Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

Happy, happy days! The Rover is working again. Many, MANY suggestions were made by lots of people as to what was causing the immobiliser to stay on and the fob not to work but it turned out that gregg106 over on RetroRides had the winning solution when he said "Assuming the fob battery is ok check the soldered joints for the little frame that holds it in, resoldered a few of these to get them working again."

Time to check that out then. I had looked at the circuit board but nothing appeared amiss, I was too distracted by the weird treacle which has once again started to appear from somewhere.


Looking at it, all was well.


Then we paid closer attention to the solder that holds the battery cage to the board.


Really obvious crack on this side. Didn't seem to be enough to stop it working but nothing ventured nothing gained.


Mike resoldered it (because I'm rubbish at soldering) and it only went and bloomin fixed it! It now works better than it ever has in my ownership and I'm absolutely delighted. A free fix of minimal effort and hassle to resolve an infuriating issue and no need for work arounds or finding EKA codes (which I definitely don't have) or any of that. Cheers gregg106, have a virtual bevvy on me!

With that done we booked it in for a retest, luckily that could be done today. Chucked a bottle of injector cleaner in the tank and prepared to go for a blezz. Before we did I gave the weather strips a scrub, a job I've been putting off and for some reasons I needed to do right now. Windows operate better after having done that and it's hardly surprising.


For the blezz we took to the A19 and ended up slotting behind a very low, very rorty little Honda Civic. A little further along an a prestige car (couldn't tell you what, maybe a Merc?) alongside gave us a big old thumbs up, he seemed to really like the Rover. That's a first for me and made me feel pretty happy. Of course, he might have thought I was in convoy with the Civic, I'm not sure, but either way I'm enjoying that moment in the proverbial sun.

Back for the MoT and a check of my welding which they were happy with, emissions were okay and the blown bulb found good too. Job jobbed I got me one of these!


Clean sheet, no advisories, happy days! Getting home was even better because the Applause was there to keep the Rover company. I'm very attached to both these cars, even though the Applause isn't mine. They're very different to drive with the Rover being a bit slower but better at corners and the Applause making some very satisfying noises when you give it the beans. I almost don't want to give the Applause back to my brother, it's super.





Car mojo is sailing pretty high right now, I definitely needed today.

This is quite inspirational. Mine is taxing my stamina at present, this thread is really helping me stick with it!

Forums and the internet are an absolute godsend with keeping going with a project. Pretty sure I could have given up with the immobiliser thing if it hadn't been for the chance suggestion. Surprising how often it's a little thing that holds you up and feels like a big thing. Stick at it with yours, you'll get there. Hopefully this thread will answer problems for other people if they have them and save a lot of searching and frustration.

New keyfob case finally arrived from that there China today. Not a thing anyone else will really notice. It is nicer to handle than the old shiny one with the sticky disintegrating buttons and better yet the buttons are much easier to operate than they were.



Got a trek down to Maidstone on the weekend all being well which will be about a 600 mile round trip. Not particularly looking forward to that much motorway because I don't enjoy motorway driving but the Rover did the trek with aplomb before the MoT so I have every faith in its abilities. I also have up to date AA cover, just in case.

Sat down with my big pile of car history to make a start on sorting it out. Been a hectic couple of years so all three were muddled together. On separating out the Rover stuff, bar a couple of missing receipts, I've been able to work out what I've spent on it since July 2015 when I bought it. I thought maybe I'd thrown £300 at my £275 car so I was a bit shocked when I realised I've spent £750 and counting That doesn't include the purchase price!





It is good though and worth every penny.

I always say when i buy a new rover i ear mark £1k as a minimum spend just to get it where i'll want it to be, so if you are only at £750 you're doing well.

I'm both tight and poor most of the time, it seemed like an awful lot of money to me but nobody else seems to think so. I guess spending all those years living in Yorkshire rubbed off on me a bit.

----

Little update in that I finally got that driver's side gutter trim fixed down properly with the spare trim clips I got from Krujoe last year. It's a job I've been putting off because it's horrible and fiddly to do involving shunting the trim back and forth until it locates on the tiny little plastic lugs without tearing them off. Should resolve the annoying scooshy wind noise it's been making for what seems like forever. I'm getting stuff together to redo the roof too. Got something interesting planned so I can resolve the poor finish from water getting on it last year and me never resolving that or applying the final coat of paint.


Speaking of paint, the top of the boot spoiler has done something that I'm not sure I'm happy about. Some, but not all, of the satin black has rubbed off in the most perfect way so that the spoiler finish looks age appropriate to all the little knocks and blebs on the bodywork. I can't decide if I want to repaint it or not and I'm not entirely sure why it's done this, it was prepared exactly the same way and with the same materials as the rear bumper and that's still perfectly fine.


Today was also the first time this year that I've waxed the car which it was well overdue for. I really want the weather to improve so I can get all the little bits and pieces on the bodywork sorted, the red hides a lot right up until I'm washing the car. I'll do a panel at a time, starting with the filler I know about on the passenger side sill end/arch juncture and then working around the doors. I can't afford a respray any time soon so I'll just work with what I've got.

Plenty of time to do the niggles.

Just keep your motivation high.

Somehow

My motivator is the Pride of Longbridge show where I'll be getting some genuine Rover 400 rubber mats that cost me a whole pound for a full set. Still on the look out for some headlight protectors, I've only found later 400 ones which won't fit my car and sold listings so far.

Look forward to seeing you there, i'll be easy to spot