Condensed Shite Log - Rovering

[lesapandre]

Mercedes?

[Surface Rust]

Just passing through Eltham which reminded me I once got a free Mini 1000 from here.

The owner had asked the council to remove it as it had failed it's MoT on the Monday. I got wind and he told me if I could get there first I could have it; cue a last minute dash to London with a friend and key enabler, and his Renault Trafic and trailer. 

I've still got that Mini 22 years later!

[Surface Rust]

Sorry, I dropped off the grid in the excitement of the final stages.

Arrived at my destination:

Paperwork dealt with, and obligatory first fill shot:

As you'd hope, it dealt with the M25 and A1M smoothly and quietly and my anxiety had been soothed away by the time I got home.

I think it's everything I expected it to be, in a good way!

[Tickman]

Lovely 

[TrabbieRonnie]

Lovely car, nice colour too.  Well done 👍 

[wesacosa]

3 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Just passing through Eltham which reminded me I once got a free Mini 1000 from here.

The owner had asked the council to remove it as it had failed it's MoT on the Monday. I got wind and he told me if I could get there first I could have it; cue a last minute dash to London with a friend and key enabler, and his Renault Trafic and trailer. 

I've still got that Mini 22 years later!

ive lived in Eltham 15 years and nothing so exciting happen to me!

Lovely Merc 

[Surface Rust]

As mentioned, this drove wonderfully on my trip home, but as I wafted through the Dartford tunnel and turned the lights on a bulb out warning light pinged on.  No problem thought I, a bulb is an easy fix.

A quick tinkering session the next day revealed that only the nearside lights were illuminating. This felt too much like a coincidence so I went straight in search of the fuse box.

Imagine my surprise when I found this, what in the name of all that's holy were MB doing using continental fuses in 1994?!

I have previous with these pieces of crap in my Acadiane, they make the Lucas glass fuses look like paragons of reliability.

Anyway most of them turned to powder when I wiggled them but the one decent spare got the lights working again.

But now the heater fan has packed up, so I'm waiting for a bag of them to arrive.

I'm hoping this is just the shock of regular use to the car after a few years of hardly any miles, and not the reason why it did so few miles!

[N Dentressangle]

They really are total shit, aren't they? I bought a bag of new ones for the 924 glove box to go with the small piece of sandpaper I keep there. I agree - never thought I'd look at a Lucas glass fuse with any fondness either, but here we are 🤣

[Zelandeth]

I thought this thing seemed like an anachronism on my S123...

It was definitely consistently a pain in the neck the whole time I had the car.

It's even worse than it was in years gone by now as all of the new fuses in that style I've come across in the last ~20 years have a plastic rather than ceramic core, so as soon as they get vaguely warm the core will just melt.

[lesapandre]

On 16/02/2026 at 17:11, Surface Rust said:

As mentioned, this drove wonderfully on my trip home, but as I wafted through the Dartford tunnel and turned the lights on a bulb out warning light pinged on.  No problem thought I, a bulb is an easy fix.

A quick tinkering session the next day revealed that only the nearside lights were illuminating. This felt too much like a coincidence so I went straight in search of the fuse box.

Imagine my surprise when I found this, what in the name of all that's holy were MB doing using continental fuses in 1994?!

I have previous with these pieces of crap in my Acadiane, they make the Lucas glass fuses look like paragons of reliability.

Anyway most of them turned to powder when I wiggled them but the one decent spare got the lights working again.

But now the heater fan has packed up, so I'm waiting for a bag of them to arrive.

I'm hoping this is just the shock of regular use to the car after a few years of hardly any miles, and not the reason why it did so few miles!

Probably needs a fuse box service. One of the quirks of mid -period MB:

Look for some good spare replacement fuses too. Online forums will give suppliers etc.

Servicing:

These are prone to wiring degrading - I've not experienced it but they do - fuel line blockage, fuel pump failure and heater failure. Latter will be the duo-valve if no heat.

Also look at distributor & rotor arm on front of engine if it's a petrol. They cook their leads too. Treat it to decent plugs.

Amazing cars tho. 👏 

[Surface Rust]

On 18/02/2026 at 19:40, lesapandre said:

Probably needs a fuse box service. One of the quirks of mid -period MB:

Look for some good spare replacement fuses too. Online forums will give suppliers etc.

