath, it's had a clean up with a stiff brush and a coat of waxoyl. The brakes have been rebuilt and fresh brake fluid run through. 

Current work is preparing the engine for the belt and water pump change! 😳

The green 820 has just gone through its MoT, and continues in front line duties. 

 

[Austin-Rover]

The Sterling is back together, running, polished and freshly MoT'd. 

What an absolutely glorious way to waft around. That KV6 engine provides just the right amount background noise as you are launched down the road in total comfort. 

I can't wait to see what breaks over the coming weeks! 😄

 

[Wibble]

1 hour ago, Austin-Rover said:

The Sterling is back together, running, polished and freshly MoT'd. 

What an absolutely glorious way to waft around. That KV6 engine provides just the right amount background noise as you are launched down the road in total comfort. 

I can't wait to see what breaks over the coming weeks! 😄

 

Fantastic result! 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Austin-Rover said:

The Sterling is back together, running, polished and freshly MoT'd. 

What an absolutely glorious way to waft around. That KV6 engine provides just the right amount background noise as you are launched down the road in total comfort. 

I can't wait to see what breaks over the coming weeks! 😄

 

FNR! Looks stunning, those were class motors.

[Austin-Rover]

The W reg saloon has been on the naughty step since the start of the year. It's got issues with the central locking and imobiliser which is quite possibly the No. 1 top fault that you really do not want with a Rover 800 as it's a massive ballache to sort in any meaningful way. 😠

Anyway! Rather than face up to that particular problem, let's tackle Rover 800 nonsesne item No.2 - the interior is full of water. 💦

Water ingress in these can go unnoticed for months and months. First the dense foam under the carpet needs to become completely saturated, so for the actual carpet to be damp to the touch means there's a considerable amount of water in the car, especially when you consider the back of the carpet is a thick plastic membrane! The culprit? The usual sunroof drain stub. 

The interior was stripped out about a month ago, and the carpets and insulation are now finally dry; 

Next job was to remove the headlining. This was in pretty good condition but after being disturbed the fabric became detached from the fibre board. This will need to be retrimmed. You can see where the water from the sunroof tray has been leaking; 

if anyone is interested, sunroofs weigh an actual ton and are no fun to remove. I'm not looking forward to putting it back. There are four drain points, and only the one (o/s/f) was rotten. Here's where it was, after being removed by the Dremel; (bodge to follow)

It's very empty inside!

Still, things could be worse; it could be a Rover 75... and full of water. 😄

 

[RoadworkUK]

1 hour ago, Austin-Rover said:

The W reg saloon has been on the naughty step since the start of the year. It's got issues with the central locking and immobiliser which is quite possibly the No. 1 top fault that you really do not want with a Rover 800 as it's a massive ballache to sort in any meaningful way. 😠

Can relate. I've been unlocking and re-mobilising mine using the EKA code in the driver's door lock for several years now. One day the microswitch will fail and I'll be buggered.  If you chance upon any "twofer" deals getting yours sorted out, colour me interested in joining in.

Mine's SORN at the mo, I'll probably tax it for May, to celebrate my anniversary (it was our wedding car). I could really do with figuring out why the dashboard has stopped lighting up, though, otherwise I'll have a strict "must be home by" curfew on longer journeys.

Good luck wringing that water out! Gorgeous car... as 800s go!

[Austin-Rover]

The rotten drain tube on the sunroof tray is repaired. A short length of copper pipe is now bonded in to the cleaned up hole where the old drain was. It even got a coat of black paint to make it look less like a bodge! 

Getting the whole sunroof assembly back in the car was hard work... but not as hard as realising they are actually quite finely positioned and it took a lot of work slackening off bolts and moving the whole lot by millimetres, tightening and testing again to find the location where the sunroof had its full range of movement. It'll be a few weeks before it gets a leak test!

 

[Austin-Rover]

Things are looking up for the Rover 800 fleet! 

The Sterling is racking up the mileage in daily use. Problems arisen so far; the cruise control doesn't work, the air conditioning doesn't cool, and it's blown a hole in the already rusty back box. Not bad going, really. 

