Davos White S2 Jct 5 M25 anticlock Sat 5pm

V

V8P6B

Member
Saw a gorgeous Davos White S2 P6, unfortunately stopped on the hard shoulder just before the Orpington Junction on the M25 anticlockwise, Sat evening 26th Feb, about 5:15pm. I was going the other way, with the family in the car, otherwise I may have stopped. Looked a stunner though, spare on bootlid, black vinyl roof & S wheeltrims. If it was you, and you were broken down. I hope you got home ok!! :)
 
Maybe it hadn't broken down and the driver had just stopped to admire the view? :D If it had been me who spotted a stranded P6 on the other side of the motorway, I would have attached my flashing blue light atop my vinyl roof and executed a rubber-burning u-turn at the next junction (damn those central reservation crash barriers). Then, with my kids happily out playing on the motorway grass verge, proceeded to render assistance. :D :D

Seriously though, I hope they got sorted out OK as it 'aint much fun having a breakdown. The one and only time I had a breakdown in JVY (touch veneered wooden door trim), I felt very self conscious and kept thinking that I was doing a bad PR job for classic car enthusiasts. That, somehow, I was just feeding into the myth that old British motors are unreliable and prone to breakdowns.
 
It was me! had just picked the car up and was on my way home to Suffolk. The heater packed up, then a lot of pinking and loss of power, then lost oil pressure so got off the motorway quick. The AA man reckons the head gasket so waiting for a gasket kit and then a strip down.
The car needs a new Golde sunroof and the interior stripped out and dried off, think the roof has been split for a fair while as it smells very musty inside. Will update when I know more.
Have to say I was impressed with AA service as part of Carole Nash Classic Insurance!!
 
Hope you get it sorted and welcome to the forum!

You'll have to let us know how you get on!

Rich
 
Hi Ron,welcome to the forum.
The best place to help classic rover owners.
I would investigate further first before trusting the AA man!
How many miles had you done before it went wrong?
Did you check the levels before you started your journey?
Had it been off the road for a few years or used regular?
Check and top up your water and oil levels,then,if it starts ok but over heats within 5-10 mins,it could be a jammed shut thermostat causing it to overheat,blow off water pressure via the rad cap,thus an air lock stops heater working as its the high point of the cooling system!
Overheating can cause pinking,and oil pressure loss,had it happen to mine,"A 2000",I stopped quick,and it turned out to be a blocked thermostat,it had been sat unused for 17yrs,and the anti freeze had gone all cruddy,but once cleaned out,flushed through it was fine and now runs like a dream.
Is it a 2000/2200 or a V8??
Good luck and keep us up to date,and ask whatever Q's you need to,to sort it out.
 
Hello & welcome.

Just wondered if your car is 4 pot or V8 and if you were getting the head gasket sorted by a garage or doing it yourself? I am guessing that the pinking was due to overheating (apologies if I am teaching you how to suck eggs)? If you managed to stop quickly, hopefully your only problem is a blown head gasket - fingers crossed.
 
Hi and thanks for the welcomes, a bit of an update, it's a V8 with about 79,000 on the clock, I'd driven about 20 miles at a steady 55-60 and things sounded really good. When the AA man checked things over he said the radiator cap was loose. He also found 3 plug leads off at the spark plugs, probably the cause of the pinking! The guy I bought it off told me he's been using it daily but I don't know how far his journeys were. It was pouring of rain when I left and as he'd been using it I didn't do any checks, because of the rain I wouldn't have noticed if it had been dribbling on the road but it had lost a lot of water by the time the AA looked at it and there was a fair amount of white smoke, or steam coming from under the bonnet. As i was on the slip road I didn't investigate and did the safe thing and stayed behind the crash barriers. The AA man put a lot of water in the rad, left the cap off and got me to turn it over, it didn't start but shot water out of the rad filler and he then suspected the head gasket. This morning I topped the oil up, it was at the lower level on the dipstick, topped the water up and gave it a quick turnover. It didn't seem to want to start so left it at that rather than risk doing any more damage. I'll look at the thermostat issue next weekend and any other thoughts you might have, should have the workshop manual by then, before starting to pull the heads of and report back.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum. Is the oil creamy at all? and is the compression higher on one cylinder than the others? If so, it could well be Headgasket failure. Sorry to hear that your P6 hasn't got off to the best of starts. I'm sure it'll improve, and will be a lovely car! :D
 
Hi Ron welcome to the forum and P6 ownership, Once your problem is sorted I am sure you will get years of pleasurable driving from you V8, I have had mine since 1988 and there is little chance it will be sold on in the next 20 years :D. The V8 is one of the most reliable long lasting engines around.


