Lankytim’s general shite related ranting, Ft mystery 2CV and P4 shittery.

[Surface Rust]

5 hours ago, Lankytim said:

The new headlights were delivered last night and were fitted in the dark in a fit of excitement. They’re a quick job to fit although it was a struggle to get the mounting ring over the headlamps. I went out this morning to admire my handy work. They look pretty good, I paid a little extra for the triangle shaped bit of tin inside the headlamp because I think they look cool.  The halogens have a weird blue tint which doesn’t really suit the Rover but the light output  is excellent and they actually work which is a massive plus over the old headlamps. 

Probably just the bulbs though so an easy fix. The triangular bits do look good.

Good display of the excellent lock too!

[Lankytim]

Took the 100 to work last night. The battery seems to be charging ok but the ammeter hovers around 0 much of the time. I’m not sure what the correct reading should be, I suppose I should get a multimeter and see what the battery is reading with the lights/fan etc turned on.

I work approx 8 miles down a 50mph dual carriageway which is a reasonable test for any old crock but spurred on by recent successes I took the long way home and went up the M6 between J15 and J16. It’s not a smart motorway for that stretch so there’s still  a hard shoulder should anything boil over or go bang. 2am is an ideal time for motorway road tests as there’s much less traffic to contend with should you get into difficulties, although it would mean all the lights would be illuminated, fingers crossed I don’t run out of electricity! 

60 MPH was achieved easily although the non functioning overdrive prevented me from pressing on too much. Absolutely nothing bad happened and I sailed past Keele services effortlessly and cruised off home. Brill, what a buzz!

A Quick look under the bonnet  revealed nothing of note, no oil sprayed around and no smoke. I did notice the radiator leaking quite a bit so that’ll be the next job. It’ll probably need recoring. 

[Westbay]

On 29/12/2024 at 14:30, Lankytim said:

The new headlights were delivered last night and were fitted in the dark in a fit of excitement. They’re a quick job to fit although it was a struggle to get the mounting ring over the headlamps. I went out this morning to admire my handy work. They look pretty good, I paid a little extra for the triangle shaped bit of tin inside the headlamp because I think they look cool.  The halogens have a weird blue tint which doesn’t really suit the Rover but the light output  is excellent and they actually work which is a massive plus over the old headlamps. 

Really nice, well in keeping with the style ...

[Surface Rust]

48 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

Took the 100 to work last night. The battery seems to be charging ok but the ammeter hovers around 0 much of the time. I’m not sure what the correct reading should be, I suppose I should get a multimeter and see what the battery is reading with the lights/fan etc turned on.

I work approx 8 miles down a 50mph dual carriageway which is a reasonable test for any old crock but spurred on by recent successes I took the long way home and went up the M6 between J15 and J16. It’s not a smart motorway for that stretch so there’s still  a hard shoulder should anything boil over or go bang. 2am is an ideal time for motorway road tests as there’s much less traffic to contend with should you get into difficulties, although it would mean all the lights would be illuminated, fingers crossed I don’t run out of electricity! 

60 MPH was achieved easily although the non functioning overdrive prevented me from pressing on too much. Absolutely nothing bad happened and I sailed past Keele services effortlessly and cruised off home. Brill, what a buzz!

A Quick look under the bonnet  revealed nothing of note, no oil sprayed around and no smoke. I did notice the radiator leaking quite a bit so that’ll be the next job. It’ll probably need recoring. 

I got my rad recored by Wadhams, they did a nice job and I opted for the 'colonies' spec (3 row I think) which proved its worth in 35oC traffic a couple of summers ago.

[Lankytim]

5 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

I got my rad recored by Wadhams, they did a nice job and I opted for the 'colonies' spec (3 row I think) which proved its worth in 35oC traffic a couple of summers ago.

I’ve dropped a spare leaky radiator off with a local guy here in Stoke who’s been in business for ages. Hopefully it can be repaired but if not it’ll get recored. Apparently it’s an original and has never been recored before which is worth mentioning.  Once this one is fixed I’ll swap it over with the defective one still fitted to the 100. I think these rads have stampings on which make them unique to the car, the code for cutting new keys or something. I’m not even sure if it’s still got the original radiator still fitted, or even the original locks. 
 

[Lankytim]

Happy new year everyone! I really want to polish this old crock up but it really needed a good clean to get all the grime off the bodywork, plus the traces of diesel that was sprayed all over the place when the engine finally unsized itself and ejected the diesel from the cylinders via the spark plug holes. 
 

I think I’m going to have to invest in a new battery as the present one was dug out of the garage and is an unknown quantity. This big old 2.6 6 cylinder engine needs a good bit of oomph to get going and the battery starts to die if the engine doesn’t start straight away. Up at the local petrol station with jet wash I got to work scrubbing away, getting the moss out of the screen rubbers and watching the grime disappear down the drain. Lovely! Under the arches were jetted out and road grime removed to reveal nice paint underneath. I decided to leave the engine running and degrime/de-spider the engine bay,  so the inner wings, under bonnet and bulkhead etc  were coated in TFR, scrubbed and washed off. Of course the inevitable happened and the ignition system got wet and the engine cut out. After washing off I tried to restart but despite trying to kick in the battery died too quickly and that was that.

