K series can be made reliable now, with the Chinese spec gasket etc they can go on and on, and they are a very light and revvy engine, a little rough perhaps but fun to use in a sporty car, not great in a 'luxury' car though due to harshness issues. The absolute key is to warm them up slowly and regularly check coolant level due to low capacity.
I had two company car Rovers, first one a 214 SLi R8 model, this did 125,000 mls, then had 414 Si HH-R model and this did 94,000 mls, never had any head gasket or cooling issues on either car, they were regularly serviced at the correct intervals and had an additional oil and filter change every 6,000 mls which proves the K series are brilliant reliable engines. There were definitely problems when the overstretched 1.8 engines came in especially with the MGF, having its thermostat placed in the wrong place which caused over heating and with the Freelander, hence Land Rover in conjunction with Powertrain developed the MLS gasket, but these are not bulletproof when used on engines where a head gasket is being replaced, especially if the steel piston liners have moved, the head gasket will fail again, the Elastomer head gasket is far better as elastomer sealing is more flexible in getting a better sealing. Unfortunately today there are too many garages doing crap repairs on these cars and where people don’t service them regularly enough. They are a high maintenance engine that’s for sure, but well serviced they go on ever.
The head gaskets mainly went on the 1.8 models due to the bigger capacity aqnd the cylinders were close to the water jackets but the 1.1 , 1.4 and 1.6 were all fine.
My Dad used to own a 414 which had covered 145,000 miles and was on its original headgasket when he sold it. Also faster and more efficient than any rival.
@engineroomapocalypse My teacher is an ex rover engineer and worked on the K-series project and he says it's not the gasket design, he said it's when BMW bought Rover and they had to make the engines bigger to a 1.6/1.8 by changing to damp liners, the original k-series used in the wedge cars had wet liners and were very reliable, ARG had Maestros and Montegos going around for testing and not one had head gasket failure or any other type of failure, the problems started 1996.
Fascinating vid this. My car has this engine. The K Series 1.8i vvc 160ps. People think you cant modify them but you can and the pistons are good for 185bhp easily. Pocket rockets they are until you get HGF lol, but my cars covered 72k and no probs as yet. If you pay alot of coin for something well then you are going to look after it aint ya. Regular servicing with oil,coolant and jobs a good one.
@gunnit1001 The first rover gaskit i fitted was on the rover 400 k series cleaned r well down. skimmed the head tightened r well down. never looked back. the new tin gaskit is a good job. grand wee motor.nice to drive.
The trouble with the Freelander was that people used to treat it like a proper 4x4 and attach a double horse-box to it. The trouble is that aluminium expands about three times faster than steel so overheating is forbidden! A Standard Vanguard engine (allegedly still made in India) would be a better bet for lugging heavy loads. Incidentally I know someone who bought a new Freelander that blew up so often that he wanted rid of it. The dealer would offer nothing, nil, zero, zilch on it as a trade-in so I think that sums things up. IMHO ALL 4x4s need a radiator that is capable of dissipating the heat caused by towing the maximum GTW at the maximum legal speed on a hot day. Anything less will be a failure.
I had a 1.8 k series Freelander and it was a god damned shocking engine on that car. The headgasket failed nearly every year, and two of the bolts actually stretched too much, which meant that in turn the engine came apart whilst driving. Shocking engine in the FL, sounds like its a gooden in the smaller cars though?
@Liamautomechanic I'm not saying they are bad cars by any means and yes the gasket fix does seem to work, there's no denying it. It's just a shame they never came out of the factory with a decent gasket. Interestingly MG are using what is essentially a 1.8 turbo k series, and the 6 drives alot like a ZT. Re-engineered technology perhaps
I sighed at 1:50 and yet it was pot luck, anything as low as 30k or even 120k before first head gasket failure. But you would have thought by the late nineties they would have realised there was a problem and used a proper gasket? After BMW ownership the pheonix four should have focused on replacement cars for their range instead of sports cars (MG SV), although the MG Z's are under-rated in my view as long as you opt for diesel, v6 (ish) or v8, 10 years too late to save them though
little did they know that gasket would kill every single one of thous engings lol... sweet engine thou.. and to be completely onest the blow up just the same as the BMW straight 6. about 30,000 before but never the less the bmws blow up aswell. and normaly crack the head...... if you have a rover and the head gasket goes always get the head skimmed always replace the head bolts. always always always drill out the the air bleed ball bearing in the intake. and you have time grind the terrible casting out in the head inside the water jackets to alllow better water flow.... you do all that the head gasket wont ever go again...oh and not that you can get the old gaskets now. always use the the uprated one with metal dowls... and for thous who dont know the head bolts and head gaskets fit the 1.4 1.6.18 1.8vvc are all the same.. and you really wanna make sure you never have to change it again swop the thermostae for a lower opening temp one plus on the air intake where it connects to the head drill the oppsite side out and put another airbleeder hose in and plum it to the header tank with a t piece...... WOW!!! lol sorry for spelling its late lol
the money spent developing this could have been used in adding engine mounts to achieve the same results, yet not compromising engine longevity they should have K.I.S.S. more
Tonight my father in law dropped in asked me to look at his car explaining its loosing coolant being a Rover fitted with the K series engine diagnosis was simple! This was the second Rover K series car in the family both had head gasket failures. No wonder why Rover went bust, they must have been in denial especially calling the K series such a success.
Just answered your own question I can almost be certain he didn't do regular maintenance and checks every week like your meant to and the head gaskets can be done for £50 excl timing belts if your competent and be done in a few hours
If they were that far ahead of their time you have to wonder what they would be working on today. Shame the "men upstairs" ran them into the ground, Rover had some amazing engineers.
