Rover 45 value?

Ev84

I have a 2000 Rover 45 1.4L (K-series engine) and would appreciate some help with pricing it. I know their value but this car is on the way out. It's showing signs of gasket failure (surprise, surprise :pac:) with traces of dark brown oil in the coolant reservoir and white gunk under the oil lid. It still drives grand but I have parked it up for fear it is going to go fully and overheat.

Just to be clear, the temp gauge needle has NEVER gone above normal operating temp as I've watched it like a hawk ever since I seen small bits of oil in the water a couple of weeks back. I've had to top up the water about three times since. The thing that brought my attention to the water reservoir in the first place was the heater started blowing cold all of a sudden one day. Knowing what this meant, I Pulled in and checked the water. Low and behold, It was too low for the heater feed pipe. But not gone dry. Topped it up and the heaters worked fine again.

I have no intentions of throwing money at this car as it's hardly worth it. I'm just going to scrap it or sell it to someone who might want to fix it. I don't want to just pass on the problem to someone else without saying anything so I'll be letting them know about the problem. So what's it's honest value? Here's a few details to help you help me:

Thanks in advance

Mileage: 136,000 miles. Brand new engine in 2004, swapped at 58,669 miles by previous owner. Paperwork to show.
Colour: cream
NCT: 13/04/2012, Cert to prove.
Tax: Out

Blue Punto

To be honest its worth sweet FA

I sold one 3 months ago with a years nct for 400 euro

With the condition of the car the way you describe it it might be worth 100 euro max


I wouldnt pay more for it anyway because you will have the same problem trying to move it on

Max Power1

(as a previous rover owner) you will have problems giving that away for free imo.

Nissan doctor

Max Power1 wrote: »

(as a previous rover owner) you will have problems giving that away for free imo.

I'd take it for free;)

Ev84

Don't get me wrong lads, I know it's worth f**k all. Just wonderin' roughly how much. Don't want to do someone out. Had to get a 4 door 1.4L last year instead of the thirsty bitch of a GT4 I had. Had another baby on the way and couldn't afford it any more plus the fact it was a coupe was just awkward with kids car seats. I knew rovers k-series reputation with gaskets but still bought one hoping the best :rolleyes:

Max Power1

Nissan doctor wrote: »

I'd take it for free;)

I meant practically free


But I realistically cant see you getting more than a couple of hundred for this OP. And thats being rather optimistic.

Ev84

Nissan doctor wrote: »

I'd take it for free;)

I would myself :pac:

I'm either going to drive it to it's death and then scrap it, Or I might just leave it parked up as it is while the head is not warped, In the hope that someone might take it knowing they can do a DIY job on it for little money. Or they might just take it for parts seeing as it's still driving grand... Engine is only seven years old. What would ye do?

Ev84

Ev84 wrote: »

Don't get me wrong lads, I know it's worth f**k all. Just wonderin' roughly how much. Don't want to do someone out.

Put it on donedeal asking €350 but clearly describe the situation with the HG, whatever someone gives you for it is what it's worth. Don't worry about doing them out.

If it's as you say it won't cost much more than than the cost of a gasket over a timing belt change to sort out. Unusual for the heater to stop blowing hot without the needle rising though, the coolant system must have been down nearly 2 litres by then.

Ev84

RoverJames wrote: »

Put it on donedeal asking €350 but clearly describe the situation with the HG, whatever someone gives you for it is what it's worth. Don't worry about doing them out.

If it's as you say it won't cost much more than than the cost of a gasket over a timing belt change to sort out. Unusual for the heater to stop blowing hot without the needle rising though, the coolant system must have been down nearly 2 litres by then.

I noticed the cold air blowing straight away as the heat was on, fiddled with the heat switch for the heater and nothing happened so I pulled in straight away to see what was wrong. I actually suspected an airlock in the system or something. Felt a few parts of the rad and it was all the same temp, gave the large pipe a feel too and there were no cold spots or anything so I checked the water level. It was pretty low and took somewhere between 1L to 2L... Had it not been the water level I would have went on to check the two smaller water pipes heading to the heater core but there was no need. Would it be possible that the temp gauge is giving a false reading? It never fluctuates though and it goes from cold to normal operating temp no bother?

*edit: At no time of re-filling did I use any coolant, just water. Could this have caused the heat to rise enough to affect the gasket but not show on the temp gauge?

Ev84

Ev84 wrote: »

Would it be possible that the temp gauge is giving a false reading? It never fluctuates though and it goes from cold to normal operating temp no bother?

*edit: At no time of re-filling did I use any coolant, just water. Could this have caused the heat to rise enough to affect the gasket but not show on the temp gauge?

I'd say the temp gauge is reading fine. Given the fact it's consumed quite a lot of water though for not a huge amount of mayo for evidence there may well be a leak somewhere that is the main problem. A car losing litres of water through the HG wouldn't really be running as well as yours seems to be. A peak at the water pump and inlet manifold gasket may be worthwhile The actual level on the dispstick hasn't raised at all has it ?

