Rover 820 Vitesse Sport Lux Gold

[n1tr0_9]

I have also heard that dry rice inside that tank and shake it to clean it out.

[scoobyh123]

It may work but i wouldn't like to risk it - if a few grains of ric get stuck and then move, swell once the engine is warm.............

[n1tr0_9]

Started on the surgery today. First thing was to get the turbo and manifold off so that I could get at the obviously leaking core plug.



This involved jacking up the car, removing the battery, airbox, intake hose, coolant hoses etc. And then from underneath I removed a trim panel and then set about trying to unbolt the down pipe. Only two of the nuts were done up, the other was cross threaded onto the end of the stud and then promptly sheared off as soon as tried to undo it. One of the others came off nicely, the third was a bitch to get to. One of those awkward access nuts, and given the heat it had been exposed to, it was somewhere between a 14mm ad 15mm socket size. On top of that I couldn't get direct access, so had to use a flexi drive thing. Finally got it off with out rounding. PHEW!

Then I undid the manifold to head bolts. Tow of these at the nearside were basically finger tight and when I actually got the manifold and gasket off I think it had been leaking for a while. Lots of oil and soot staining. Oil also all over the manifold, quite surprised these don't catch fire more often.

Empty space and oil staining



It was also strange how little the manifold bolts went into the head, only about 8mm which isn't a lot for a m10 (I think) thread. I bought some studs and nuts, but now they have arrived I'm not sure if fitting them is a good idea, as they are stainless. I always though putting stainless in ally was a bad idea?

Anyway, here is the turbo flange and gasket all crappy and stained.





Next I popped out the obviously leaking core plug. AS I had good access I popped out the one next to it too, to see if that was also corroded - guess what, it was! Not holed, but definitely on its way. This is bad, as that means probably all of them want to come out. Grrrr.

Core plugs. Left is leaking one, middle is corroded but not holed, right is new one.



Weird pitting corrosion on rear side of both.



Wile all that was out of the way I had a look at what might be causing the weird noise. Initially I thought it was alternator or water pump. Alternator felt ok, and as a refurb sticker on it. Cant get to water pump yet. But aux belt tensioner had a dry rattle to it, not that bad, but ill change it anyway as I might as well.

[scoobyh123]

Use a smear of copper grease on the new manifold studs - stainless is better going into aluminium than mild steel as there's less risk of electrolytic corrosion.

Not surprised at the state of the core plugs, that's what happens when you run it without antifreeze. Don't forget a smear of sealant round the edge of the new core plugs when you fit them.

If you're getting oil in the exhaust, it might be the turbo is on its way out - you can get new cores for them for about £100 and just separate the outer parts from the centre, fit the new centre, job done!

Surprised you got the downpipe off so easily. Last one i saw needed WMP to shift the nuts!
WMP is a 50/50 mix of acetone and synthetic ATF, give it a good shake then spray it on. Makes WD40 look like glue!

[n1tr0_9]

Just got a price on an aux belt tensioner....... £140 +vat!!!!!!

[scoobyh123]

Take it off and look for the bearing ID numbers - you'll probably find it's something like a 6202ZZ (or maybe a pair of them, side by side) that can be picked up for pennies by comparison.

Have you got a link/part number for that tensioner James?

[scoobyh123]

Well that wasn't a bad guess on the bearing number!

Rover part number is PQG10008L (with or without the "L" - Land Rover use it as well and add the "L") and i found this one on fleabay :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Drive-Belt-I ... m570.l1313

Check the compatible part numbers and PQG10008 is one of them. Then look at the listing, in particular the photos :



Turns out to be one 6203RS bearing but a 6203ZZ would be better IMHO, either way if you can change the bearing then it's really cheap, alternatively these are all available from the USA for about £26-28 delivered :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... 0&_sacat=0

Very different to the £143 from Rimming Brothers!

*** EDIT *** Nearly forgot - if you can change the bearing yourself :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6203-2rs-17x ... 0622033630

£1.74 inc P&P! That's right, less than two quid!!!

[n1tr0_9]

Outstanding work that man! I’ll have a look at my tensioner and see if I can get it apart. Thanks!!!

[scoobyh123]

You're welcome - hope you get it sorted for a sensible cost!

It has crossed my mind the ticking could in fact be the natural action of the spring as it keeps the belt tensioned.
If there's a squeal/rumble/continuous noise from it then probably the bearing, i've got a noisy air-con compressor clutch bearing, sounds like Concorde taking off when i use the air-con!

I've got the new bearing to be fitted, just haven't got round to doing it yet.

[n1tr0_9]

Bearing ordered off ebay. Went for a sachs one.

[Fastback]

Would you be so good as to let us know how that goes and perhaps a link to the one you ordered if it works?

Thanks

[n1tr0_9]

Yeah will do.

[n1tr0_9]

More done today. Started playing with the tensioner. I had assumed I could just press out the bearing but when I looked again I realised that it was sandwiched between the two halves of the idler wheel. The two halves were held together by three rivets. So I had to press those out to then tap the bearing out. Did it carefully so as not to damage the idler wheel.









Then went back to the car. Took the water pump and thermostat housing apart. Both were extremely rusty! Nasty really. I think I have got to this car just in time. Its rotting from the inside out!!!






Then got the head off. The bores look perfect. No scoring, tiny bit of polishing and most of the honing marks are still there. No wonder these engines have a reputation for being bullet proof in standard form (apart from oil leaks). Ive taken plenty of 6 cylinder bmw engine apart, and they have a reputation for being well engineered. This is comparable. Its done near on 150,000 miles and it all looks good inside.





Water ways are a bit crusty, but nothing a good flush and new antifreeze wont sort. With the head off I can also reach all 4 of the rear core plugs easily.



One weird thing is how messed up the plastic head dowel is. Either the head has been moving, or the dowel was damaged when I took the head off or when it got put on. Now sure if they make metal replacements?

[scoobyh123]

You're doing some good work there! Where did that plastic dowel come from?

Don't forget to clean out the bolt holes for the head bolts, they're a weird size, M11 x 1.25 i think, i have the right size tap for them lurking in my tap & die set. If you don't clean the threads out, you get false readings on the torque wrench and that causes HGF in fairly short order after!

[n1tr0_9]

The dowel was in the block to head interface, there were two of them. One can be seen in the photo of the block at the back right. The one that fell out was at the rear between the 1st and 2nd cylinder.