40inches
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| posted on 17/2/14 at 07:07 PM |
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Rover 45. Any good?
Mrs 40inches has taken a shine to a 53 plate, 1.8 auto 50,000 miles for not a lot of money. Yes or No?
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mookaloid
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| posted on 17/2/14 at 07:24 PM |
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if its cheap then why not? if it makes her happy........ 
check all the usual stuff, have a test drive etc
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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big_wasa
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| posted on 17/2/14 at 07:52 PM |
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I've had various Mg ZS variants and loved them all.
Never had an auto.
First thing I would look at is the level and type of coolant. Due to the crap plumbing in all the Mgr's any loss in coolant soon leads to an air
lock and takes out the head gasket.
Cheap and easy to work on. nice to be in and drive but very dated by todays standard.
With Mgr being skint they started "project Drive" Cost cutting measures. All sorts of things like stop lining the glove box to cutting
corners on under sealing the car. Have a good look at the petrol tank. My 51 plate was better built than the 06.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 17/2/14 at 07:52 PM |
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No major issues, however check the front to rear brake pipes and check the operation of the ABS. Any strange behaviour from the ABS. will likely be
corrosion of the toothed ringson the front CV joints , very easy and cheap to fix,
Assuming a K 4 cylinder K series. the timing belt should be changed at 5 years or 60,000 miles easy job special tool is optional but cost less than
£10.
At 50 k miles. no suspension work should be required unless it has carried heavy loadsin which case the rear void bushes suffers, but easy enough to
change.
3 different manual gearboxes were used 2 smallest engines were. Peugeot designed boxes on1.4 and 1.6 but the bigger 1.8, 2 litre and diesel used the
Rover 800 gearbox.
The Peugeots boxes were OK. the Rover box was mega strong but prone to the clutch fork pivot seizing causing problem with the clutch
hydraulics.
Coil packs sometimes fail at around 40 to 60 k miles and cause misfires.
Radiators can corrode but new replacements are very cheap from eBay.
If the coolant is drained or requires a major top up the bleed point below the air filter trunking MUST be opened or the coolant circuit will air
lock and the engine over heats.
These engines are generally very oil tight so oil tight the steel sumps on the. 1.4 and 1.6 rust , again easy and cheap to change.
If engine is slowly loosing coolant. it is likely to be anything other than the head gasket unless you actually find oil in the coolant.
These engines have 4 or 5 places where they can slowly weep coolant. so a pressure test is requiredto diagnose.
In any event the head gasket is easy to change fitting the upgraded gasket.
The heater blower speed control resistors sometimes fail. easy and cheap to fix with a soldering iron.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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Simon
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| posted on 17/2/14 at 08:00 PM |
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BT
Where did you learn all this ?
Sorry, someone had to ask and it's me
I'm thinking about buying something too, but it's a secret so you can't tell me what to look for 
ATB
Simon
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40inches
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| posted on 17/2/14 at 08:20 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
No major issues, however check the front to rear brake pipes and check the operation of the ABS. Any strange behaviour from the ABS. will likely be
corrosion of the toothed ringson the front CV joints , very easy and cheap to fix,
Assuming a K 4 cylinder K series. the timing belt should be changed at 5 years or 60,000 miles easy job special tool is optional but cost less than
£10.
At 50 k miles. no suspension work should be required unless it has carried heavy loadsin which case the rear void bushes suffers, but easy enough to
change.
3 different manual gearboxes were used 2 smallest engines were. Peugeot designed boxes on1.4 and 1.6 but the bigger 1.8, 2 litre and diesel used the
Rover 800 gearbox.
The Peugeots boxes were OK. the Rover box was mega strong but prone to the clutch fork pivot seizing causing problem with the clutch
hydraulics.
Coil packs sometimes fail at around 40 to 60 k miles and cause misfires.
Radiators can corrode but new replacements are very cheap from eBay.
If the coolant is drained or requires a major top up the bleed point below the air filter trunking MUST be opened or the coolant circuit will air
lock and the engine over heats.
These engines are generally very oil tight so oil tight the steel sumps on the. 1.4 and 1.6 rust , again easy and cheap to change.
If engine is slowly loosing coolant. it is likely to be anything other than the head gasket unless you actually find oil in the coolant.
These engines have 4 or 5 places where they can slowly weep coolant. so a pressure test is requiredto diagnose.
In any event the head gasket is easy to change fitting the upgraded gasket.
The heater blower speed control resistors sometimes fail. easy and cheap to fix with a soldering iron.
Thanks BT. Just what I need. This having the Auto box, I assume it will be the CVT variant? Any problems there?
Did Rover not fit the upgraded head gasket post 2002?
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britishtrident
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| posted on 18/2/14 at 09:04 AM |
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I checked the 1.8 auto uses a CVT which surprised me as other 1.8 Rovers use conventional auto boxes.
I think it will be the JATCO CVT, CVTs in other Rover models don't give the problems that they have in Fords.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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DW100
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| posted on 18/2/14 at 10:09 AM |
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I don't quite understand the fear of K series Head gaskets. Yes stupidly cutting production costs by using plastic dowels between the head and
the block was mistake, and no they didn't fix it at any stage of production, but it is not a difficult engine to do head gasket on. I've
done a few hundred now, at as little as 10,000 miles, but once done properly with the uprated gasket and steel dowels they don't give any
further problem.
Certainly nowhere as bad as the crap that VW group turn out and supposedly have a good reputation.
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r1_pete
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| posted on 26/2/14 at 07:41 AM |
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You bought it then, hope your Mrs. likes it. My Mrs used to love the 25 I had in the early 2000's, until she got the IS300....
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40inches
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| posted on 26/2/14 at 09:57 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by r1_pete
You bought it then, hope your Mrs. likes it. My Mrs used to love the 25 I had in the early 2000's, until she got the IS300....
Morning Pete, you noticed? 
Yep! 51000 miles, £500 and only in Woodhouse, would have been rude not too
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britishtrident
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| posted on 26/2/14 at 12:37 PM |
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The 45 especially the saloon was a styling mess Rover really wanted to contiue the previous shape for longer but Honda called the shots,but they are
very nice to drive.
First thing is to get hold of a copy of the Rover Rave factory manual CD . ......easiest just to pay £3 or so and buy off eBay.
Parts are dirt cheap..
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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