Just how bad is the Rover K-Series engine?
Discussion
My brother came to see me yesterday and to look at my car which he wants to buy. I was telling him that the Lotus Elise is high up my list of potential next cars... but when I mentioned that it had a Rover K-Series engine he told me to run for the hills! He has had a couple of cars with K-Series engines, both of which died a death, which is no doubt why he'd rather I didn't buy something with one in... but are they really that bad? What experiences have PHers with K-Series-engined Elises had?
Well my K (in my S1 Elise) is on 60k miles with no problems. Plenty of Elises with the K are well over the 100k mark.
In fairness the K can have issues with Head Gasket Failure. However in the context of a specialised sports car its cheap (£800 ish) to fix. If its fixed properly then the problem should not arise again.
A proper fix would involve checking the porosity of the head (some of the later castings weren't very good), checking cylinder liner heights above the block are correct, refitting of a redesigned gasket and refixing the head to the block with redesigned bolts.
You can help to avoid failure in the first place by making sure that the cooler circuit is in good condition and keeping an eye on it and by not working the engine hard until properly warmed up (not just water up to temp but allow time for the oil to come up to temp too).
The great thing about the K is its light weight and tunability.
Plenty of options for getting more (reliable) power from it and well looked after it should last well.
In fairness the K can have issues with Head Gasket Failure. However in the context of a specialised sports car its cheap (£800 ish) to fix. If its fixed properly then the problem should not arise again.
A proper fix would involve checking the porosity of the head (some of the later castings weren't very good), checking cylinder liner heights above the block are correct, refitting of a redesigned gasket and refixing the head to the block with redesigned bolts.
You can help to avoid failure in the first place by making sure that the cooler circuit is in good condition and keeping an eye on it and by not working the engine hard until properly warmed up (not just water up to temp but allow time for the oil to come up to temp too).
The great thing about the K is its light weight and tunability.
Plenty of options for getting more (reliable) power from it and well looked after it should last well.
My brother explained what happens to the block if the gasket blows and made it sound like it's something that pretty much spells the end for the engine - for example, a skimmed block ending up with a minutely different stroke to before and thus no longer beign the right size for the bits inside it. Please excuse my stupid terminology - I really know feck-all about cars and engines!
The block would need to be skimmed if the surface that mates to the head has become warped. If you were seriously abusing the engine (think K engined Freelanders and school run Mums using the car after the gasket has gone!) then it might need doing. Catch it early (regular checks on the cooling system - not complicated) and you shouldn't have too many problems.
Basically Mitch to avoid big problems you just need to keep a regular eye on the coolant header tank. Check that the level is where it should be and that its not contaminated with oil.
When checking your oil level (again something you should do regularly) check that there are no streaks of mayonaisse indicating water getting in.
When checking your oil level (again something you should do regularly) check that there are no streaks of mayonaisse indicating water getting in.
TIPPER said:
Basically Mitch to avoid big problems you just need to keep a regular eye on the coolant header tank. Check that the level is where it should be and that its not contaminated with oil.
When checking your oil level (again something you should do regularly) check that there are no streaks of mayonaisse indicating water getting in.
good advice yes but i had HGF and i didnt have oil in the coolant tank or coolant in the oil so these arent the only signs to look for, how i found out was the smell of anti freeze coming out of the exhaust on idle and when starting up from cold sounding like it was firing on only 3 cylinders as the 4th was doormant due to being full of water.When checking your oil level (again something you should do regularly) check that there are no streaks of mayonaisse indicating water getting in.
all cars have scare stories and HGF shouldnt put you off a k series engine, theres a lot worse engines out there than these.try a fezza 348!
if youre really worried get the AA warranty for £65 a year that covers 5 claims up to £500 IIRC, this should cover most of the cost for one but also covers other issues as well like cam belts etc.
Promised Land said:
TIPPER said:
Basically Mitch to avoid big problems you just need to keep a regular eye on the coolant header tank. Check that the level is where it should be and that its not contaminated with oil.
When checking your oil level (again something you should do regularly) check that there are no streaks of mayonaisse indicating water getting in.
good advice yes but i had HGF and i didnt have oil in the coolant tank or coolant in the oil so these arent the only signs to look for, how i found out was the smell of anti freeze coming out of the exhaust on idle and when starting up from cold sounding like it was firing on only 3 cylinders as the 4th was doormant due to being full of water.When checking your oil level (again something you should do regularly) check that there are no streaks of mayonaisse indicating water getting in.
all cars have scare stories and HGF shouldnt put you off a k series engine, theres a lot worse engines out there than these.try a fezza 348!
if youre really worried get the AA warranty for £65 a year that covers 5 claims up to £500 IIRC, this should cover most of the cost for one but also covers other issues as well like cam belts etc.