Servicing:

These are prone to wiring degrading - I've not experienced it but they do - fuel line blockage, fuel pump failure and heater failure. Latter will be the duo-valve if no heat.

Also look at distributor & rotor arm on front of engine if it's a petrol. They cook their leads too. Treat it to decent plugs.

Amazing cars tho. 👏 

I did a full fuse box service as suggested.

Before:

After:

A subtle difference I grant you, but electrically significant. It brought everything back to life (even the bits I haggled the previous owner down on!). Very chuffed - thanks.

[vaughant]

Great looking Merc that 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻.

SAAB super cool as well, always fancied a 900.

[Surface Rust]

 

Overdue update.

With electricity making its way everywhere it's meant to, I gave the W124 a service and pressed it into everyday use to gain confidence.

It is such a relaxing way to travel, unlike anything I've owned before.

Looks good too, even if I'm biased!

The Saab has also been racking up the miles, dragging the caravan* up to the Peak District for child distraction purposes during the holidays.

Which brings us back to the Rover. Glacial progress would be an understatement, after an initial surge of enthusiasm I reached the point of maximum dismantlement and promptly lost confidence and mojo. This concided with removing the windscreen to fix the serious leaks it had it wet weather. The seal was so brittle chunks were snapping of it as it came out. Well overdue, but I was left with a crusty frame and a strong feeling I'd bitten off more than I could chew.

This seems to be a theme with larger projects I do, so to try and break the curse I forced myself to do little bits until it felt like I'd crested the hump.

First, cleaning up the windscreen frame, which was a great success and much better than it looked.

Next was removing the wrecked original heater and replacing it with a reconditioned* one I'd snapped up cheaply on eBay.

 

It's only when I posted this I realised that the stamped 'Smiths' on the cover is missing. That's going to bug me more than it ever should!

So I now have a fully functional heater valve and fully mobile blend flaps (everything was seized before).  I even lubricated the motor bearings to try and eliminate an annoying squeal on startup. That worked precisely long enough for me to think it was fixed, put it back in the car and then try it before it started squealing again. Arses.

[Surface Rust]

Fed up with heaters I turned my attention back to the clutch and gearbox.

I got the old clutch next to the new one to check it looked right, and noticed some odd wear marks on the internal rivets. Circled below:

After every other red herring, I think the noise from the clutch was actually due to wear on the friction plate causing the clutch to rub on the flywheel. This was so slight it only occurred when it was cold, and only intermittently.  

Feeling more confident I bunged the flywheel back on, and torqued up the bolts. In a rare moment of forward planning I'd even ordered some Loctite 243 to make sure to avoid catastrophe.

No, I didn't notice either. Don't eBay after alcohol kids!

Still, it seemed to do the job. Flywheel didn't fall off.

Clutch followed suit using the bespoke alignment tool.

And the gearbox using the patented twin trolley system.

That brings us up to date. It's only been 4 months so far!

 

[Surface Rust]

Maintaining momentum* on the P4, my 'to do' list had originally been:

- knackered gearbox mount

- leaking core plug

- scary clutch noises

-very, very broken exhaust manifold

-leaky windscreen 

-petrol smells 

I bravely reckoned I'd fixed the first three, so I started on the rest. 

The manifold turned out to have suffered a 'two piece' failure mode, I don't think it's very uncommon with these, they obviously have a finite number of heat cycles they can take.  Old manifold - note the bandage , an ineffectual attempt to reduce the fumes and noise!

And new one fitted:

I'd like to personally thank the designer that ensured the use of sockets was impossible, and that a 1/8th of a turn of an open ended spanner was all you'd get on these nuts. Cheers.

Anyway, another one ticked off the list!

Next:

This seal leaked when I bought the Rover, and funnily enough it hadn't improved in the 14years since! It was so brittle it broke of in chunks.

The P4 is unusual in that the screen goes in from the inside.  There are about a dozen fiddly brackets to remove and the top of the dash and front of the roof lining has to come out.

