car advice

[hunters4life]

I was out in my rover 400 yesterday and the thing just stoped while i was driveing about 30 mph. It felt as though i hit something then it wouldnt start at al. I parked it up for the night went back in the morning and all the oil had drained out of the engine and the water was low even though i filled it up the day before. Anyone know whats happend?

[dandan]

When you say the oil had drained out of the engine, do you mean it had dumped it on the road ?

[hunters4life]

[Drift]

sounds like he infamouse head gasget on the K serise engine, Ive got a rover 25 with the 1.6 lump in, looks like the heads been done on that, its quite common on those engines, they hate getting warm to.

[Drift]

Sme good advice here




http://forums.mg-rover.org/index.php

[hunters4life]

is it easy to fix then? sorry im not to clued up on these things

[dandan]

Even a catastrophic HG failure wouldn't cause the engine to effectively seize and dump out it's oil. And whilst I don't wish to disagree with Drift ( ) I ran my 200 (1.4 K-Series) for 5 years with no HG problems.
If there were no tell-tale signs (overheating, regular top up of water needed etc) I'd have to say my reaction is not a good one.

Pop over to Rovertech or Rovergroup (MGR can be a little slow and cliquey for my liking) and I'm sure the boys will give you all the info you need.

[Drift]

No probs Dan

Its the water loss that gave me the thought on the HG thinking it was en external section hat went.

Those other links are handy, I just stopped at the first forum I found never posted on there but wasnt impresed to see a paid members section though.

[dandan]

It is possible but the oil loss and sudden seizing of the engine that worries me.

hunters4life..... When you say it wouldn't start, would the engine turn over? May be worth getting ya camera and having a real poke around to see if you can find the source of the oil leak?

Drift..... Unfortunately MGR is infamous in MG/Rover forum circles and politics has really split the others. Rovergroup is a relatively new forum but very laid back but when it comes to technical info you wont find many better than Rovertech.

[Drift]

Cheers Dan, Ill check them out, hopefully I wont need to though

[dandan]

Regular servicing and general maintenance (as you already know so I'll put the straw and the egg away ) are definitely the key with the K-series.

[Drift]

I love the nippyness of the litte car and hadling with the low profile tyres and its got all the toys, anther world to me after getting out of he 2.8 to drive her car

[hunters4life]

Well i just put oil in and i cant see any leak but i also put water in and its all comeing back out but i cant see from where.

[dandan]

Unfortunately, until you source the cause of the leak(s), I can't be of anymore help (sorry).
It sounds like something has "let go" in a big way but there are several possibilities as to what could be. My first impressions are either catastrophic HG failure, cracked head or you've thrown a rod and damaged the crank case (sorry to be Mr Doom and Gloom) but I hope I'm wrong (which is quite often).

[dandan]

Thinking about it, is it the "boxy" 400 or the "bubble" shaped one?

[FUDDY MUCKER]

[dandan]

[dandan]

Have a look HERE

If you click on the link in his sig and then scroll to the bottom and click on the last link.