South of France
 

Hi
I am asking on behalf of my dad, now 84, who is the proud and sentimental owner of a 2001 Rover 75 2.5 V6 auto RHD. It is in good condition, 40K on the clock BUT it has been very rarely used and now has some overheating/water leak issues.

Dad is in the Cannes area in the south of France (I am in the UK) and is moving back to the UK in the next few months.

He took it to a local garage but they don't seem to have fixed the issue. Is there anyone in the south of France who can advise on a reputable place that he can take it?

Prior to joining the group, one helpful person has already pointed out how to know where the leak is coming from. But Dad is a bit forgetful and needs some help to figure it out and know where to take it.

We were so looking forward to our road trip back to the UK together and now it looks more likely the car will return on the back of a truck! Therefore any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Hello Fiona,

If your Dad's Rover V6 is taken to a garage there's a real risk that they will use the dreaded K-Seal (or equivalent) in the cooling system and that will be the end of his pride and joy so please don't do that.

I can offer you some suggestions which may enable you to enjoy your road trip home together after all. I have owned a V6 for 17 years, I do all my own repairs and I have solved the problems your Dad's car has.

1. Overheating
The most common cause of this is trouble with the radiator's electric cooling fan. To find out, start the engine from cold then press the 'windscreen demist' button on the air con./heater control panel. Now walk to the front of the car and you should hear the radiator fan running continuously. If you don't, please report back for further advice.

2. Coolant leak
As b152krz has said, if you have access to a small socket set remove the two 8mm screws holding the cover on the top of the engine (it's the moulding surrounding the oil filler cap). Shine a torch through the "bunch of bananas" aluminium pipes and if the light reflects back to you from red/pink liquid then you've found the leak.
If it's not serious you can make the journey back to the UK equipped with plenty of coolant to replace the loss. To check, look into the expansion tank and if you can see a tab marked 'MAX' almost at the base, top-up the coolant to meet that mark. Then drive the car around locally and re-check the level the next morning when the engine is absolutely cold. Let us know the result please Fiona.

Simon

Oh, I almost forgot, :welcome: to the club!

Thank you both bl52krz and SD1too.

This is the email from the garage:
The Problem with the car is the Water Tank is leaking water,, So we changed the Expansion Tank and Cap and now the car is running ok But the Tank is now will leaking water but only a small amount before it was poring water out when running

This is because the car is Pressurizing THE WATER system maybe Head Gasket to change or May need another Engine

The other Problem is Timing Belt and Water pump and Belts needs also to be changed which also is a big job and expensive

I will pass your information on to dad. I am going back to France on Thursday and will revert back thereafter if not before.

Thank you again.

Any garage/workshop worthy of the name should be able to carry out a block test - the drive belts are another issue.

Clearly they are heavily suggesting it's all just not worth it, can't be bothered.

Hope you find a professional repairer who will look at the vehicle and take the time to properly diagnose any faults present.

Thank you Costa Fortuna.

That is what my dad thought too so the plan at the moment is to have it towed to another garage which has been recommended by a friend. But in the meantime, we will look into the previous suggestions and try to get to the bottom of the issue ourselves.

If it's pressurising the coolant it might well be an airlock. I would suggest bleeding the system.

Sent from my SM-A326B using Tapatalk

now it looks more likely the car will return on the back of a truck!


If it is covered by a breakdown service and would be at no cost to yourself that's the way I would go.


It's all well and good a garage without sufficient knowledge of the intrinsics of your dads car hopefully fixing it for a long South of France to the UK journey.


They can be fickle beasts in other than a knowledgeable persons hands.


What has been described by the garage could be simply that it needs bleeding, the correct way in the correct sequence, there are other ' simple ' causes of the problem, but is it worth the chance of them ' fiddling at the corners,' only to break down halfway home.


There have been quite a few members who have has similar pressurising problems that their garage, or garages couldn't fix, yet after being talked / walked through the correct process there problem has been solved.


Good luck.

Thank you for your reply Fiona. The garage's response is not a surprise but almost certainly the wrong diagnosis. It's extremely unlikely to be a head gasket problem on a V6 (this afflicts only the 1.8 engine but garages do not distinguish between the two). Talk of a replacement engine is frankly ridiculous.

The garage seems to be saying that the coolant is being ejected through the expansion tank cap, there being no mention of a leak in the 'V'. This could simply be the result of a faulty radiator fan as I mentioned last time. I would urge you to get the test I described done as soon as possible to either confirm this or rule it out.

The necessity to bleed the system only occurs after it has been drained for repair work, so if none has been done then an air lock is unlikely.

Jon also asks this:
If the overheating is very rapid, irreversible and occurs irrespective of road speed then yes, that is a possibility, although a rare one. Check the radiator fan operation first.

I agree with your plans to do whatever you can yourselves and to not use that garage again. I look forward to the next bulletin!

Simon