Roverjoyed. ABS woes resolved, MOT? Completed it mate (Rover 800 content)

[Lord Sterling]

Nice

[RoadworkUK]

Floor mats arrived yesterday, and damn spiffing they are too.

 

100% Genuine VINTAGE NOS Rover 800 Prestige mats. £12ish quid a set plus semi-exorbitant postage charge. From Rimmer Bros.

 

 

Check out the "Back in time" packaging, straight off the shelf of your friendly local Rover dealership.

 

I bought two sets, one for use, one to tuck away packaged up for future concours (!) work or simply to watch the values spiral upwards, which will definitely happen, like.

 

Put them in the car last night, before it started to blezz it down. Mobile Phone Flash Photography not the best.... it actually DOES look better in the flesh.

 

 

 

 

My interior is now even more of a riot of beigeness, and is now upgraded to nigh-on full old war-hero-giffer-spec. I luvzit. Cheers for the help, mate.

[Lord Sterling]

Very NICE!

 

Your 800s interior just looks showroom fresh. I do like a good set of OE floormats, they really pick up the interior of a car, I've even got a set in my Micra. I too have 2 Rover floor mats sets in Beige exactly the same as yours.

[ProgRocker]

Very NICE!

 

Your 800s interior just looks showroom fresh.

 

Quite agree. Very impressive.

[Futuramic]

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/rover8002000/23102011152.jpg

 

That's fecking hilarious.

 

Love to try one sometime. When I was younger my friend's parents had a green Rover 600 2.0 litre. It was generally immaculate and I think they bought it new. Sadly gone now but they ran it for ten years at least. It was lovely. Truly so. I relished having lifts about in it. There was something of an air of unpretentious luxury about the interior. Unfounded I suspect but nice without being flashy. Like the parlour of a family living in genteel poverty. I digress. As a passenger the engine always seemed willing. It was a manual and the changes were delightfully smooth. Nice looking car too in Racing Green.

 

Must be even better with MOAR POWERH. Theirs had a grey leather interior which looked fantastic. I see that yours has velour. Must be more comfortable anyway.

[RoadworkUK]

Thanks for the kind words, chaps, despite the lukewarm subject matter!

 

Truth is it's only, say, 93% mint, actually. The drivers seat has suffered some transfer of trouser-colouration. I'm torn as to whether I would have preferred leather. I have it in the Audi, and love it, but equally I think the ultra-plush piped velour in the Rover somehow suits it, too. Adds to the cosiness of the whole place, like settling back in Grandads favourite armchair.

[Lord Sterling]

Leather is really nice, you can get piped leather interior in exactly the same colours, its just a matter of emailing a few breakers on ebay/rover sites to see if they what you want. You can wrap up the velour seats and keep them stored safe and dry.

 

Another suggestion I forgot to add is, if you want to go the whole Grandad mile, you might want to get some rubber over mats and stick them on top of your new mats, or at least on the drivers side seeing as that the place that gets most usage. In all my 3 Rovers I have a rubber Rover mats, mainly because the deep pile mats they came with only ever came as a set of 3. All other mat sets came as 4.

[RoadworkUK]

So, everything has been splendid for a long while, and I've got lovely spangly floor mats and everything.

 

But as of last Sunday I hadn't actually been able to drive it anywhere. The clutch pedal always did have a lot of travel in it, but about a fortnight ago it got to a point where the pedal had to go right to the limit of its travel in order to let me change gear. On my last journey from work to home, the pedal itself would skulk down by the bulkhead and I'd have to hook it back up with the tip of a size 13. Not ideal.

 

It also meant that I couldn't do the whole "competitive Grandad" thing away from the lights, 'cos I couldn't change deftly from first to second. So, of course, something hd to be done. Into the workshop we went; a good chance to try out the new ramps my Dad bought only to find that his 540 won't go up them.

 

 

Anyway. My totally unqualified diagnosis was a lack of hydraulic pressure in the clutch system. The 825 has a standalone system of clutch hydraulics, not linked with the brake system as some do. A look at the murky old shit in the reservoir revealed that it seemed likely that the car had never had a fluid transplant, so I bought some. My guess was that the master cylinder would have been at fault, possibly the internal seals (a known weakpoint) aren't actually allowing enough pressure to build up. This would mean ether stripping the master cylinder down and replacing the seals, (about £ or replacing it altogether. (£108).

 

Against all my usual ethics, I went the £108 route.

 

So, in usual 800 fashion, the master cylinder is a bastard to get to. It would be fine if there weren't a horrible non-structural crossmember blocking it; non-removable thanks to the inlet manifold, brake master cylinder and ECU being bolted to it.

 

 

But at least I'd found it. You're looking at the back of the cylinder, and the damper. The actual cylinder sticks through the bulkhead where the piston attaches to the pedal by way of a short pushrod.

 

Anyway, the first stage of the process was to purge the system of fluid. Then, I thought, let's see what a fluid change on its own can do.

 

 

Went under the car to the bleed nipple on the slave cylinder, employing Dad to stroke the clutch pedal. First stroke and, well, a lot of air came out. This was a good sign. The next couple of strokes brought less air and more fluid and then gradually it switched to fluid only. We fed enough through that I can say the liquid now in the system is new and clean.

