[Advice please] Rover 25 head gasket failure, repair or replace

fRostiE

fRostiE

fRostiE

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Hi,

Looking for some advice on this one... repair or replace?

Car in question is a 1.4 Rover 25 (2005) - Its done approx 85,000. Think its worth around £1000??

Diagnosed as a head gasket failure at the roadside in under 1 minute (mayo under the cap) by an exuberant recovery driver, recovered back to our house and reversed onto the back of the drive where its sat for a few weeks.

Cost to repair it coming out at £750, but with warnings of:
"Even if you repair it, it may go again shortly after..."

Wife quite likes the car, size wise and it has enough 'go' for her needs. We're on the fence in terms of repairing it or replacing it.

Currently saving to move house, so could replace the car but it sets us back somewhat.

Is it a no brainier, scrap it and replace?
 
750 to repair a HGF is a joke. It shouldnt be more than £350. Even then, its not really worth spendig that on a rover 25, they just arent worth that much now.
 
Mobile mechanic will do it for £295 plus fuel - http://www.mg-rovermobilemechanics.com/
Includes most of the items that could've caused the failure, but you do need to diagnose the original cause of the gasket letting go otherwise it will indeed go again.
As above, it's a sizeable portion of the car's value if not the same as a replacement would cost, but if she likes the car and it's OK apart from that, I'd consider getting it repaired - better the devil you know and if the head gasket and other items have all been replaced at least it's something you shouldn't need to worry about for a while, plus the linked company do provide a warranty with their repair. I'm not associated with them btw but did use them for a few bits on my MG and always had good service, they get generally positive writeups on the MG/Rover forums as well.
 
Tinders said:
750 to repair a HGF is a joke. It shouldnt be more than £350. Even then, its not really worth spendig that on a rover 25, they just arent worth that much now.
Click to expand...

If it includes engineering work, cambelt kit, waterspump and flushes plus oil and filter then they do come out around 600/650

Anything around 300 is just a new gasket slid in and another failure waiting to happen.
 
These rovers are notorious for head gasket failure around that mileage. So much so i thought it was routine to replace them around 60k when servicing. They are pretty straight forward to do and its probably worth doing if you're fond of the car.
 
I repaired a gasket on an old mg zs, think the k series is different to that in the rover? Anyway it went again about 2 months after and was never the same.
 
Rover 25s are renowned for it due to the floating cylinders. You can repair it but there's a significant chance it'll happen again.
 
dalin80 said:
If it includes engineering work, cambelt kit, waterspump and flushes plus oil and filter then they do come out around 600/650

Anything around 300 is just a new gasket slid in and another failure waiting to happen.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, its a fair bit cheaper round here, admittedly cambelt isnt included, but the head is skimmed/pressure tested etc.
 
FWIW mayo under the cap doesn't mean the head gasket has gone..

anyway, if it has £750 is a joke. It's common on the engines, which means lots of places do it and have done it many times - so it should be cheap.

As advised earlier in the thread, there are uprated gaskets that can be used. Ones from the Freelander iirc.
 
Well its worthless with a blown gasket, may I suggest joing a 25 forum and learning about it.

Its not as a big as a task as one might think. I done a 8v mk2 punto with only service/brakes experience before.

Id imagine there would be plenty of people on there who would come and do it for you too if you dont feel like giving it a go. Like I say though may aswell have a go/learn as its worthless as is.

Also as said mayo is a common sign but it really needs to be compression tested.

Sean
 
Bottom line is... if you want the job done properly, you are likely to have to skim the head and the block, IF, it overheated when the head gasket went. If you don't the gasket won't seal properly and it'll go again.

Do you have a money for a new car? Can you afford the repair?
 
Scougar said:
Bottom line is... if you want the job done properly, you are likely to have to skim the head and the block,
Click to expand...

The head should never be skimmed unless absolutely required, because doing so compromises it's hardness. The only time the head tends to get damaged enough to require a skim is if it's been badly overheated, and this softens the alloy so it's likely that a repair won't last. If the engine has not overheated then a skim should not be required. If it has, then a new/secondhand head is a better idea.

The block should not be skimmed at all. The headgasket relies on the liners standing proud of the block by a defined amount to ensure cylinder sealing, and skimming the block would increase this which would compromise sealing of the coolant and oil passages.

For a permanent repair, it's important to measure the liner heights, and if within tolerance use the steel shim gasket. If not, use the latest design of copper/elastomer gasket which can cope with a greater variation in liner height.

You just can't treat a K-Series like an old fashioned Crossflow or Pinto. It's doing this that has given the engine the reputation that a head gasket replacement will fail again. It will, if it's not done correctly.

£750 seems a lot of money, even to do a really thorough job, though I suppose most of that will be very expensive labour.
 
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