Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

Hello all
P Reg 416 K series engine,
I have just done today my weekly my check of oil water fluids etc, and find that the oil level has risen by approximately 20%, and has gone a muddy colour, it was a nice clear black last week. I suspect that the head gasket may have gone, although I didn't notice any overheating or any other apparent faults when I drove it last yesterday. Can anybody advise me please, and also if it is the head gasket that is gone, is there a ‘how to replace the head gasket’ article anywhere I can have a look at.

Sounds like the headgasket to me. Have a look at the clubs example magazine for a how-to on headgasket http://www.rover200.org.uk/magazine/summer07.html . (pg 14)

I also would reccomend purchasing a haynes manual too.

Hello Smithy
Thanks for the info, but when I click on the link it tells me file not found.
Mw

Link now corrected

Sorry to be a paimn Smithy, but the link is to a maestro.. mine is a 416 K series engine 1997.
Mw

No Maestros in the magazine. What link did you try?

The article is on a Rover Coupe 1.6 K Series.

The same engine as in your 400Mk2 bubble.

Edit: - Ah now I see you clicked on the link in E_T_Vs sig. He corrected the link I placed up initially. Give it another go ;)

Thanks for that, finally got to read it. I was wondering, has anybody had any sucess using a radiator repair liquid ,or some thing like a Barrs leak crumbled into the water to effect a repair for any lengh of time, if I could get another year out of it that would be nice...also its just passed its mot about 6 weeks ago. Also does anyone no where to get a cheap head gasket, as I might still go this route if its not to expensive, same old problem though isnt it...is the car worth it due to age etc!

Some people say that K seal has worked for them, however I wouldn't want to rely on it as a reliable repair.

I think i've got a headgasket somewhere at home.
Once it has gone the oil gets contaminated with water (and so the lubrication is vastly reduced), and the water gets contaminated with oil so the cooling system gets contaminated with sludge.
If you can DIY it and it hasn't over heated then I'd do that if you can.

A friend of mine has a 1.4 MGZR; her's was showing early signs of HGF. On the basis of nothing to loose, I suggested trying a bottle of Wynnes version of K-seal.

That was before Christmas, and touch wood, she hasn't had any problems since.

I'd say give it a go. ~£10 isn't too much to loose!

As I said previously, I checked my oil on a weekly basis, and the last time I checked it was okay. In the last week I have only done about 12 miles or so, and that was over two or three different journeys, on different days, so there's no chance that the engine has overheated.
There is definitely sludge in the header tank, and also under the oil filler cap, which was not there last week. So at the moment, I am leaning towards replacing just the head gasket and also the inlet gasket (this has a very small leak and I had already purchased a replacement inlet gasket a couple of weeks ago, with a view to replacing it before it got any worse), then of course, I could flush the water system through with a hose, and finally do an oil change when I have replaced the head gasket. So with this in mind, as I only need about another 10 months out of this car, does anybody know where I can get hold of just a head gasket, cheaply please. Failing that I think I will give the K seal a try.