I rang the 4th emergency service (Mrs LT with jumpleads) and 5 minutes later she’d arrived. In the mean time I’d pushed the Rover out of the wash area and onto the car vac bit so we had access to get the leads onto the battery which lives under the back seat. Naturally about 5 cars then wanted to use the vac so I pushed the stricken Rover to some spaces next to the wash area but closer to the petrol station. 
 

Mrs LTs Honda Jazz was readied but before we could connect leads to battery the petrol station manager approached in his tartan waistcoat and snappy shoes. Apparently were were within the “vapour perimeter” and jump starting was strictly verboten as the whole place could explode like in a lethal weapon film or when that nuke goes off in Terminator 2  or something. I told him that I’d taken his message on board but I was going to jump start the Rover anyway (by the time he’d told us all that we could’ve been up and running)  He was pretty insistent that we needed to be recovered but eventually agreed to help push the Rover to the loading area around the back of the shop which apparently was out of the OMG FIREBALL area. 
 

The Rover went pretty much first go and I was soon at home with Mrs LT enjoying a cuppa. 
 

Onwards and upwards for 2025! 

[Lankytim]

Finally got the repaired radiator back. Im paranoid about getting stuff damaged while it’s lying about so I set about fitting it as soon as I got home. I’d already removed the old leaky rad, it was full of old repairs and blobs of solder. I’m not sure where it was leaking but it will definitely need a recore to be used again. With the new radiator fitted the cooling system was filled with water and run for 20 mins or so. No further leaks apparent but till need a good trip out to confirm. I drained the system down using the handy drain cock on the bottom of the rad and I’ll refill with proper coolant when I get chance. It’s forecast to be -120 or something daft tonight and a frozen and cracked engine is the last thing I want! 

[jonathan_dyane]

Great work! 

You will however need to drain water from the tap on the block too otherwise the engine will be still full of water and you risk a cracked block.

Once you've opened the block tap you may find you need to poke a small screw driver or wire up it to unblock it and get it draining 

[Lankytim]

1 hour ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Great work! 

You will however need to drain water from the tap on the block too otherwise the engine will be still full of water and you risk a cracked block.

Once you've opened the block tap you may find you need to poke a small screw driver or wire up it to unblock it and get it draining 

Already ahead of you there, it’s all drained too! 

[Lankytim]

Not much of an update as the weather has been too cold for me to get my backside into gear and do much.  As a result of the cold weather the Laguna has been doing a great impression of a guillotine, the tailgate struts getting weak to the point the boot lid either won’t hold itself up or lures me into a false sense of security and smashes me on the head while I’m changing into my work boots. 
 

These struts range from £11 a pair to ££HOW MUCH?? So I settled for a pair of £30 Quinton Hazel jobbies which are probably Chinese nowadays but took 2 mins to fit and seem to do the job, the tailgate now belting me in the chin when I open it rather than falling on the back of my head. Hopefully they’ll settle in use but I’m pretty pleased with them. 
 

 

[lesapandre]

Great Christmas Card or 2026 Calendar shot of your lovely P4 there!

[Lankytim]

Hi everyone.

Ive been using the Rover every day for work, in the wind and rain and even taking it up the M6 again in an effort to weedle out any problems and allowing me to repair them when they arise. The parking brake was sticking on the NS, which I fixed but it’s now unfixed itself again- I need to reach around behind the wheel and push the handbrake rod back in to release the brake. More fettling required. 
 

The bigger issue is the high coolant consumption and clouds of smoke on start up. The coolant I hoped was just me just overfilling the radiator, apparently you need to leave the level quite low to allow for expansion when hot or it just gets pushed out of the overflow, which is what it’s doing, however after a few miles the level drops dangerously low and the front crossmember gets soaked in coolant from the overflow. The cooling system doesn’t build up any pressure when hot either, which it only does when stationary. I suspect the thermostat is missing.  I replaced the rad cap for the correct type but it didn’t make any difference. 
 

On top of this is the clouds of smoke/steam from the exhaust, mostly on start up which seems to clear after a few minutes. After a longish run the engine runs rough with missing and pops from the exhaust. Weirdly the spark plugs all look to be in good condition. I was expecting one or two to be soaking with oil or coolant. 

I’m leaning towards the head gasket leaking or maybe a corroded head. Fortunately head gaskets on these are really easy as the exhaust manifold is on the block and the inlet manifold is part of the head so much less messing around. 

[lesapandre]

There was a time when one of those Rovers was a 'big car'...

[Lankytim]

Taken for a jet wash to remove the weeks road salt before the head comes off hopefully tomorrow. Now confirmed as the head gasket as the oil is begging to emulsify and water is dripping from the rear breather on the cylinder head….. well, the head gasket is definitely one of its issues. 

[Lankytim]

8 hours ago, lesapandre said:

There was a time when one of those Rovers was a 'big car'...

Yes, it looks tiny between these Astras, a pair of “medium” sized cars! The P4 is one of those cars that looks deceptively large until you put it next to something modern when it suddenly shrinks to A30 size. 