£500 for my HGF repair, caught it very early & didnt hesitate in fixing it. I had some concerns about the k engine when buying mine but 16 months on & 18k miles later (now at 60k) & im happy as larry & its the only car to date that i have no issues what so ever regarding reliability.
Edited by boobles on Tuesday 2nd October 06:52
Nothing wrong with the K-series, especially in the Elise where the cooling system is more than up to the task. It's an engine that's intolerant of not being warmed up and cooled down properly, but if you've been careful and the previous owners have, then it should run and run and run.
My Elise was too reliable so I replaced it with a K-VHPD... should sort that out then
My Elise was too reliable so I replaced it with a K-VHPD... should sort that out then
Promised Land said:
if youre really worried get the AA warranty for £65 a year that covers 5 claims up to £500 IIRC, this should cover most of the cost for one but also covers other issues as well like cam belts etc.
Is that up to £500 per claim and a total of five claims (ie £2,500 total) or five claims adding up to an overall total of £500?Zo-fo said:
Unless your brother wants a new car, I don't see why he would want to buy an Elise in preference to a VX220. On reflection, is your post a wind-up? Are you reeling me in? Anyway, tell him to get an old Vauxhall if he's bothered about engine durabilty .
No, no wind-up... But it's not my brother wanting to buy an Elise, my brother is buying my BMW and I might buy an Elise as a replacement. My brother, having experienced two duff K-Series engines before, has warned me off buying an Elise, so I thought I'd do the sensible thing and ask some people who have actually owned Elises rather than take his word for it.I've got an elise s2 with K series and suffered HGF a couple of month ago. Was around £500 to get fixed by a lotus dealer and had no problems since. I was alerted to it by a sudden rise in running temperature (I'm not the most reliable for checking coolant levels etc etc like I should be).
On the back of this I took out an independent warranty which covers me for any failure up to the value of £1000 (5 claims a year to this value are allowed), cost around £200 per annum, but worth it.
Dont be put off by this though, still a very good engine, and apart from this instance, has otherwise been 100% reliable.
HTH
On the back of this I took out an independent warranty which covers me for any failure up to the value of £1000 (5 claims a year to this value are allowed), cost around £200 per annum, but worth it.
Dont be put off by this though, still a very good engine, and apart from this instance, has otherwise been 100% reliable.
HTH
There's a lot of mis-information regarding HGF. 95% are due to lack of coolant so keep an aye on the header tank. Check it regularly.
Freelanders are very heavy, & the MGF is heavier than a Lotus. Loti put very little stress on these engines therefore HGF is relatively rare in comparison.
Freelanders are very heavy, & the MGF is heavier than a Lotus. Loti put very little stress on these engines therefore HGF is relatively rare in comparison.
Zo-fo said:
Unless your brother wants a new car, I don't see why he would want to buy an Elise in preference to a VX220. On reflection, is your post a wind-up? Are you reeling me in? Anyway, tell him to get an old Vauxhall if he's bothered about engine durabilty .
Because even though the head gasket wont go, the fine handling of the elise chassis is always improved with a load of pig iron in the back.Tell your brother not to buy a BMW, it may have the VANOS system and if that goes then...
Not much I can add to the above, but bear in mind the K-series is one of the most common out there - apart from being in most petrol Rovers and MGs from the late '80s (even the V6 pretty much started as two Ks with the 4th cylinder chopped off), it's in all Elises up to 2004, a load of Caterhams, GTMs and other kit cars....the fact that there are so many about and that they have been put in cars owned by the sort of people who tend to belong to clubs and forums means that any issue gets reported. Hence why there are loads of scare stories about oil starvation, over revving and clutch failures on Toyota lumps. Or driveshaft failures on Elises with Honda conversions.
Not everyone treats their engine with sympathy, all engines have moving parts and sometimes they move in a different direction or wear out. There's no need to panic, go and read about Lotuses before the Elise, that will scare you!
Not much I can add to the above, but bear in mind the K-series is one of the most common out there - apart from being in most petrol Rovers and MGs from the late '80s (even the V6 pretty much started as two Ks with the 4th cylinder chopped off), it's in all Elises up to 2004, a load of Caterhams, GTMs and other kit cars....the fact that there are so many about and that they have been put in cars owned by the sort of people who tend to belong to clubs and forums means that any issue gets reported. Hence why there are loads of scare stories about oil starvation, over revving and clutch failures on Toyota lumps. Or driveshaft failures on Elises with Honda conversions.
Not everyone treats their engine with sympathy, all engines have moving parts and sometimes they move in a different direction or wear out. There's no need to panic, go and read about Lotuses before the Elise, that will scare you!
Gassing Station | Elise/Exige/Europa/340R | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff