rover 400 td

TURRICAN

hello people
im looking at buying a 1997 one of these with 140.000mls.
ive been told they have a honda chassis and a good engine that dosent do the head gasket like the k series engine.
there is a test on the car.
i dont know much obout diesel engines.
so im looking for advice on what to look out for on this car that might be scaldy on the pocket.
cheers

S-Murph

TURRICAN wrote: »

hello people
im looking at buying a 1997 one of these with 140.000mls.
ive been told they have a honda chassis and a good engine that dosent do the head gasket like the k series engine.
there is a test on the car.
i dont know much obout diesel engines.
so im looking for advice on what to look out for on this car that might be scaldy on the pocket.
cheers

As far as I know the engine was a Honda - or at least partly designed by them.

TURRICAN

S-Murph wrote: »

As far as I know the engine was a Honda - or at least partly designed by them.

i thought they didint know how to build a diesel engine ,:rolleyes:

alias no.9

It's a Rover L series diesel which traces it's origins to an old Perkins diesel. It's probably up there with the best of the mid 1990's diesels but will be a world apart from a modern common rail. They're fairly robust and Honda did indeed borrow the lump in small numbers for british built civics.

Webmonkey

I havn't had one but I hear it's a good engine though a bit noisy.
It is very tunable and has lots of potential.

Call over to http://forums.mg-rover.org if you want some advice, some great guys there or search the forum history.

TURRICAN

alias no.9 wrote: »

It's a Rover L series diesel which traces it's origins to an old Perkins diesel. It's probably up there with the best of the mid 1990's diesels but will be a world apart from a modern common rail. They're fairly robust and Honda did indeed borrow the lump in small numbers for british built civics.

must do a google on that perkins.

groupb

S-Murph wrote: »

As far as I know the engine was a Honda - or at least partly designed by them.

I thought hondas first diesel was the 2.2 they brought out a few years ago.

bazz26

Honda had that old lump in the Accord, from 1996 to 1998 but never sold it in Ireland. They also had an Isuzu derived 1.7 diesel in the 2001 to 2006 Civic.

Honda's first inhouse diesel was the 2.2 in the 2003 to 2009 Accord.

Anyway back to the Rover, OP that engine isn't a bad unit for the time, alot more refined than some of the competition, just make sure the car is checked out properly before buying and it's going cheap.

Mailman

It's a perkins direct injection engine and the suspension/steering should be checked as that is a heavy block to be carrying over the front wheels.
It's a good engine but noisy. I took a spin in a 200/25 with that engine in it and it seemed pleasant enough.

TURRICAN

thanks for ther replies.
i know its a td engine ,im wondering is there much torque in the engine or are they dead as a maggot.

alias no.9

Make sure it's an SDi or SLDi which are the intercooled versions and have a bit more poke.

lifer_sean

Definitely not a Honda engine.

I thought they had the Peugeot engine, in which case top class engine for it's year.

TURRICAN

alias no.9 wrote: »

Make sure it's an SDi or SLDi which are the intercooled versions and have a bit more poke.

no its not intercooled ,ive drove it and its pretty ok for torque.
so im a rover owner now.
what way is the turbo cooled?

alias no.9

lifer_sean wrote: »

Definitely not a Honda engine.

I thought they had the Peugeot engine, in which case top class engine for it's year.

The peugeot engines were a 1.8 non turbo diesel lifted from the 205/309 used in the older 218d and 418d (rover versions of the honda concerto), and the 1.4 non turbo diesel lifted from the 106/AX and used in the metro.

edit...
[puts anorak on] the peugeot engine is pretty robust to veg oil, provided it has a bosch pump, but the rovers had a metal fuel tank with paint on the inside which tends to be disolved by the veg oil, clogging the fuel filter.[/takes anorak off]

TURRICAN wrote: »

no its not intercooled ,ive drove it and its pretty ok for torque.
so im a rover owner now.
what way is the turbo cooled?

Oil cooled I presume, don't skimp on the oil changes.

lifer_sean

TURRICAN wrote: »

what way is the turbo cooled?

At the risk of maybe stating the obvious, the intercooler (when fitted) cools the air going into the engine, not the turbo itself. The idea is that if the air is cooler it is more dense and has more oxygen, so can burn more fuel and provide more power.

Esel

alias no.9 wrote: »

Oil cooled I presume, don't skimp on the oil changes.

Veg oil OK, yeah?

TURRICAN

lifer_sean wrote: »

At the risk of maybe stating the obvious, the intercooler (when fitted) cools the air going into the engine, not the turbo itself. The idea is that if the air is cooler it is more dense and has more oxygen, so can burn more fuel and provide more power.

theres no intercooler ,or at leastb i dont see it.

TURRICAN

alias no.9 wrote: »

The peugeot engines were a 1.8 non turbo diesel lifted from the 205/309 used in the older 218d and 418d (rover versions of the honda concerto), and the 1.4 non turbo diesel lifted from the 106/AX and used in the metro.

edit...
[puts anorak on] the peugeot engine is pretty robust to veg oil, provided it has a bosch pump, but the rovers had a metal fuel tank with paint on the inside which tends to be disolved by the veg oil, clogging the fuel filter.[/takes anorak off]









Oil cooled I presume, don't skimp on the oil changes.

how often do you think for an oil change?
im not really hard on a car but i woulnt be sparing it either.

Bluefoam

In the urrent climate, you hav the choice of a fantastic array of cars... and you choose a Rover :rolleyes:

Stephen

One of my friends has a '97 Rover 400 diesel and it runs quite well on veggie oil.

TURRICAN

Bluefoam wrote: »

In the urrent climate, you hav the choice of a fantastic array of cars... and you choose a Rover :rolleyes:

yeah cheap car under a grand and nearly 2 years test and some tax.
at the end of the week then im gettin another one for very cheap for spares.
good diesel engine too.:D

Esel

I find it amusing that some people have such a major thing against Rovers. The only problem, afaik, (and it is admittedly very common) is with the K series head gasket. It can be avoided by frequent checking of coolant level, and rectified permanently if done with the correct parts (improved/stronger oil rail, MLS head gasket, full set of new engine bolts). The K engine is used in the Lotus Elise, if I'm not mistaken. As for the Rover 75, a very good car, by all accounts....

Webmonkey

esel wrote: »

I find it amusing that some people have such a major thing against Rovers. The only problem, afaik, (and it is admittedly very common) is with the K series head gasket. It can be avoided by frequent checking of coolant level, and rectified permanently if done with the correct parts (improved/stronger oil rail, MLS head gasket, full set of new engine bolts). The K engine is used in the Lotus Elise, if I'm not mistaken. As for the Rover 75, a very good car, by all accounts....

Yeah seems that people just look at rover and say piece of crap. The head gasket problem is the only main problem and that problem is easily fixed, I've done it myself with no mechanic experience and a haynes book

Yes it was used in the Lotus Elise because of its high power to low weight ratio, they had it down to just 60KG I think, fully dressed with coolant and all. The normal K-series ways 97KG, you'd lift it out of the engine bay yourself! They a little powerplant.

For you that have an interest in new models coming from MGRovers take over, take a look at some of these new models coming from SIAC/NAC MG:

Roewe N1

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t303/alialibaba/Roewe%20N1%202009%20SHAS/RoeweN12009042001.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t303/alialibaba/Roewe%20N1%202009%20SHAS/RoeweN12009042006.jpg

Looking forward to this getting to Ireland.

TURRICAN

nice car looks sweet from the back.