During an average week in our workshop, we typically see around 60 cars in for service or repair. Over the years, that’s a few thousand vehicles of all shapes and sizes with a multitude of different faults. Now, whilst my memory is normally pretty good, I can’t claim to remember every defect on every car that we see, but there are always certain makes and models of car that have the same faults occurring time and time again.

One of the most popular examples of a ‘common fault’ is that of the trusty Rover and their cylinder head gasket failures. This affects almost all models that use the K series engine (and the V6 variant of the same) and is so well known that unless you’ve been living on another planet (where they don’t have cars), it’s likely that you may have heard of the problem. The K series engine is used in so many cars, and has been around since 1989 in many different guises, To name a few applications, this engine’s been used in the Rover Metro, 200 and 400 (and later 100, 25 and 45), Rover 75, Land Rover Freelander, MG F, MG ZS, MG ZR and MG ZT and even the Lotus Elise!

Now, there’s nothing basically wrong with the engine itself and it’s actually a lovely unit when working properly. It’s just that it suffers from cylinder head gasket failure and subsequent breakdown, clouds of steam and a long wait for the AA or RAC. Although it’s a right pain when it does go, at least if you stop the engine as soon as the temperature gauge shoots-up, you’ll minimise the chance of doing any serious damage. The typical cost of repair is between £350 and £700 (depending on which model you have) and once it’s been fixed, it’s usually good for another 3 or 4 years or so.

When buying a used Rover, MG or Landrover fitted with a K series engine, it’s always worth checking the service history first to see if it’s had the cylinder head gasket replaced recently. If not, you should aim to get a discount on the grounds that it will certainly go soon. Some people even ask to have it changed BEFORE it goes, just to minimise the chances of breaking down.

So, whilst watching the popular BBC1 consumer advice show ‘Watchdog’ yesterday, I found them talking about the Nissan D22 Navara Pickup and its amazing ‘exploding engine’. As I watched the item, I couldn’t help but think that this was all a bit late. We’d seen these 2.5 litre Turbo Diesel engines failing catastrophically for the last 3 years or so on several occasions, and have even fixed a few before they broke., just after they started making the ‘death rattle’ noise that the fault first shows as.

It’s hard to explain to a customer how their 3 year old Nissan Pickup that they’ve had regularly serviced can suddenly need a new engine at less that 40,000 miles. Even more remarkable is that Nissan were asking £8000 for a new engine, for a pickup that was only worth £6000 by then! I remember doing a spot of internet research for one customer who’s engine had gone ‘bang’ showing that loads of other owners had had similar problems, and that it was a design fault and NOT the fault of the owner. Even as I spoke to Nissan on the phone, they never let-on that it was a common fault. Now that it’s been on Watchdog, Nissan have finally admitted responsibility and are contacting owners to arrange to have preventative maintenance work carried out first, before their engine block disintegrates in a pile of shattered big-end bearings and twisted conrods, nicely soaked in a gooey oil slick!

So, my advice would be to buy a Rover (except the KV6 2.5 litre version as that’s another story) and budget for the head gasket to be replaced soon, but if you’re looking for a rugged 4 x 4 pickup truck, avoid the Navara at all costs (unless it’s already had a new engine) and buy a Mitsubishi L200 or a Ford Ranger. If you have bought a Navara and it’s engine’s already gone, one enterprising Solicitor has even set-up a website just for owners that have suffered engine failure. www.navaraclaims.com even has an online questionaire so owners can submit their details. You could also check out www.knackerednavara.co.uk for some more info! Whilst on the subject, it seems that someone’s already bought the domain name www.roverheadgasket.co.uk I wonder what that’ll be about?

So, my task now is to identify the future ‘common failures’ for many different cars, and to set up websites to help owners with problems. I’ll start with a few that are becoming more frequent everyday. There’s the Ford Transit, Mondeo, Focus and Jaguar X-Type (all with Diesel engines) that seem to need new Dual Mass Flywheels, clutches and starter motors (cost over £1100). Then there’s the 2.2 litre Vauxhall Astra, Vectra and Zafira engines that supposedly have ‘maintenance free’ timing chains, yet we’ve had them snap at less that 60,000 miles, destroying the engine. I suppose the owners of 1.9 DCi Renault Laguna II’s and Meganes should be aware that the alternator drivebelt tensioner sometimes breaks and causes the alternator belt to be thrown off and get jammed under the timing belt which then destroys the valves and sometimes the cylinder head. I reckon I’ll have to start buying up domain names from the inernet provides to suit any future common failures. Don’t be surprised to see www.myxtypejagisdeadandimreallyangry.co.uk or possibly www.whydidmyastragobang.co.uk appearing as links to my blog soon!

Anyway, I could go on and on, but what’d be the fun in that? The car manufacturers spend millions on development to make their cars ever more reliable and longer-lasting. On the whole, most do a very good job but just sometimes, something isn’t quite as good as they’d like and it’s those things that sooner or later, our team will be seeing on the back of a recovery truck outside our workshop.

Don’t have nightmares though dear readers, and if you want to ensure that you stay on the road without a fault, buy a Lexus, Honda or Toyota.

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