Talk:Rover K-series engine

K-Series problems
The positioning of the thermostat was indeed the major problem, but it was particularly so on the larger performance engines. The typical user of the original K-series spec was the simple compact and small car used for trips into town perhaps. The continual development of the K through stroke increases meant that the larger capacity engines were being pushed into areas of the car market that perhaps it intially shouldn't have been pushed into, given the set up of the cooling system.

The worst problems were on the Freelander where the engine had to pull a huge body almost right from the start. The engine heats up quickly- too quickly for the rest of the water system to reach a reasonable temperature to roughly match the engine. When the thermostat opens up - a sudden rush of cold water hits the head and starts to cause temperature distortion characteristics that were not seen on the smaller engines in smaller cars. To a certain extent this was relived by special pressure release thermostat which, with the aid of a spring loaded valve, allowed a small amount of cool water to enter the head in order to allow the engine to warm up a little slower and more evenly. This would only be considered an adequate solution. The main solution would have been to move the thermostat to the outflow from the head, allowing that rest of the water system to warm up with the engine.

According to some friends of mine from what was Powertrain, they had already started to fix the problem by redesigning the head. It had to be redesigned to take into account the Euro V emissions limits, and the increase in capacity from 1.8 to 2 litre.

The K-series is a very light and very torquey engine, and compared to the Honda S2000 which may have more power at higher revs, the K-Series has for more flexibility at lower revs, which is why it is ideally suited to the Freelander.

See this link for more info - You will also notice that the Lotus VHPD engine has nothing to do with Rover and the problems that Lotus encountered were those that they actually engineered into the unit!!

King K-Series

Ross A. University Central England, Birmingham, UK.

Disputed (NPOV) section
I have removed the whole section from the article as has no references and has had a POV tag since July. Currently the whole section is Un-encyclopaedic. It is here if anyone wishes to provide suitable references and a more balanced section to add to the article. (yes we may have heard of people with engine problems, but unless its WP:Cited then it unsubstantiated speculation).

K-Series problems
The engine's head-gasket was made from a steel core plate with silicon rubber beads to seal water and oil ways rather than the more traditional materials. However, the redesign of the cylinder block to enable the capacity to stretch to 1600 and 1800 cc resulted in a lack of stiffness. This allowed movement across the gasket face and subsequent gasket failure. The design of the cooling circuit was also less than optimum, allowing a hot engine to be suddenly flushed with cold water when the thermostat opened. This "thermal shock" put more stress across the gasket face. These factors were particularly severe in larger vehicles such as the Land Rover Freelander.

Due to the wish to make the engine as efficient as possible, the coolant capacity was smaller than would be expected in engines of this size. This enabled the engine to reach its optimum operating temperature quickly. However, the smaller coolant capacity did make the engine vulnerable in the event of coolant leaks. This became more of a problem with the larger capacity engines, as the extra swept volume was achieved by eating into the water jacket, further reducing coolant capacity.

The Freelander problem was relieved to a certain extent by a special pressure release thermostat which, with the aid of a spring loaded valve, allowed a small amount of coolant to bypass the thermostat at high engine speeds regardless of engine temperature.

A modification made in an attempt to reduce the rate of gasket failure was to replace the plastic dowels with steel dowels in the cylinder block top face. This helps reduce the head movement relative to the cylinder block. The rubber sealing beads were also modified to give improved attachment to the gasket core plate.

More recently, Land Rover have released a reinforced MLS (Multi-Layer Steel) head gasket for the K-Series engines, which until mid-2005 were fitted to the 1800 cc petrol variants of their Freelander model. A modified oil rail was also developed to be used in conjunction with the gasket to improve block stiffness. Time will tell as to whether the improved design will cure this fault of the K-Series engine, but many professionals and enthusiasts now recommend this new design over the standard gasket as fitted by MG-Rover. To date, the results appear to be good.

In the motor trade, K-Series engines are expected to suffer head-gasket failure before around 90000 mi. Water and oil mixing, resulting in the dip-stick being coated in a brown slush or the coolant tank collecting similar deposits are the most common symptoms, but external coolant leaks and leakage of combustion gas into the coolant are also common.

This should not be re added until referenced as per WP:Reliable sources,to comply with WP:NPOV and WP:Soapbox. If you disagree with this please feel free to discus it here. - BulldozerD11 (talk) 23:46, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

honda
What Honda engines are they talking about here? "As the Honda engines became obsolescent" It is the only mention of Honda in the article.

Sevesteen (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 04:48, 29 September 2009 (UTC).

It is nothing but a fanboy's rant and should be erased. Of course Honda engines didn't become obsolescent. Cooperation between the brands stopped, that's what happened.

VHPD
Was this a product of Powertrain?

I believe it was not and am inclined to remove mention of it

86.162.139.14 (talk) 13:14, 28 July 2016 (UTC)

SAIC developments
< The second development was by the larger Chinese conglomerate SAIC Motor. >

Is this the Kavachi engine, or was that another, later, thing?

If they are  the same, do we really need a separate Kavachi article?

81.135.234.223 (talk) 20:56, 3 August 2022 (UTC)


 * The N-series was a fairly simple redevelopment of the K-series. The Kavachi was based on the K-series, but SAIC didn't own the rights at the time so it was more reverse-engineered than redeveloped, and it has more differences from the K-series.  The Kavachi article says as much although offers no sources to confirm it.  So, I guess the "second development" is the referring to the Kavachi engine.  Lithopsian (talk) 21:08, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
 * I notice there is even a section about the Kavachi engine. Again unsourced.  Clearly could be improved.  Lithopsian (talk) 21:14, 3 August 2022 (UTC)