HGF on rover 200

[Oldun]

Hi I am looking at a nice little Rover 200, a bit old but low mileage to replace my wife's Fiesta which died recently. What I would like one of you experts to tell me - is the 1.4 16 valve Rover petrol engine prone to the dreaded HGF or is it only the 1.8 which suffers.
Thanks. Peter.

[Phil]

Same engine, different liners, thats all, so it's the same motor. Just look after it, watch for coolant leaks, make sure its thoroughly warm for about 10 minutes before revving over 2750rpm, and it'll be fine.

[MartinW]

Peter
My wife has a 214 16V we bought ex-demo in 1998 at 6mths old. So far, it has not had HGF, although I am watching closely as they can still go owing to the gasket sealing rings aging in time. I suspect the coolant loss on my wife's is partly a leak at the water pump which I need to check out. I replaced the radiator earlier this year - a simple enough job that took under an hour and cost £50. Her car is on 50k miles, but I do know someone that has a higher mileage version that had a HGF earlier this year and then he later had a stripped thread on one of the sparking plugs. He's just traded it a few months ago for a ZT 180!

That said, looked after with regular checks these are great little cars, and the 105bhp is actually quite tidy in such a light car and quite torquey - it will embarass more expensive cars quite easily.

Watch out for usual problems like the front elctric window motor sometimes comes loose and can damage the window seal. Also the rear wash wipe feed pipe can split where it goes into the tailgate and dump washer fluid into the body. Also faulty tailgate electrics can be chafed wires in teh loom on the opposite side of the tailgate. The wiper motor itself has the washer fluid feed through it's shaft which can block, too. All easy to fix faults. Watch out for leaking power steering reservoirs, and also check brake master as these leak with age at the rear cylinders. You'll see the brake warning light come on when accelerating hard!

Any other questions let me know.

[EnEnGee]

My K reg 1993 R8 is the 214SLi variant which I have owned for 8 years. Bought with 40k and now has 80k on the clock. I have kept it as a car for my Step son and due to the 75, it it currently SORN'd off road, but the engine has been top banana and has never (other than a failed water pump in 1999) missed a beat.

Its had a cam belt change and other than that, plugs and service bits only. I changed the radiator in 2002 because the cooling fins were crumbling and falling out, mainly due to concerns with overheating (£50 from Halfords).

[MartinW]

I think the problem started in 1994/95 with the engine when it was enlarged to 1.6 and 1.8 and used "damp" liners unlike the earlier engines which were considered to be bomb-proof. That said, it's great to hear that all is well, and I find it amazing that of all the cars of this age still in use, th emajority are the Rovers, and not the Fords or Vauxhalls.