 

Immediately we both saw a big improvement in pedal feel, from fucking hopeless to simply poor. Next step, I thought, was to take it for a drive to see how bad it still was.

 

Well, there's still a lot of pedal travel, but I no longer have to push it right to the stop to effect a change. I can change gear quickly like I used to be able to.

 

Thing is, when Dad had a drive he confirmed that, to him, it still feels bloody awful. Thw question is; are Rover 825 KV6 clutch pedals bloody awful generally, or is there a problem, Houston?

 

A look in the Haynes manual suggests that you adjust the pedal height if you replace the clutch. Hmm, Pedal Height; could this have an effect on the travel? We had a look in the footwell and found the adjuster nut, in the least accessible position it could possibly be. Thing is, I'm 6'5" and have a large cranium and there was NO WAY I could get in there worth a shit. Fortunately my Dad is considerably shorter, so I employed him at the cost of a lovely cuppa.

 

 

He gave up, too, cup of tea or none. Bollocks to it.

 

So, the state of play is this: The car is now completely driveable even though the clutch pedal still has quite a long throw, but I can't remember how it's supposed to feel. I'm going to start driving it again to see if it gets any worse. If it doesn't then I'll probably live with it until I'm in the mood to investigate further.

 

It it does go downhill again, well, firstly I'll change the master cylinder. I have it, all safe and paid for, so that's the next step. The only thing that frightens me a little is that the symptom of excess pedal travel could also stem from a lack of clutch material. I've dismissed this as the cause so far simply because of how rapidly it changed from good to bad, but have to admit it could still be the culprit. I really don't fancy changing the clutch at all, so lets hope it's the master cylinder. Or maybe there's still some air left somewhere in the system?

 

Watch this space.

[dollywobbler]

Presumably there's a slave somewhere? Hope it isn't hiding inside the bellhousing like it is on my 75... (the thought of that makes me cringe slightly and I've noticed that I avoid keeping the clutch down for longer than a few seconds at any point! Don't stress it!)

[RoadworkUK]

Presumably there's a slave somewhere? Hope it isn't hiding inside the bellhousing like it is on my 75... (the thought of that makes me cringe slightly and I've noticed that I avoid keeping the clutch down for longer than a few seconds at any point! Don't stress it!)

 

Yep, there is one; it's on the bellhousing (On the outside, i believe, (I hope, anyway) but I haven't explored to see just how much of a swine would be to replace.

[dollywobbler]

I'd have a good glance for leaks from either cylinder. Not sure how you really go about testing them for internal failure though.

[RoadworkUK]

I'd have a good glance for leaks from either cylinder. Not sure how you really go about testing them for internal failure though.

 

Yeh, nothing obvious seen, I do have a power steering leak, though! Bloody annoying trying to diagnose stuff with no sign of leakage. I've run out of arsed today, though. I'll see how horrible it is this coming week.

[Rod/b]

You'll need to try and bleed the system at the slave cylinder too i'd have thought. Whilst you've got the air out of the master cylinder and refreshed the fluid everything forward of that will still be full of old shit and air.

[RoadworkUK]

You'll need to try and bleed the system at the slave cylinder too i'd have thought.

 

I've only bled it at the nipple on the slave, there's no bleed point at the master (that I know of) other than disconnecting the pipework.

 

Didn't half have some shit in it, though!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

As far as the pedal adjustment goes, I think the only adjustment is to make sure it settles at the same height as the brake pedal, if its doing that its adjusted OK.

 

I would just carry on using it, one of two things will happen - the pedal feel will steadily improve with use as any last bits of air are battered out of the system, or it will bugger up and you'll have to replace the master cylinder. My money's on the former belileve it or not! Might be worth bleeding it through again in a couple of weeks to 'refresh' the fluid again.

[dollywobbler]

The Range Rover managed to self-bleed its clutch. Pedal went all funny (the morning I needed to go and collect the BX!) so topped up fluid and hoped for the best. Pedal improved on that trip and after a bit more driving, it did sort itself out. Was perfectly correct by the time I sold it. I think steep inclines can help, though I don't recommend taking the Rover off-roading...

[Volksy]

I had a similar problem on a Saab 9000, after the slave failed. It was very difficult to bleed, but in the end using it, as Mr Bol quite rightly says, seemed to work wonders.

[RoadworkUK]

Splendid! Just drive on and pretend it never happened! Sounds good to me. I might even come over all brave and take the master cyl back to Car Spares! Thanks guys.

[RoadworkUK]

Elegant little wisps of lovely, playful, joyous steam curled prettily from my front grille in traffic this morning. Truthfully I'd noticed it before; in fact every single morning this week ghosts of steam have lazily eminated from the underbonnet area, I'd put it down to evaporation of one of the myriad fluids that are leaking from my car.

 

Yes; I CAN HAZ MENNY LEAKZ. Every fucking thing is leaking, or so it seems. The clutch is definitely leaking, I've known this for a while and done absolutely sod all constructive about it. The power steering leaks from around a union in the pressurised part of the hydraulic circuit (my ghetto-solution is likely to be wrapping the offending union tightly with self-amalgamating tape), and now I have a coolant leak.