I've been putting this job off for 14 years because of this, but to be honest these cars are so well made it was simple take apart (apart from trying to find spanners and sockets to fit some weird BA sizes).

The frame needed a bit of cleaning up, but looked ok with a bit of paint.

I actually bought the new seal when I bought the car, and when I tried to fit it to the screen it seemed to have shrunk. MacGyver skills to the rescue:

24hrs later and it fitted like a glove!

The next stages are poorly documented as I was a little stressed and covered in screen sealant. A couple of pics once I'd got my shit together:

And fully installed:

I'm not going to rush to do that again. It better be bloody watertight!

[Zelandeth]

12 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Maintaining momentum* on the P4, my 'to do' list had originally been:

- knackered gearbox mount

- leaking core plug

- scary clutch noises

-very, very broken exhaust manifold

-leaky windscreen 

-petrol smells 

I bravely reckoned I'd fixed the first three, so I started on the rest. 

The manifold turned out to have suffered a 'two piece' failure mode, I don't think it's very uncommon with these, they obviously have a finite number of heat cycles they can take.  Old manifold - note the bandage , an ineffectual attempt to reduce the fumes and noise!

And new one fitted:

I'd like to personally thank the designer that ensured the use of sockets was impossible, and that a 1/8th of a turn of an open ended spanner was all you'd get on these nuts. Cheers.

Anyway, another one ticked off the list!

Next:

This seal leaked when I bought the Rover, and funnily enough it hadn't improved in the 14years since! It was so brittle it broke of in chunks.

The P4 is unusual in that the screen goes in from the inside.  There are about a dozen fiddly brackets to remove and the top of the dash and front of the roof lining has to come out.

I've been putting this job off for 14 years because of this, but to be honest these cars are so well made it was simple take apart (apart from trying to find spanners and sockets to fit some weird BA sizes).

The frame needed a bit of cleaning up, but looked ok with a bit of paint.

I actually bought the new seal when I bought the car, and when I tried to fit it to the screen it seemed to have shrunk. MacGyver skills to the rescue:

24hrs later and it fitted like a glove!

The next stages are poorly documented as I was a little stressed and covered in screen sealant. A couple of pics once I'd got my shit together:

And fully installed:

I'm not going to rush to do that again. It better be bloody watertight!

I have the screen seal game to come on mine.  Not looking forward to it!

[Surface Rust]

7 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

I have the screen seal game to come on mine.  Not looking forward to it!

This guide is invaluable, and wholly accurate!:

Rover P4 windscreen removal and replacement https://share.google/6REeandxOUQ4cipa9

Note the position of all the internal brackets before dismantling, use plenty of lube for the trim ( I used red rubber grease), and plenty of sealant in the body and screen grooves. You need to completely remove the loom from inside the pillars to get it in, it's very tight.

Happy to answer any questions!

[lisbon_road]

Thanks for sharing all the work you are doing.  A great encouragement for the rest of us.  

[Angrydicky]

Great work! I hate fitting windscreen seals. You’ve done a neat job there. It should* be watertight if you’ve got enough sealant in there!

[Surface Rust]

Home straight now, just the petrol smells to deal with.

I had already replaced all the fuel hoses under the bonnet a couple of years ago (not long after I had an almost new one disintegrate in my mini with potentially disasterous results) so I was pretty confident the problem lay elsewhere.

I was particularly suspicious of this rats nest around the fuel pump:

So it all got chopped out. I also tested the pump as the reserve function has never worked, both ends seem to work fine, the problem must be in the wiring or switch. That's a problem for another day!

When reconnecting the pump I noted the the line running to the carb was nylon which I knew as the line under the bonnet is also nylon. However one end was clear, and the other was black. There must be another join somewhere in-between.

Sure enough, hidden up between the chassis rails i saw some jubilee clips and a short length of rubber hose.

Which was totally fucked.

Narrow escape there I reckon!

I also checked out the fuel filler hose, not expecting to find anything as I had already replaced it when I bought the car.

Curse of modern (ok, 14 years old!) rubber!

Replacing this is a pain in the arse, you are working through the equivalent of a letter box trying to fit two hoses at once. No fun.

All done I released the jack and promptly got it jammed under the car with the exhaust clamp preventing me raising it again. FFS, It's like a comedy of errors in my garage.