[lesapandre]

Except when you put it next to...an A30.

[purplebargeken]

Good luck with sorting the head gasket, as you said, shouldn’t be too horrendous.

[Lankytim]

 

4 hours ago, purplebargeken said:

Good luck with sorting the head gasket, as you said, shouldn’t be too horrendous.

I’ve had a pop at this job this morning and it was very straightforward even for a “have a go hero” like me. 

I got stuck in and had a fun time in the freezing cold, the job at least was straightforward. A few things I noticed were the head bolts didn’t seem to be tight and the thermostat was missing. Combine those with the previous owner replacing the water pump and the leaky rad and I’d be surprised if it hasn’t been overheated at some point in its history, perhaps I’m looking too much into things. I can’t find an obvious failure point with the head gasket but it does look very grotty. There was an oil leak from the rear of the head and down that end all the head bolts were covered in oil when I took them out. 

Although the head is now off but I can’t get the temperature sensor out of the side of the cylinder head so it’s still physically tethered to the car until I can sort that out. 
 

The bores look ok with no scoring I can see although each cylinder has a wear lip at the top I can feel with my finger tips. 

Once the head is finally off I’ll have a proper look and send it away to be pressure tested and skimmed.
 

 

[Marshall2810]

Fantastic effort 👏

[purplebargeken]

Bit of de-gunging and all should be well.

[Surface Rust]

Maybe just dirt, but it looks a bit like it has been blowing between the rear three cylinders. I think the rear cylinders would get the hottest if it ever had over heated.

[N Dentressangle]

On 26/01/2025 at 16:56, Marshall2810 said:

Fantastic effort 👏

Totes, especially in this weather.

Agreed, the back 3 look pretty barn door as to where the problem is. Think you're right to give that a skim - it's a big long piece of metal that's been overheated in the past and not put back properly.

[Lankytim]

17 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Maybe just dirt, but it looks a bit like it has been blowing between the rear three cylinders. I think the rear cylinders would get the hottest if it ever had over heated.

 

3 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

Totes, especially in this weather.

Agreed, the back 3 look pretty barn door as to where the problem is. Think you're right to give that a skim - it's a big long piece of metal that's been overheated in the past and not put back properly.

I’ve dropped the head off at a local engine builders and the guy said exactly the same thing as soon as he saw it. I thought the compression was ok and had been looking for areas where the oil and water had managed to mix or get into the combustion chambers. I think it’s thoroughly cream crackered in a few places, it’s amazing it ran at all, even quite well!  I found a straight edge to put the head against and it does seem to have a warp to it. Hopefully this is the cause of multiple issues afflicting this engine.

I’m still waiting a call back from the engineers regarding the costs on what needs to be done but the fella recommended having all the valves re-seated along with a clean up and skim. Unfortunately they’re quite busy and it’s going to be at least a week before it’s done.  I’m looking forward to getting it all back together again!

[lesapandre]

Lucky to find a place near you that will do that sort of thing.

[Lankytim]

34 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Lucky to find a place near you that will do that sort of thing.

It turns out there’s multiple places able to do the work near to me, I’ve never used this company before but the workshop looks spotless. I’m torn between being very impressed and worrying how much of a battering my flexible friend is going to take .

[lesapandre]

That's great news those skills are around. 

[jonathan_dyane]

How heavy is the head/could you lift it off comfortably yourself?

[Lankytim]

18 hours ago, jonathan_dyane said:

How heavy is the head/could you lift it off comfortably yourself?

Yeah, it was pretty easy to lift out of the engine bay, lighter than it looks. I guess it’s got 50% of the valve gear of a more modern head plus it’s made of ally which helps. 

[Lankytim]

I’m still waiting for word on the cylinder head. I dropped it off on 3 weeks ago on Monday and was given a timeframe of about a week but so far I haven’t even had a quote. He has stripped and cleaned the head and recons it’s going to need new valve guides. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it done and back this week sometime. We’ll see.

LAGNUNA NEWS. 
I'd suspected for some time that a rear spring had broken, with a full complement of passengers I’d hear an occasional “twang” when driving. While I had a rear wheel off last week I had a check and sure enough the bottom 3 inches or so of the spring had broken. The rear shocks looked a bit end of life too so a pair of springs and shocks were ordered from AUTODOC and arrived this morning. 
 

I set about fitting them this afternoon (in the rain, obvs) and found it a straightforward job, with the shock absorbers unbolted the axle can swing down and release the springs. To my horror both captive nuts for the shock absorber bottom mounts broke loose prompting me to use some obscene language and shake the breaker bar in the air at God. Standard knuckle skimming fun. The spinning nuts could be held with a 20mm spanner and soon everything was removed and in a rusty pile on the drive. Refitting was much easier and the “gooner was soon back on its wheels. The high stance soon settled and a test drive revealed everything to be in order, feeling much tighter and no rattles. Brill! Who doesn’t love fitting shiny new parts? 

[Lankytim]

I’ve finally got a quote for the repair to the head. £635 plus VAT.  I only wanted a skim but with the valve guides etc the price has shot up. 
 

So I'm on the lookout for a replacement head.