dnb

I took mu mother in law's Rover engine apart last night to see why there was no compression on cyl 1.

The head gasket looks fine, the bores look very good and the valves seem OK. They all look like they are sealed.

I'm a little annoyed that there is no obvious reason why it runs on 3 cylinders only. I was expecting to see half a valve gone or something...

Oh well, maybe I'll see something tonight when I have a look. It was quite late by the time I had the head removed....

If anyone has experience of Rover 16 valve DOHC 2 litre engines, let me know please!

Greeno

Hi mate i'm an ex rover Boy,

Don't really know that much about the inns and out's of the engine's but did have a 220 running 181bhp...

Check out the boy's on www.roverload.com, they should be able to help you, i'm Greenman on the site if you wan't to chat...

HTH,

John.

CLANDER

maybe someone on this mg forum site could help. www.xpower-mg.co.uk
Chris.

dnb

Thanks for the links, I'll follow them very shortly. I'm hoping that when I look at it tonight I'll see something I missed at 10-30 last night...

grant620

What was compression like before you stripped it?
Could be rings or broke piston ring land - quite common on the T-16.
Is it a turbo engine?

Grant
620Ti

cletterridge

Have you tried pouring some oil into cyl 1 to see what happens? On cars left standing for a while, the piston ring can sieze into a non-sealing position and just needs a little help popping out to make the seal again.

Mantamac

The 2.0 16v motor had a few head problems especially in turbo form. The head goes pourous and in a really bad example will show a compression loss on that clyinder.
Other common fault's are the head bolt's streching on high miler's. This is usually preceded by oil leak's from around the head before the engine finnaly looses compression.
On the turbo motor it is not recommended you skim the head but replace it!!!!!!! I know of many 220T's that have had the head skimmed with no ill effect's so give it a go if a pressure test proves o.k.
If it's none of the above crack test the block as if it's been hot at some point there may be a hairline crack in the cylinder or block face not visible with the naked eye.
Hope some of this help's.

Mac.

Turkish

Generally, the bottom end of the T16 engine doesn't give much bother. Most of the problems are head related. I would remove the valves and check that they are seating properly.

There was a problem with "sticky valves", where the valves guides and stems would become coated in carbon deposits resulting in the valves sticking open. The repair was full decoke and modified valves. When you remove the valves look for black deposits up the stems, in particular the exhaust valves.

If you wanted to chech the pistons and rings, level out all the pistons in the bores, and partly fill each bore with a thin oil (like WD40) to the same level - doesn't need to be much, 2 or 3cm's above the bore would be enough. Then leave overnight and check to see if any of the levels have significantly dropped more than the others. There isn't really a set rule of thumb for measuring the rate the oil drains past, but it should be fairly even and minimil too.

It's difficult to make a diagnosis without seeing the engine though.

Hope this helps.

p.s. I'm an ex Rover mechanic (I love Rover engines, kept me in a job!).

[Edited by Turkish - 1/23/2003 8:00:12 PM]

dnb

Thanks everyone Scoobynet does it again.

I've just got in from the workshop (now with better lighting) and found that there is nearly half a valve head missing Don't know how we missed it last night!

Just need to get a couple of valves and a set of gaskets now, and it can go back together

grant620

"The 2.0 16v motor had a few head problems especially in turbo form. The head goes pourous and in a really bad example will show a compression loss on that clyinder.
Other common fault's are the head bolt's streching on high miler's. This is usually preceded by oil leak's from around the head before the engine finnaly looses compression."

Wherever did you get this from????
Porous heads - never seen or heard of a T-16 head go porous.
Head bolts stretching - don't think so. The bolts marked KX are stretch bolts anyhow. They snap just after the max torque rating!

Grant
620Ti
T-16 Turbo Guru.

barge

stick to the bent 8 & you wont go wrong

Mantamac

Ref : Grant620
The porous problem and head bolt stretch are known problem's and both I have personally experienced on customer's car's over the year's!!! The porous problem has been mentioned in Rover's technical Bulletin's and is an accepted fault in a large batch of head's made for this engine.(just like Coscast did with Vauxhall 2.0 16v's)
Ref the head bolt's they snap because there is a turning action being applied to them ! Sadly standard head bolt's can stretch hence why ARP etc make so much money every year selling uprated one's.
I can only speak from experience and what I have read within the industry. If you dissagree fine I'll still sleep night's.

Mac. CAE AMIMI.