Rover Serling 2.5 V6 1998 S reg

[Debbie3366]

The head gasket on my Rover sterling has blown and there is gunge in the header tank as well as the sump. Someone has told me that it might not be the head gasket and it could be the oil cooler.We have tried to get a service manual but I have been told I can only get one for this model from the Rover Dealers at a cost of �75.00 what we need is a diagram of the engine so my husband can try and fix It.  He is good at fixing engines, however this information would be helpful

kind regards Debbie

[Impret-Sir]

If you have 'gunge' in the header tank of your cooling system then this is a result of water getting into the oil, so I doubt very much that your problem is the oil cooler, as this is almost certainly air cooled. If the head gasket has blown, then it is false economy to just replace it without skimming the cylinder head as well, to ensure that you get a gas tight seal on the new gasket long term. This is not something that even a competant home mechanic has usually got the facilities to do himself. I suppose your husband might be able to take the head somewhere to get it skimmed and do the rest of the work himself. I am sure you can get a Haynes manual for this model, for about �20, you can order them from their website if you cant find them in the shops.

[KebabMeister]

I used to work on Rovers but I left before the Rover 2.5 V6 was introduced.

The gunge is often a by-product of additives to the engine oil and often occurs when the car is used for very short journeys, i.e. the engine not getting a chance to warm up properly and causing condensation.  Could you confirm what sort of journeys you use the car for?  If the engine is used for hot journeys then coolant has leaked into the engine oil.  On Rover 825s the oil cooler used to be built into the coolant radiator and I don't know if that's changed.  If there is a usual fault with the oil cooler being damaged then there is a chance that coolant could leak in there.  Over time it could cause the gunge you mention.

I would advise against getting the head skimmed.  You only need to skim the head if the head gasket has blown and caused damage to the head.  You would be able to see severe pitting on the cylinder head/or block.  I would guess that the gunge has blocked the cyclinder jackets forcing pressure on other parts of the gasket.