My local MGRover specialist has made a couple of home visits for the 820s. The running issue on the J reg 820 that has been ongoing for some time had reached an impasse, so ancient laptops and software were dusted off to interrogate the car. It had logged a fault for the coolant temperature sensor, and it's not beyond consideration that this part failing sporadically could be behind the problems. A new one is ordered and on the way! Fingers crossed!

The W reg 820 is still in the garage. The interior is back in one piece, and a lovely recovered headlining is now in place. 

Visit #1 with a slightly less ancient laptop and software in search of the immobiliser fault were inconclusive, with the current fob unresponsive and the car responding erratically to actions of the key in the driver's door lock. 

Visit #2 engaged different tactics, with all old fobs erased and a brand new one coded to the car - instant success. It locks, unlocks and starts just as it should! Hopefully it was just failure of the old fob that was the problem. 

 

[2flags]

Great work on this. Had one of these in the late 90's/early 2000's. 820s automatic. After coming out of a 3500 P6, I always felt it was a little underpowered. Should really gone for the 2.5. Still, we live a learn. Now have a Jag X type 3.0. That, let me assure you, is not underpowered! 

[rovik88]

Hi Austin-Rover. Great to still see folks patching up and keeping 800s on the road. I’m usually active on mg-rover.org, so that’s why people don’t see me around here.

Anyway, I promised another member to ask you whether you’d be able to assist him with an immobiliser issue. He’s active on mg-rover.org as welland has posted in the thread on this link: https://www.mg-rover.org/threads/97-820-immobiliser-issue.876904/?post_id=8824210#post-8824210

If you want/could help him that’d be nice as he sounds quite desperate. I’ve got very much experience, but not with the immobiliser. However you decide, many thanks either way and keep ‘em on the road! 👍

For some pictures of my 800 and SD1 you can visit this thread https://www.mg-rover.org/threads/rover-enthusiast-finally-joined.873423/ Hope you like it. The 800 is a daily driver and the SD1 is used for recreational/occasional driving.

[R Lutz]

1 hour ago, rovik88 said:

 mg-rover.org

That forum is still going??? Paint me STAGGERED. 

[Austin-Rover]

20 hours ago, R Lutz said:

That forum is still going??? Paint me STAGGERED. 

Not sure how. I've just followed that link above, to find it is full of adverts and I was navigated away three times to some dodgy looking web domain to confirm I wasn't a robot. It's not how I remember it. 😄

[Austin-Rover]

On 13/04/2025 at 16:26, rovik88 said:

Hi Austin-Rover. Great to still see folks patching up and keeping 800s on the road. I’m usually active on mg-rover.org, so that’s why people don’t see me around here.

Anyway, I promised another member to ask you whether you’d be able to assist him with an immobiliser issue. He’s active on mg-rover.org as welland has posted in the thread on this link: https://www.mg-rover.org/threads/97-820-immobiliser-issue.876904/?post_id=8824210#post-8824210

If you want/could help him that’d be nice as he sounds quite desperate. I’ve got very much experience, but not with the immobiliser. However you decide, many thanks either way and keep ‘em on the road! 👍

For some pictures of my 800 and SD1 you can visit this thread https://www.mg-rover.org/threads/rover-enthusiast-finally-joined.873423/ Hope you like it. The 800 is a daily driver and the SD1 is used for recreational/occasional driving.

@rovik88 your friend has been back in touch to say he has a new fob and back on the road!

[Austin-Rover]

Work on the green 820 continued after the new remote fob, in the shape of a new power steering fluid cooler and a couple of hoses so hopefully it will no longer be marking its territory. Its also had oil and coolant changed and a bit of a once-over. Keeping to the plan of getting too invested in what's supposed to be a bit of a 'use it and abuse it' car - the front and rear bumpers were sent away for paint. After a bit of polish, it looks a lot better but it's still a bit of a 'ten paces' sort of car. 

Back in use next week!