Ev84

RoverJames wrote: »

I'd say the temp gauge is reading fine. Given the fact it's consumed quite a lot of water though for not a huge amount of mayo for evidence there may well be a leak somewhere that is the main problem. A car losing litres of water through the HG wouldn't really be running as well as yours seems to be. A peak at the water pump and inlet manifold gasket may be worthwhile The actual level on the dispstick hasn't raised at all has it ?

No, the oil is at the level it has always been at. You were thinking a cracked block were you? I was thinking that for a while myself but the oil is not frothy or anything. Bit too black if anything but the odd streak of white comes up with the dipstick. About two finger scoops would clear the mayo under the oil cap. I'm confused as to where the f**k the water is going.

But in saying that, it was months since i even checked the water and stuff Maybe it took a long time for the level to drop by nearly 2L. Had to top it up twice since then but not too much. And no coolant. Can it evaporate? Checked for leaks too and cant see any obvious ones. Maybe there is one in a hard to spot place? There are no spots on the ground where it's parked either.

Ev84

Ev84 wrote: »

No, the oil is at the level it has always been at. You were thinking a cracked block were you? I was thinking that for a while myself but the oil is not frothy or anything. Bit too black if anything but the odd streak of white comes up with the dipstick. About two finger scoops would clear the mayo under the oil cap. I'm confused as to where the f**k the water is going.

.................Maybe there is one in a hard to spot place? There are no spots on the ground where it's parked either.

Nope, not at all thinking a cracked block
The more you say the more it sounds like a coolant leak. Inlet manifold gasket is common enough but on a 2004 engine it should be the improved green one which isn't too problematic. I'd be having a good leak for coolant weaps at the water pump, can be hard to spot though as the coolant evaporates off there. The Rover engineers designed it so small weeps would evaporate off so as to not bother the owners, fairly retarded strategy imo.

You don't seem to have huge symptoms of HG failure except the coolant loss, and the rate you are loosing it at should through up some symptoms.

If all the water was mixing with the oil you'd have lots more mayo than you are seeing

Ev84

RoverJames wrote: »

Nope, not at all thinking a cracked block
The more you say the more it sounds like a coolant leak. Inlet manifold gasket is common enough but on a 2004 engine it should be the improved green one which isn't too problematic. I'd be having a good leak for coolant weaps at the water pump, can be hard to spot though as the coolant evaporates off there. The Rover engineers designed it so small weeps would evaporate off so as to not bother the owners, fairly retarded strategy imo.

You don't seem to have huge symptoms of HG failure except the coolant loss, and the rate you are loosing it at should through up some symptoms.

If all the water was mixing with the oil you'd have lots more mayo than you are seeing

Really? That's interesting. It's gone too dark now to give it a good check and i've no torch so I'll have to leave it till tomorrow. I hope you're right. Yes it's a 2004 engine alright. And where would this beige/brown oily stuff be coming from that's in the coolant reservoir? Is this common enough? It's been getting worse every time I look into it. So with that, and the mayo under the oil lid I just put it down to gasket failure and presumed it was on the way out! So there might be hope for the 'oul bitch yet

*edit: left out oil.

There is little doubt that there is a weep in the HG, I really can't see how there is litres of water mixing with the oil if oil level isn't rising to accompany it. I'm basing this in the very little amount of mixing you are describing combined with no other symptoms of HG failure except the coolant loss You did say there was only a tiny amount of the gunge in the coolant tank. A finger scoop or too I think it was quantified as :pac:

Ev84

RoverJames wrote: »

There is little doubt that there is a weep in the HG, I really can't see how there is litres of water mixing with the oil if oil level isn't rising to accompany it. I'm basing this in the very little amount of mixing you are describing combined with no other symptoms of HG failure except the coolant loss You did say there was only a tiny amount of the gunge in the coolant tank. A finger scoop or too I think it was quantified as :pac:

Yes there is a finger scoop or two of white gunk under the oil cap on the head. But there is brown gunk in the coolant/water reservoir. Read the op, I stated this clearly. I'm no genius when it comes to engines but I know a thing or two on how they work. The car is driving fine, their is brown gunk in the water bottle, white gunk under the oil cap, it's losing water but it hasn't over-heated so I'm at a loss to understand what the problem is if it's not the head gasket? I hope it is just a leak like you suggested but I have a bad feeling that it won't be driving grand for much longer. Which is why I have it parked up. Something is obviously gone wrong but what?

Ev84

Ev84 wrote: »

Read the op

lol, I don't think I'll bother to be honest

Ev84

RoverJames wrote: »

lol, I don't think I'll bother to be honest

I'm sorry if I came across ignorant, You seem to have gotten offended by me saying "read the op". That was not my intention but Ok. Well thanks for your help anyway RoverJames. Was good of you to share the head-ache for a while :pac:

I just want to wash my hands of this car and sell it to someone who knows what they are doing tbh before I start throwing money at it and end up spending more than it is worth. I'll take your first bit of advice I think and throw it on done deal.

Thanks again

mondeo

I did a head gasket on my mothers Rover 45 years ago. Pig of a job! Pitty as they are a nice car in my opinion. No doubt your gasket is shot anyways. I can tell you that from experience. Good luck selling it on. I think you would be doing well to get anything over 250 quid for it.