[220 GSi turbo]

indeed!

I was starting to miss your Princess project threads over on Kev Davies' site, so it is good to know you've got another BL/Rover product to work on!

That rear lip spoiler is superb: it echoes the subtlety of a Rover 620Ti

Paul (Princess 100 Club)

[Vulgalour]

I'll get back to the Princess soon. I needed something that wasn't such a chore to sort out, something that I could just enjoy straight away and brought some joy back into car ownership and gave me a proper kick up the rear to get things moving anew. This little Rover has proved to be just that. Thank you to everyone for a warm welcome, I'm not too surprised to see some familiar 'faces' here given the circles I rotate in.

----

Today I got the proper radiator and my refund on the incorrect one. I've been at the unit sorting out a full length key-strike on my housemate's brother's Ford C-Max. Really, really nasty thing to repair and has taken me a lot of the day to get close to sorted. In between paint drying sessions I determined to sort out the Rover.

I've done radiators before, normally they're not too much hassle. For some reason, on the 400 you have to remove the air filter box and battery to stand a chance of getting to the lower pipe and it's a bit of a faff to get it out. What few wires the engine bay has get in the way as you do this and one even runs over the top of the battery clamp bolt. Pretty annoying but eventually the old rad came out mostly in one piece.


The water that came out was mostly okay. It's been run on blue, which I'm not too thrilled about, and while some K-Seal has been put in it doesn't appear to be the usual twelve bottles worth. No amount of K-Seal was going to help the radiator that came out though.




That old radiator was comprehensively ruined. The bottom rail came off with the fan. I'm glad I decided to do this first as that radiator was definitely going to cause me problems pretty quickly. Double checked all the various bits on the new one were in the right place, swapped the rubber feet and top brackets over from the old one and installed the new fan sensor. Because the fan sensor is on an interference fit rather than screw in or similar, I also put a tie wrap around it to make sure it doesn't fall out. That's probably just paranoia but I'd rather be safe than sorry, I had expected there to be some sort of clip to hold it in place but there isn't.


Before refitting the system was flushed as much as it would let us until it ran clear. For the short term I'm running on plain water and doing a weekly flush until as much old blue antifreeze and K-Seal remnants are out of the system before putting fresh OAT in. I'm aware it's going to take a lot of flushes and patience to get it swapped over properly to OAT. Everything buttoned up fairly easily apart from a bit of faff with the air box clips. One thing I did find out is that the previous owner probably has changed the oil and filter not long before selling the car, both look really good and the oil filter looks fairly new in the engine bay so those are at least some things I don't feel I need to do.


Last job after that was to bleed the system. Spent some time burping it in the conventional manner until I was directed to this little bolt (the little wet brown blob, this was just after undoing it) just to the right of the engine as you look at it from the front of the car.


Unfastened that and lots of air came whistling out followed by a little fountain of water. Topped up the water afresh and did it again to find only water coming out so I was satisfied it was as well bled as it could be. I was also advised to ensure the heater was set to hot while this was done so that the heater matrix would be bled properly too.

With that done we got the car running. As it reached 1/4 gauge we found that the small top hose on the radiator was leaking. This was fortunately just a bad clip and a new one resolved that. Then it was the waiting game because the temperature rose to 1/3 and just stuck there stubbornly. Took an absolute age to get to half gauge, the fan coming on all on it's own proving that the new switch was working properly.

Absolutely no issues presented themselves so we called the job done. Bit of a chore but a worthwhile one as it takes a big worry away. This weekend I hope to tackle the clutch, the brakes are okay for a bit as they still work perfectly fine so I'll do them when I properly have time to devote. I'm stretched a bit thin at the moment with work commitments so I need to find a couple of days of downtime somewhere soon.

[crepello]

Because the fan sensor is on an interference fit rather than screw in or similar, I also put a tie wrap around it to make sure it doesn't fall out. That's probably just paranoia but I'd rather be safe than sorry, I had expected there to be some sort of clip to hold it in place but there isn't.
[...]
Before refitting the system was flushed as much as it would let us until it ran clear. For the short term I'm running on plain water and doing a weekly flush until as much old blue antifreeze and K-Seal remnants are out of the system before putting fresh OAT in. I'm aware it's going to take a lot of flushes and patience to get it swapped over properly to OAT.
[...]
Last job after that was to bleed the system. Spent some time burping it in the conventional manner until I was directed to this little bolt (the little wet brown blob, this was just after undoing it) just to the right of the engine as you look at it from the front of the car.

On my (earlier) 214, the fan sensor is retained by a collar which bayonets into the walls either side of the hole in the radiator side tanks. It seems to be this: http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-CDU1502, but doesn't look much like it! Unless the Rimmer's one can blank an unused radiator hole, with a knock-out if a sensor is required?

I've been reading about OAT, in connection with my dad's 400 bubble having pinkish antifreeze since its last garage service. T'web says OAT eats coppery items. I don't know if the 400 bubble has copper-free plumbing, but my 214 certainly has copper or brass in the heater matrix.

When bleeding, did you jiggle the jiggle valve in the small return union on the inlet manifold? I borrowed a slim knitting needle to wiggle mine, with the hose off, naturally, until the flow was steady.

[Paul_1978_yorks]

Enjoyed reading the thread so far!

Are you based in Bradford then? I'm in Wakefield so not too far.

[Vulgalour]

Crepello: I can't figure out how that clip would fit on my rad. It's a similar shape to the rubber grommet and sensor together but you couldn't then fit the clip if you put the grommet and sensor in. Very strange. I did not jiggle the jiggly thing because I didn't know there was one, I don't think I need to though, car is behaving itself and there's no sign of airlocks. I will keep an eye on it all the same. OAT is the convention for any K series engine and since my new rad is all aluminium and plastic I shouldn't need to worry about it damaging copper and brass, which my old radiator was. Got to make sure I look after this engine properly, it seems to be a good one.

@Paul: I'm actually up in Thornaby, Teesside so not really that close to Bradford at all. I don't mind travelling for parts, I've been all over the place to get stuff for the Princess, I even went to Brooklands from Derbyshire to collect a set of seats for it.

[gbs100]

Crepello: I can't figure out how that clip would fit on my rad. It's a similar shape to the rubber grommet and sensor together but you couldn't then fit the clip if you put the grommet and sensor in. Very strange. I did not jiggle the jiggly thing because I didn't know there was one, I don't think I need to though, car is behaving itself and there's no sign of airlocks. I will keep an eye on it all the same. OAT is the convention for any K series engine and since my new rad is all aluminium and plastic I shouldn't need to worry about it damaging copper and brass, which my old radiator was. Got to make sure I look after this engine properly, it seems to be a good one.

@Paul: I'm actually up in Thornaby, Teesside so not really that close to Bradford at all. I don't mind travelling for parts, I've been all over the place to get stuff for the Princess, I even went to Brooklands from Derbyshire to collect a set of seats for it.

It's a small world as I'm in acklam.

[Vulgalour]

I clicked on your signature link and found a purple Marina TC. I already like you.

[concerto-charlie]

so it appears I'm following you on all the forums :P

[crepello]

OAT is the convention for any K series engine and since my new rad is all aluminium and plastic I shouldn't need to worry about it damaging copper and brass, which my old radiator was.

Are you confident this applies to your heater matrix too? The RHD one is NLA, but the LHD one looks like this:

[gbs100]

Well if you ever need any parts of help just let me know.