Opinion needed on possible failure reason

sstraub · 12th July 2016, 21:28

Hi there!

I'm a relatively new Rover 75 enthusiast. I've had my 2003 Petrol automatic Rover 75 V6 Saloon for about 3 months. Bought it at 60K miles and I've driven roughly 3K miles on it. I really love the car. Probably one of the best cars I've ever owned. Had the oil changed about 2 weeks ago.

Here's my question now.

I drove the Rover to IKEA, no problems. Parked the car. Went inside IKEA, and wife kept us there for roughly 3 hours. Finally came out with bunches and bunches of cheaply made IKEA stuff and drove maybe half a mile to Burger King. Went through the drive thru to get a snack. Had to wait in the queue for about 5-10 minutes. The moment I received my bag, my eyes saw the temperature gauge and the red light had come on. Then I saw steam come out from under the bonnet.

I immediately pulled into the car park, turned the car off, opened the bonnet and steam came out. The coolant was steaming and leaking onto the ground. I called Green Flag and they came out. We opened the coolant reservoir and it was basically empty. We refilled it with water, turned on the car and the stuff that had originally leaked was steaming off. But no more coolant was leaking out. We had the car running for a good 15 minutes and the fan never came on. But the car also didn't overheat anymore. The Green Flag technician said he didn't feel ok with me driving the car, because something else might break and he doesn't have the tools to check thoroughly what the problem is.

He said he thinks the fan is broken, because it should have come on a few times while we were running the car.

Had the car towed home that night. In the morning I drove the car 2 miles to the garage, no overheating problem.

I dropped off the car for investigation. As we were doing the paperwork, the mechanic said "well, could be the head gasket" (darn, that sounds expensive). I did quite a bit of research and all things I read, it doesn't sound like HGF (but then again, what do I know?)

So here's my question. Could this be a HGF? What's the likely problem? And If I have it fixed, what price should I expect from the garage?

I really appreciate any help and opinions you guys might have!

-Sebastian

12th July 2016, 21:28	#1
sstraub Newbie Rover 75 Saloon Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Stratford Upon Avon Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Opinion needed on possible failure reason Hi there! I'm a relatively new Rover 75 enthusiast. I've had my 2003 Petrol automatic Rover 75 V6 Saloon for about 3 months. Bought it at 60K miles and I've driven roughly 3K miles on it. I really love the car. Probably one of the best cars I've ever owned. Had the oil changed about 2 weeks ago. Here's my question now. I drove the Rover to IKEA, no problems. Parked the car. Went inside IKEA, and wife kept us there for roughly 3 hours. Finally came out with bunches and bunches of cheaply made IKEA stuff and drove maybe half a mile to Burger King. Went through the drive thru to get a snack. Had to wait in the queue for about 5-10 minutes. The moment I received my bag, my eyes saw the temperature gauge and the red light had come on. Then I saw steam come out from under the bonnet. I immediately pulled into the car park, turned the car off, opened the bonnet and steam came out. The coolant was steaming and leaking onto the ground. I called Green Flag and they came out. We opened the coolant reservoir and it was basically empty. We refilled it with water, turned on the car and the stuff that had originally leaked was steaming off. But no more coolant was leaking out. We had the car running for a good 15 minutes and the fan never came on. But the car also didn't overheat anymore. The Green Flag technician said he didn't feel ok with me driving the car, because something else might break and he doesn't have the tools to check thoroughly what the problem is. He said he thinks the fan is broken, because it should have come on a few times while we were running the car. Had the car towed home that night. In the morning I drove the car 2 miles to the garage, no overheating problem. I dropped off the car for investigation. As we were doing the paperwork, the mechanic said "well, could be the head gasket" (darn, that sounds expensive). I did quite a bit of research and all things I read, it doesn't sound like HGF (but then again, what do I know?) So here's my question. Could this be a HGF? What's the likely problem? And If I have it fixed, what price should I expect from the garage? I really appreciate any help and opinions you guys might have! -Sebastian