[Surface Rust]

Back in front line service now, successfully made it to and from my daughter's swimming lesson without any issues and a lovely smooth, quiet clutch, no exhaust and petrol fumes, and a non-bouncy speedo! (I forgot to mention I changed the cable whilst the 'box was out)

[TrabbieRonnie]

1 hour ago, Surface Rust said:

Back in front line service now, successfully made it to and from my daughter's swimming lesson without any issues and a lovely smooth, quiet clutch, no exhaust and petrol fumes, and a non-bouncy speedo! (I forgot to mention I changed the cable whilst the 'box was out)

Excellent!  I confess I didn't think about accessing the filler pipe from the spare wheel drawer when I refitted the tank...  T'was a bugger to get right from underneath too!

Well done, I'll be referring to this thread in future I'm sure 👍.

[Surface Rust]

Took some photos tonight to prove it moves 

A robust symbol of timeless durability, and a church.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Took some photos tonight to prove it moves 

A robust symbol of timeless durability, and a church.

That's looking great!

[TrabbieRonnie]

2 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Took some photos tonight to prove it moves 

A robust symbol of timeless durability, and a church.

Bloody lovely, well done 👌

[McRusty]

Can I ask what tyres you chaps have on your P4's? Availability seems restricted to van tyres or Blockley, which are prohibitively expensive.

[TrabbieRonnie]

2 hours ago, McRusty said:

Can I ask what tyres you chaps have on your P4's? Availability seems restricted to van tyres or Blockley, which are prohibitively expensive.

I've got Radar Dimax Classics, only 2500 miles on them, but a very nice running tyre.  Looks the part also, some modern sizes seem to look a bit lost in the front arch.

I got mine from Camskill, online order, they deliver quick too.

[Zelandeth]

Hankook Centums on mine - though I'd absolutely not recommend them as they're perishing already despite only having been on the car a year.

Far lighter on the steering than the Hi-Fly ones which came on my last one.  They were atrocious in the wet as well - I think it was down to the compound just being so hard, there was just zero adhesion and it would lock the brakes at virtually any opportunity.  Fine enough in the dry, just hated the wet.

I'm probably going to sigh and just pay through the nose for one of the classic focused tyres when I replace these.  Honestly for the ride comfort side of things more than anything else.  Reckon the car will see regular enough use I might actually get their full life out of them before they perish away to nothing.  Or I'll baulk at the price again and end up with a van tyre again... probably depends which way the wind is blowing the day I change them!

Blockley's offering actually looks good value compared to most of the classic focused tyres in the same size.  Do have to wonder how big the markup on some of these are because the sellers know that folks with the likes of Aston DB5s (which use this size from memory) have deep pockets so they can get away with it!

[McRusty]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Hankook Centums on mine - though I'd absolutely not recommend them as they're perishing already despite only having been on the car a year.

Far lighter on the steering than the Hi-Fly ones which came on my last one.  They were atrocious in the wet as well - I think it was down to the compound just being so hard, there was just zero adhesion and it would lock the brakes at virtually any opportunity.  Fine enough in the dry, just hated the wet.

I'm probably going to sigh and just pay through the nose for one of the classic focused tyres when I replace these.  Honestly for the ride comfort side of things more than anything else.  Reckon the car will see regular enough use I might actually get their full life out of them before they perish away to nothing.  Or I'll baulk at the price again and end up with a van tyre again... probably depends which way the wind is blowing the day I change them!

Blockley's offering actually looks good value compared to most of the classic focused tyres in the same size.  Do have to wonder how big the markup on some of these are because the sellers know that folks with the likes of Aston DB5s (which use this size from memory) have deep pockets so they can get away with it!

Agree on the potential mark up cost!

Apologies for hijacking your thread Surface Rust!

[Surface Rust]

No worries, it's all helpful info, I've got some fairly cheap Federal 185r15 car tyres though I can't see them advertised anywhere at the moment. 

Can't say I've ever found the grip lacking, even in winter, though they are a lot heavier to steer than the cross plies they replaced.

I'd avoid anything with a profile less than 80 as they just look wrong, and apparently commercial tyres give a harsh ride.