 

Actually, that's bollocks. I believe I have a split in the radiator, as all the steam seems to be coming from a specific patch of the centre of the front face of the rad.

 

So:

 

 

Yes, the appropriately named K(V6)-Seal. A bottle of pour 'n hope, please. Tenner. Well, cheaper than a new radiator.

 

 

I administered it in the Sainsburys filling station. Attracted a good few glances; must all have been Rover 800 enthusiasts.

 

In other news, my previous posts in this thread relate to a problem with the clutch master cylinder. Well, of course, THERE IS NOTHING WHATSOEVER WRONG WITH THE MASTER CYLINDER. Never was, actually. To make the car driveable I bled the system from the bleed nipple on the slave cylinder; that was about a month ago. All was well until, last Sunday, I drove back from Colchester and found some of the gears somewhat hit and miss. By Tuesday I had a box full of false neutrals, no 2nd or 5th and a reverse that made me sound like Maureen from Driving School every time I attempted backwardsness.

 

Time to bleed it again. This time I made the job easier by sticking it in the workshop and throwing a Mercedes-Benz qualified technician at it. It was bled in 5 minutes at the cost of four cans of wifebeater. And I stole the fluid I topped it up with. We did discover, though, completely inevitably, that the slave cylinder is actually FUBAR'd. Th piston gaiter is all that's preventing all the clutch fluid flowing over my parent's heavily Rover-Stained blockpaving.

 

So a new clutch slave cylinder is in order. But it'll have to wait until the new year, maybe longer if the house move happens. Hmmm.

[ashmicro]

That plate's quality! Your workmates must think a lot of you to go to the bother.

[Lord Sterling]

Good luck to you Earl. These Rover 800s really do keep us on our toes Mine has been doing STERLING work so far so good, though will have to replace the expansion tank at some stage.

[RoadworkUK]

Thanks chaps.

 

Early signs are that the Kettle-Seal has done its job; the guys in the workshop who all chorused "OMG HEADGASKET!!!" can all stop sniggering for the time being. A nice run into town yesterday for Christmas Shopping (that'll be TK-Maxx then) saw none of the cirrus-like phantoms of steam that I'd seen during the week.

 

Clutch bodge is holding out, too.

 

BUT! Power steering is making a particularly bovine noise from cold. As you say, Lord Sterling, an 800 is a bit like a puppy or a small child with attention defecit disorder. Always nagging you for attention. Bless 'em.

[Lord Sterling]

Check that the power steering pipes arent leaking. The noise description sounds the same as the one I had in the 820e, as I parked up the noise got worse and it sprang a leak. I got myself a new power steering pipe made up at Pirtek. New pipes for newer 800s like your should be easily obtainable.

[RoadworkUK]

So. MOT is due on the 17th of this month. Rover needs a few jobs doing (as you all know by now) and I have a theoretically perfectly good (but dull) Audi A4 locked away in the garage that hasn't been driven for six months.

 

So, I figure I'll just throw an MOT at it, run it for six months through all the OMG SNOW KAOS that we're not going to get this year, then switch back to the Rover in July when I fancy working air conditioning again. I booked the MOT for friday, thought "I can just swap my insurance from the Rover to the Audi, to commence as of Friday morning".

 

Phoned the RAC who I'm policied up with at the moment. Said my circumstances hadn't changed, still live in a low-risk postcode (CO13), still keep the car garaged, still only pleasure use and commuting. It's just I'll be swapping from a 1997 car of zero value with a 2497cc engine, to a 1998 car of negligable value with a 1781cc engine (and a little bitty turbocharger jut to increase the fuel consumption a little).

 

Quote went from an already unreasonable £421 for the Rover, to £fucking635.

 

!!!! !!!!! !!!11111!! !!!111 ELevEn11111!!1!1!!!!!!!! Bastard fucking caaahhnts. Another two hundred sovs extra.

 

Time to speak to some of those magical independent brokers I've heard about and talk about agreed mileages.

[RoadworkUK]

 

That's my Rover, that is. Abandoned on a patch of waste ground next to the dealership, where we all park during the day. The time is 18:08, I've just attempted to drive home after work.

 

There's a Mercedes A-Class on my drive right now 'cos my boss took pity on me.

 

Note to self. Fix things while they're going wrong, not when they've actually failed. I AR A TOOL.

[AnthonyG]

I'd be waking up the Audi this weekend if I was you.

 

Whats wrong with the Rover?

[RoadworkUK]

Clutch slave cylinder. Of course.

 

I'll just have to throw megabucks at insuring the Audi (which is out of MOT and needs a battery). The Rover MOT lapses on the 17th and there's no way I'll have got it fixed by then!

 

If it wasn't for Felly and his whiplash claims..... (only joking)

[Pete-M]

 

It's calling........ Mmmm, crisp tenners.

[AnthonyG]

^^Evil man !

[RoadworkUK]

 

It's calling........ Mmmm, crisp tenners.

 

I fart in your general direction!