Rover 75(1.8) Broke down on M5-no water in engine-is the car now scrap?
 

I was driving on the M5 when I sensed a slight smell of burning but wasn't sure if it my car or not. I was driving on the 4 live lane section where there is no hard shoulder so had to carry on for a while before I could pull over. As I was pulling over onto hard shoulder the car seemed to be shaking a bit and a small amount of steam came from engine and it then cut out.
The radiator was out of coolant and a hose and part next to engine block was melted.
The RAC came out and confirmed it was out of coolant and the engine is terminal. The car is now sat outside my house.
Not sure what happened as I always check all the fluids regularly and everything seemed ok.
I had a new coolant temperature sensor fitted a couple of weeks ago as it was intermitantly running cold but all was good after it was fitted.
Can I assume that the engine is now totally useless and beyond repair and that the car needs to be scrapped or is it worth trying to repair it?
It's the dodgy 1.8 engine in it.

Thanks
Andy

I suggest you refill the coolant and find out. I once lost all the coolant from my Vauxhall Omega when a hose failed, drove it home a couple of miles, arrived in a cloud of steam, much to the amusement of my neighbours. But when I fixed the hose and refilled, it was fine. That was a V6 mind you and not a K-Series. The K-Series isn't dodgy per se. Mine still has it's original head gasket. Yours might need a new one.

I would agree, with no water in it you could run it for 30 seconds or so with no problem, once filled with water you could see what happens.

As has been said engines can be amazingly robust unless left to seize up.

It's the dodgy 1.8 engine in it.
:eek:
It's dodgy owners not the engine:duh::getmecoat:
Why fit a temperature sensor? obviously had a leak, should've found that first. You can run the obd for the correct engine temp:cool:

Well you can't lose anything by filling with water, and before you get someone shouting it at you, follow the advised filling procedure, as if all will be okay. Make sure the engine turns over before starting, then try to run it?

However, you said something has melted so obviously check that out first for importance and watertightness.

As the other members have said Andy the answer to your question is no. It's easy for the RAC man to write off your engine but he doesn't know. Repair the broken part and fill with coolant following the official refilling/bleeding procedure and see what happens.

I doubt that you lost all your coolant since (1) you haven't reported the temperature gauge reading maximum with the red LED illuminated and (2) you would have had more than "a small amount" of steam. :D

By the way, I'm unconvinced that you needed a new temperature sender when your engine was running intermittently cold. It sounds more like a thermostat fault to me.

Keep in touch Andy so that we can guide you to a proper repair and avoid any further trouble.

Simon

"SUZUBLU"-my comment about the 1.8 being a dodgy engine I think is true as it is well known for blowing head gaskets as I've been told by several people since buying the car. I took the car to a mechanic with the intermitant cold running fault who diagnosed the temperature sensor as faulty and said everything else checked out ok-so he fitted a new one. I'm not a "dodgy owner" as I didn't neglect the car I took it to a mechanic to sort out the problem and I assumed (Not being a mechanic myself) that he had diagnosed the fault correctly.
When the car did break down the temperature gauge was reading half way so there was no sign of it overheating-I was told by the RAC patrolman (rightly or wrongly?) that with this Rover engine it will often show the temperature as normal on the gauge when infact it is melting??

Suggest you have a read of the below.... Especially the section on "Breaking the myths about the K-series engine"



https://www.aronline.co.uk/engines/k-series-engine/

The analogue temp gauge is notorious for being ineffective at reflecting actual temps. I fitted a digital temp gauge. See https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...ad.php?t=93462 for details.

I think that's a bit unfair. A digital temp guage means one can glance at it any time, without the hassle of turning it on and off on the OBD. As for the leak, leaks are not always obvious, especially if you don't check the hoses or expansion tank every few minutes. Even when there is a leak, it still may not be obvious as the leak may be above a hot part, which immediately evaporates the drips. So coolant may be disappearing from the expansion tank, but that doesn't mean any leak is 'obvious'.

It wasn't until I put UV die into the coolant and checking with a UV torch in the dark that I could see the head gasket leaking when the engine was hot, directly above the exhaust manifold. No drips due to evaporation and not dripping when cold. My digital temp gauge didn't help as the engine wasn't overheating whilst loosing coollant.


Ali.

An odd thing about temp. sensors, not to be seen often and by many folk, is that if the water level in the area where the temp. probe sits drops and the probe is not in water, it can read a lower or zero reading, though the surrounding area may be at 100deg.


It doesn't sound logical but the sensor probe is designed to register water temp. when bathed in water, though there may be no water in the area and the air temp in that area may be high, heat isn't transferred as efficiently by air as water, likewise the sensor will be bolted into a hot area of engine metal, but there won't be the same transmission of heat to the probe, from the ' bolt ' as there is with water.


What was/is sometimes heard from someone with a well cooked engine is " There was lots of steam from under the bonnet, but the temp gauge was low, in the cold area.


Deciding as to how well cooked it was, rare, medium or well done, could be sometimes be accomplished by observing which cyl. head bits had melted or softened, seeing the melted seal oozing out at the temp sensor body to electrical connection usually meant that it was well and proper done.