Head gasket reliability issues???
Discussion
Still planning on "joining the club" at the end of the summer but I have a few questions on reliability.
Correct me if wrong but the S1 Elise has a Rover K series engine. Same as an MGF and same as a Freelander, which both have catastrophic head gasket reliability problems as they get older. Is this a common problem on an Elise, especially as it's going to get spanked harder than your average Freelander (although I know it weighs about half!)
My other question is about bodywork. Talking to a firend in the trade, he says that clams tend to get replaced for even minor damage. Is this true? The reason I ask is that I have seen cars for sale with body damage (there was one recently for about £7500) that seem good value if you have the skills to sort them. My hobby is dinghy racing and I built most of my boat from epoxy & glass/carbon/kevlar and to get such a vehicle ready for a paintshop is not hard.
However is this a false economy? Contrary to my earlier thread my Elise will be a second car and it will get tracked, is repaired bodywork a big "no-no" or is it not really that much of a problem?
Any thoughts gratefully recieved!
Correct me if wrong but the S1 Elise has a Rover K series engine. Same as an MGF and same as a Freelander, which both have catastrophic head gasket reliability problems as they get older. Is this a common problem on an Elise, especially as it's going to get spanked harder than your average Freelander (although I know it weighs about half!)
My other question is about bodywork. Talking to a firend in the trade, he says that clams tend to get replaced for even minor damage. Is this true? The reason I ask is that I have seen cars for sale with body damage (there was one recently for about £7500) that seem good value if you have the skills to sort them. My hobby is dinghy racing and I built most of my boat from epoxy & glass/carbon/kevlar and to get such a vehicle ready for a paintshop is not hard.
However is this a false economy? Contrary to my earlier thread my Elise will be a second car and it will get tracked, is repaired bodywork a big "no-no" or is it not really that much of a problem?
Any thoughts gratefully recieved!
HGF - on the S1 then id say if it hasnt gone then it will do before 100K miles...you may get lucky
get it fixed properly for about £500 with the newer gasket etc and it should be fine for a while
On the S2 it seemed like less of a problem - they still go, but dont seem to be as often...or maybe its just that the majority of cars havnt done that many miles yet.
If you bang the front or rear then yes its easy to do enough damage that for an insurance job they will fit a new clam. If you can repair it yourself then its not an issue - the reason why so many get replaced on minor bangs is down to the labour and the nature of most body places these days - they dont like to repair...just fit new bits and bill the insurance co.
Clams are about £1-1.5K each depending on model of Elise and where you source them so what would be a minor bump for a normal car can equal a £2.5K bill inc paint and labour for a new clam
if its a 2nd car, and you buy a broken one for a good price, providing it is only the clam that is damaged (nothing else like crash structure etc) then you could save yourself a few quid by repairing it yourself....
get it fixed properly for about £500 with the newer gasket etc and it should be fine for a while
On the S2 it seemed like less of a problem - they still go, but dont seem to be as often...or maybe its just that the majority of cars havnt done that many miles yet.
If you bang the front or rear then yes its easy to do enough damage that for an insurance job they will fit a new clam. If you can repair it yourself then its not an issue - the reason why so many get replaced on minor bangs is down to the labour and the nature of most body places these days - they dont like to repair...just fit new bits and bill the insurance co.
Clams are about £1-1.5K each depending on model of Elise and where you source them so what would be a minor bump for a normal car can equal a £2.5K bill inc paint and labour for a new clam
if its a 2nd car, and you buy a broken one for a good price, providing it is only the clam that is damaged (nothing else like crash structure etc) then you could save yourself a few quid by repairing it yourself....
Thanks bogie for the advice.
HGF-where you say "get it fixed" I assume you mean BEFORE it goes rather than after. The MGF website talks about some new style Land Rover cylinder liners that can help too.
Re clams I can see why the garage would want to fit new. With a bit of luck the right car will come along at the right time, but if I could get a newer car with lower mileage with superficial damage then clearly that is an option.
HGF-where you say "get it fixed" I assume you mean BEFORE it goes rather than after. The MGF website talks about some new style Land Rover cylinder liners that can help too.
Re clams I can see why the garage would want to fit new. With a bit of luck the right car will come along at the right time, but if I could get a newer car with lower mileage with superficial damage then clearly that is an option.
I investigated K series anti HGF measures e.g. replace plastic dowels, replace gasket, fit remote thermostat, fit PRT thermostat etc etc etc and was advised by my local specialist to not spend any money (and it was him I was offering the money to) !
Just take care of warming up / cooling down and if you then get HGF well its less than £1k to fix and you can get your head ported and cleaned up at the same time for a cheeky power uprade.
Just take care of warming up / cooling down and if you then get HGF well its less than £1k to fix and you can get your head ported and cleaned up at the same time for a cheeky power uprade.
as above - wait until it goes wrong -then fix and upgrade at the same time...you may be lucky...its not worth the expense of doing it otherwise.
There are lots of websites/discussions on the cause of it...head gasket design and plastic dowels on early engines didnt help, cooling system design etc...Land Rover have recently started using some different plumbing and thermostat location - you can buy a kit aftermarket which addresses this issue also.
loads on the tech section at www.seloc.org
There are lots of websites/discussions on the cause of it...head gasket design and plastic dowels on early engines didnt help, cooling system design etc...Land Rover have recently started using some different plumbing and thermostat location - you can buy a kit aftermarket which addresses this issue also.
loads on the tech section at www.seloc.org
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