Broken car - Any ideas

Neodite

Neodite

Neodite

Soldato
Joined
10 Sep 2008
Posts
2,570
Location
Grendon
Hello all, im not very car savvi but ill try and explain as best i can..

I have a Rover 200 (lol i know) and last week driving to work id come up to a round about, break, slow down and clutch, and then the car would under rev and stall (while still going around 10mph) this happend about 3 more times before i decided to pull into a petrol station and check oil/water etc. before operning the bonnet i noticed how i can only descibe as brown goo :confused: ! Then after operning the bonnet there was more brown stuff but this had gone dry (over the rocker cover and pretty much everywhere else too)

The oil and water where both pretty low, so i topped them both up and went on my way (work was only just round the corner) and it did it again while pulling into work.. After work i decided to drive up and down the road next to work to see if it was still happerning (it was) and also when i pulled up (out of gear, handbreak etc.) it was idling like a mad man, dropping down to allmost stalling and then revving itself too 2k and back again over and over.

Hope ive explained this well enough for somone to have an idea what is wrong, as now the car is stuck at my g/f's house unable to move it as of yesterday it fails to even start.

So if anyone knows what this could be, any ruff ideas of a price? Is the car doomed? If so spec me a family car for £500 :confused::confused::(

Oh one more thing, the cambelt was changed about 13k ago, its now done 81k
 
Sounds Like the dreaded Head Gasket Mate. Would explain the brown goo..

A mechanic can check this quite easily with a special device that attaches to the header tank.Try not to drive it too much as more damage could be done.
 
Sorry i ment headgasket in my first post, not cam belt lol.

Could it have gone so quickly after being replaced? no chance of driving it either as it wont even start :(

Going to have it towed home tonight and get it booked in with a machanic, just wondering if anyone could shed some light while i wait
 
I'm looking at getting a rover 25 / 200. (1.4)

How much ££ is a head gasket replacement if it goes?

Sorry to hijack :)

Also - Would anyone happen to know what sort of mileage they tend to go at?
 
Neodite said:
Sorry i ment headgasket in my first post, not cam belt lol.

Could it have gone so quickly after being replaced? no chance of driving it either as it wont even start :(
Click to expand...

Yes it could go this quickly, if whoever replaced it didn't know what they were doing. If there is brown goop everywhere then sadly headgasket failure is an almost 100% certainty.

Cr0fty said:
I'm looking at getting a rover 25 / 200. (1.4)

How much ££ is a head gasket replacement if it goes?
Click to expand...

It varies hugely, from £300 to £7-800 depending on the garage. If the engine overheats badly then the head will probably be scrap, so stop immediately if a K series shows signs of coolant loss (e.g. overheating, or sudden drop in temperature, heater stops working).
 
Neodite said:
Sorry i ment headgasket in my first post, not cam belt lol.

Could it have gone so quickly after being replaced? no chance of driving it either as it wont even start :(

Going to have it towed home tonight and get it booked in with a machanic, just wondering if anyone could shed some light while i wait
Click to expand...

For Sure mate, As dogbreath says - if it hasn't been done correctly the first time then 2 to 3K (If you're Lucky) down the road it can go again. You need to know if the head has been skimmed last time it was done as this is so very often overlooked and as such will cause another hg failure must sooner than it should.
 
UPDATE: Well when arriving to tow the car last night, had a look under the bonnet (with some light for a change) and there was a large rip in one of the hoses (doh) and it smells like oil? its comming from the right side of the dead and looks like it then goes into the car. checked the oil too and it was nearly bone dry (its been sat there pretty much scince i filled it up)

so sorted the hose out, now just gotta wait to put some oil in and give it ago, so fingers crossed. But with there being no oil im not going to hold my breath
 
Be careful mate, the head gasket failure could defiantly cause the hose to go as the compression from the cylinders will get into the cooling system thus pressurising it to the point that the hose will split/fail. Also the sudden oil loss again indicates HG failure if there are no obvious signs of where its gone ie leaks etc. Remove the oil filler cap and look for signs of white sludge, check the header tank for oil as well.
 
No white sludge. The machanic has it now, he got it started, but says there is white smoke and something about it not fireing up right. So going to pop round there tonight and see what he says. Im still hoping its not the headgasket (well anything not to pricey, as the car aint worth a lot to start with)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom