Header gasket gone or not gone??

[stevehaley1965]

Good Evening,
I am a new member to the forum and bought a Rover 75 connoisseur 1.8 estate.
The car has full service history 76000 miles and I was given a 4 month warranty on the head gasket .
The rover overheated on the m1 yesterday and I got towed to my local garage .
There was no water due to hoses burst and the oil had sprayed out of what looks like a sensor underneath the lid of the engine .
Anyway my problem is , my local garage topped the car with oil , fixed the pipes and topped up the coolant and sent me on my way and said they didn't think it was the head gasket, Went for a drive last night, temperature gauge was up and down and then car over heated again.
Towed away again last night and mechanic says head gasket. I am not a mechanic so I don't have a clue, car had no coolant , lost oil , but was not blowing out smoke and seems to run okay until it over heats.
Am sending it back to garage from where I purchased tomorrow for the head gasket repair. is there a definite way to tell if the head gasket has gone please?
I have had the car a week and it is brilliant , apart from it keeps over heating.
Any advice is very much appreciated.
Thank you
Steve

[chipsceola]

Hi Steve HGF is not the only reason your car can overheat, rather HGF is the result of an overheating engine, a good idea to put you more in the picture through greater knowledge and understanding is in the forum how to section here (http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=69794).

If it has failed, then how and who does the repair will largely decide how long it lasts and to do it right, the mechanic needs to know and understand the K series engine.

[planenut]

Sounds like the cam sensor has either come out or wasn't there? was there any coolant in the system when you started driving it?

[chrissyboy]

did they bleed the system properly when they filled up the coolant ,if not then it will over heat,nothing you have said sounds like hgf ,hoses pop all the time and the car is still ok

[stevehaley1965]

Hi ,
Thank you for the advice, my newly acquired Rover is now on the back of a truck heading towards a Rover mechanic in Mansfield. My dilemma was I had different diagnosis by different mechanics
I will keep you updated and my fingers crossed, it sounded really unhealthy being driven onto the breakdown truck and was indeed blowing white smoke
Regards
Steve

[dons1983]

Is there any water in the oil?

[Grumpy1]

Steve, I'd be very interested to learn who this Rover mechanic is in Mansfield. Could be useful in the future.

Chad. :}

[ARK238]

Hi
my nephew had the same problem with his 75 recentley he had changed the gasket last year what he had not considered was water leaks elsewhere anyway to cut long story short he had a small leak under the expansion tank hose but had not filled and bled the car up correctly just topped up the tank to level.you must bleed the car up and run up to revs etc as described in the haynes manual or it will airlock causing head gasket failure symptons if your anywhere near chesterfield get in touch
ark238

[stevehaley1965]

Thanks for your advice.
I will let you know what the mechanic says . Hopefully it is something simple, it's already cost me £210 quid and it's still not running properly

Regards
Steve

[AndyAitch]

Sounds like the cam sensor has either come out or wasn't there? was there any coolant in the system when you started driving it?


Can't see it being that... My cam sensor failed and my car wouldn't even attempt to start. I ran Torque and it reported the fault, I had to get a lift up to my local scrapyard and take one from a ZT V6 they had in.

[SD1too]

I will let you know what the mechanic says . Hopefully it is something simple, it's already cost me £210 quid and it's still not running properly
Steve,

If you bought from a dealer then it is legally responsible for any faults within the first six months of your ownership, so you don't have to pay a penny.

Be very cautious about what mechanics tell you until you have received advice here. None of them seem to know about the 'two thermostats' blunder and how to check the radiator cooling fan, both of which could be responsible for your predicament.

Simon

[Mike Farr]

Take off oil cover is there any cream type substance on the back of the cover?

[chrissyboy]

Take off oil cover is there any cream type substance on the back of the cover?

not a good indicator really as it may just be condensation, op needs to look in header tank and look at the dipstick also exhaust fumes would smell sweet