Possible HGF - Spec new car please!

ja3h

ja3h

ja3h

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Joined
28 Jun 2005
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997
Location
London
I suspect my Rover 200 has HGF, it's shown symptoms of it and I've booked it into the garage tomorrow morning. (Main symptom is loss of coolant)

I bought it about 3 years ago for £1k and it's served me well.

If it is HGF I'll be looking to get a new used car.

I commute to work on train & tube so I'd only really use it on the weekends and short shopping trips. 70-80 miles a week I reckon.

As I don't use the car much I don't want to spend that much money on it. Around 2k but I can spend more if it's worth it.

What should I be looking out for?
<£2000
Not outrageous to insure or tax
"reliable"
Nice interior
Not slow
 
You don't want to spend 200 quid on a car you know but you want to spend 2k on a car you don't know, I am Confuse.
 
Where is he going to get his Headgasket done for £250?

A head set, stretch bolts and cambelt alone total over £100. By the time it has been skimmed that leaves just £100 for labour?
 
MikeHiow said:
Where is he going to get his Headgasket done for £250?

A head set, stretch bolts and cambelt alone total over £100. By the time it has been skimmed that leaves just £100 for labour?
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Depends on severity of the issue surely.
 
Not really, the only optional thing would be the skim, but I think you'd have to be an idiot to avoid the skim after a K-Series has suffered HGF.
 
He said its showing symptoms, rather than a full blow out. Would that not have an effect on the cost to correct it?
 
MikeHiow said:
Not really, the only optional thing would be the skim, but I think you'd have to be an idiot to avoid the skim after a K-Series has suffered HGF.
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Once the alloy head has had localised annealing on the K you're never going to fix it. The issue is the flatness off the block side interface rather than the head anyway, no need to skim and how do you correct the timing offset?
 
As far as block-side is concerned, I was under the impression that the issue was the liner heights rather than the block face?

Having done two K-Series headgaskets now, both times I was advised to get the head skimmed because the alloy heads apparently warp very easily, and nothing was done the correct timing, not that you can easily do anything but if it runs ok, I see little issue - if isn't like it is knocked out massively.
 
MikeHiow said:
As far as block-side is concerned, I was under the impression that the issue was the liner heights rather than the block face?
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As far as I know the liner protrusion from the block is a block side of the head gasket interface....

they only warp if you properly overheat them, you can usual catch before.
 
Thanks for the responses!

Sorry I didn't mention if it costs <£250ish I'll probably pay for a repair. I do like my rover although there are a few issues.. rear arch rust and electrics in the boot. I'd love for the coolant loss to be a leak, inlet manifold problem and a cheapish fix but I discovered mayo under the filler cap yesterday after a short run. But apparently if the oil doesn't get warmed up enough in winter that could happen anyway. I did think a headgasket fix was more in the region of £400.
 
You'd be a fool to pay for a head gasket repair without first having the inlet manifold gasket changed. This costs about £3 and is about an hour to do.

The boot wiring is easy to fix, there is a loom that passes into the boot lid and is known to chafe. Half an hour and some insulation tape sorts that.

If you like blowing money, feel free to blow £2k on another potentially problematic car... :p
 
Can I just get this done at any garage or is it better to go with a "Rover/MG specialist?". Yeah I read about that over at the MGRover forums. I'll get round to the boot wiring at some point.

I don't know if I see it as blowing £2k on another car. I think if my car was mechanically sound I couldn't get much for it. It's a 214, A/C, Alloys, RMC and all that jazz but it has rust under the arches and a scratch/scrape on a rear arch. So the prospect of spending £400 on a car worth probably that much doesn't seem right.
 
MikeHiow said:
Not really, the only optional thing would be the skim, but I think you'd have to be an idiot to avoid the skim after a K-Series has suffered HGF.
Click to expand...

You'd have to be an idiot to skim a K series head unless it absolutely needs it, and they rarely do unless they have been overheated.

Stretch bolts can be re-used (as per manufacturers guidelines). It should be possible to get a reasonable job done for £250 provided the engine has not been overheated and provided the cooling system is not chock full of sludge (it takes almost as long to clear out the cooling system as it does to change the gasket).
 
Dogbreath said:
You'd have to be an idiot to skim a K series head unless it absolutely needs it, and they rarely do unless they have been overheated.

Stretch bolts can be re-used (as per manufacturers guidelines). It should be possible to get a reasonable job done for £250 provided the engine has not been overheated and provided the cooling system is not chock full of sludge (it takes almost as long to clear out the cooling system as it does to change the gasket).
Click to expand...

Do you have a citation for reusing head bolts?

Chances are that a K-Series with HGF discovered after finding all the coolant gone probably has overheated.
 
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