PS any pics would be appriciated

Graeme
 
Hi Ron,
Welcome to the forum.. I hope you get your car sorted soon! It looked lovely. Sorry I hadn't stopped now :oops: , but am glad you had AA cover. You're the second new P6 owner I've spotted on the M'way on the way home from collecting their new baby! One thing about it, I don't think V8 head gasket swaps are a terribly bad job, and could be a good time to see about whether its up to unleaded or not (I've heard varying stories about V8s & if they're ok for unleaded). Let us know how you get on! And get some pics up! :)
 
Here's a few photo's of the car, this is before I've started working on it. Don't know why they're called jukebox 001 etc, must be a left over from a previous hobby!! It doesn't show very well but the Golde sunroof is shot and the interior looks better than it is.
 

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If you get fed up with the sunroof, you can unbolt the roof and replace it with a standard roof, there usually a few on Ebay. Change the roof & headlining, and you'll be back to standard with no more leaks. Depends what you want really. :)
 
That looks a very familiar reg number on a white P6 to me for some reason although I have no idea why. Personally for me, that roof would be replaced with a vinyl covered steel one in a hearbeat. (Well.....It might take a little longer than a heartbeat.)
 
I've got the details for a man in Kent who's an expert on vinyl sunroofs, he's going to recover it for me and also talk me through taking it off so thats the plan. I can remember my Dad had a P6 2000SC, 73 model with a Webasto sunroof which was a little tight and would snap open at about 70mph, used to scare the living daylights out of me. I can even remember the registration number FPV146L, funny because he had so many cars in his time but the Rover is the only reg I can remember, it was Cameron Green with black leather interior and the last car he owned, can't for the life of me remember what happened to it.
 
You never know...it might be still alive somewhere! Doesn't look as if it's turned a wheel for a good few years though... :(

From DVLA...

VEHICLE ENQUIRY Services Provided By DVLA:

The enquiry is complete
The vehicle details for FPV 146L are:

Date of Liability 01 07 1987
Date of First Registration 01 07 1973
Year of Manufacture Not Available
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1978CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Not Applicable
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour GREEN
Vehicle Type Approval
Vehicle Excise Duty Rate for vehicle
6 Months Rate £112.75
12 Months Rate £205.00

Welcome to the forum by the way, Ron! :)
 
Thanks for the info Stan, it doesn't sound as if it was on the road for very long after we parted company with it, only 2 or 3 years I reckon. Thanks for the welcome as well, I can't wait to get mine back on the road so I can come along to some of the meets.
 
Hello Ron,

Welcome to the forum.. :)

Looks a nice Rover too. I know that you will enjoy your time here.

Ron.
 
At last heads off. Looks like the blown gasket was caused by loose head bolts on one side. The heads have been cleaned and are waiting to go off to the local machine shop to be skimmed and valves checked over. The maniforlds also need a bit of repair as the studs have snapped off or have bodged repairs.In the meantime go to get hold of new hoses for water, vacuum lines etc as they all seem a bit hard.
Plenty to get on with and in the meantime other stuff on my other cars to do!!
 
Is it really March since I last posted!! Things have gone slowly with the P6, the heads have been skimmed but the machine shop checked the valves and they let fuel through so i'm now waiting for them to be reseated. In the meantime the interior has been stripped out to get rid of the wet carpets, underlay etc and I'm slowing replacing the underlay before fitting the new carpets in, the seats have needed repairs, again due to damp rotting some of the stitching and lifting the covering from the glue. I've also been working on my other cars and to add to my jobs will be picking up another P6, this time a 1974 2200SC automatic which is in need of some tlc, next weekend. This time its an automatic as i'm having problems driving a geared car due to a bad ankle injury some time ago that is causing me grief at the moment.

One problem i'm going to have putting the 3500S back together is getting a replacement exhaust manifold, was hoping to get the old one repaired but the stud has been poorly drilled out previously and the hole is far too big for a stud or a helicoil. If anybody knows of one going spare please let me know. Will post photo's of the 'new addition' soon.
 
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