Just seen this one and it made me laugh, any chance we could upload it to the list?

I like that.

Took me a minute or two to figure it out, but the mayo jar gives it away.

Thats a pretty good one

ha

i dont get it

mayo
head gasket flying
flopping or.......yes that one

thats good Rik

Did that come from an MG/Rover forum? Lol.

From Rovertech - you got me

Just for the record, it's only the K-series petrol engines from '95 and onwards that have this issue, the other petrols have average rates and it's near enough non-existant on the diesels . It's fixed now by the use of an MLS gasket and different headbolts etc, anyways. 100% success rate...

One of the guys who was a lecturer of mine whilst I was doing my apprenticeship was a designer on the k engine. He was one smart guy. Is the mls gasket the same as the lotus developed one? As they used the engine is some of their cars (racing).

Its a good job its a piece of p*ss to replace done the girlfriends dads 3times 1fail 1cam belt snap and another fail 38kbetween though.

Johny

I don't know, TBH... I belive it could be.

I know the F/TF crowd run the Landrover 1800 MLS gaskets on their VVC engines. The only K-engined Rover I ever had was an early '90's 214 16v SLi. Bomb proof engine in there (it was the one with the wet liners) and damned quick for it's displacement, I can see why Lotus use 'em

yeah they are pretty bullet proff if you look after em , high revving engine and with a turbo

johny

My last car was an MG ZR 160 (VVC engine). I planned to swap for the landrover head gasket too as it's a common upgrade on the MGZR forum. (I'm trying to convert one of the guys there to follow in my footsteps and get a Coupé, he was looking at a Cougar so I'm trying to steer him here instead - funnily enough I was looking at a Cougar after my MG too lol).

The main plus of the K-Series is that it's remarkably light, and really "revvy" but to make it light there was something to do with bolt lengths and other stuff I didn't understand, but basically what made it so good was also it's downfall. Yes Lotus used the K-Series engines for some time before turning to (I believe) Honda?

Anyway, my MG never had a problem with it, as long as you let the engine warm up properly before revving the tits off it they usually last just fine. Some will go regardless but some have been known to do plenty miles and never fail. That said I've known someone that had one fail about 4 times - once it's gone and been skimmed and replaced it's more prone to going again you see.



People do make out like ALL MG/Rover engines WILL get HGF after 5 minutes of owning it, and it's not true. It's more common, and their main flaw, but it's like saying ALL old Fords will need new gearboxes and clutches as that's their most common flaw too. All manufacturers have a main issue, no car is 100% perfect, MG/R is just more famous for being bad because it's greedy investors milked it dry and let it fall down the pan, and the workers with it. So what if they bought the company for £10 (I seem to recall that this is really the price they paid for it) that doesn't mean they can give themselves bonuses that ran into the millions each, as well as to their girlfriends/wives etc and let the last well known British car company die on it's @rse!

Everyone should own an MG at one point though, the ZR (especially the 160) is a hell of a lot of fun to drive and faster than most hot hatches that cost 5 times as much. Plus a fair few people put an old Rover T-Series turbo engine in ZR's so they don't suffer HGF and they have a 2.0t with 200bhp as standard (seen these modded to 320Bhp).
Search eBay for MG ZR Turbo and some will always be around lol.

There's a guy on MGRover.org who worked on the K-series too (username is 1955diesel, dunno his real one) and he says the same. The older K's with the wet liner engines are a lot stronger, it's when they changed the design in the mid '90's to a 'damp' liner design - I guess to accomodate the larger displacements - that the problems started. The coolent capacity is really small too, so when there is a leak (be it HGF or whatever) the coolent damned near flashes to steam - thus amplifying the damage done.

I didn't know that about the head bolts and crank end-caps, not having that engine or ever experienced an Rover-related HGF I tend to not read those posts, but I'll bear that in mind. Might prove useful someday...

yup, its all useful nuggets of info,. i pick em up everywhere i go lol.