Help! Rover 75 Tourer not going into gear when engine on

[Lozz]

Hi there Rover 75 and MG ZT Owners club.

Last year, I bought a Rover 75 diesel tourer in a bit of a mad moment. We drove down from Leics to Kent and back, and then to Hay on Wye and back, no problem. She drove like a dream, in fact, although I did notice some hill start issues. The next week however, wouldn't go. Due to this club's forums I sussed out it was the ECU, it had essentially drowned in torrential rains, so that got replaced at no small cost via cloning of the knackered one in Lithuania or somewhere.

Drove great for a couple of weeks then, won't go into gear when the engine's running. I really like this car, and I'd love to keep it on the road but is it going to be one thing after another? Obviously, there's always going to be a fair amount of that with older motors. The body work is a bit tatty but the engine is sound. I don't have any mechanic skills unfortunately, and the other 'alf, who is also the driver, isn't too knowledgeable in that area. I could do with some advice. Should I persevere with it? Is there a common gear box issue it's likely to be?

[SD1too]

Manual gearbox or automatic transmission Lauren?

Originally Posted by Lozz

... is it going to be one thing after another?

That depends largely upon how it's been treated by previous owners and the standard of maintenance during its life.

You've said that the bodywork "is a bit tatty". The rear of the sills are susceptible to severe corrosion but hand crafted repair sections are available from an independent bodyshop at a very reasonable price. Other than that, the rest should normally be cosmetic.

You've asked whether or not you should persevere with it. As you've honestly said that you both don't have mechanical experience, that depends whether you can find someone competent and enthusiastic to do the work for you and, of course, the size of your bank balance!

Simon

[Retap]

If its a manual we all know the master and slave cylinders of the clutch do fail but often slowly and often there is signs of fluid leaking down the underneath of the engine where the bell housing meats the engine block as the clutch slave cylinder is in there and when it fails it leaks often. sometimes you can recharge the clutch fluid from the master cylinder reservoir and reverse bleeding might be the way for a quick fix if the system is empty of fluid but if the slave has failed outright it wouldn't work until replaced. There are other causes of course including gear stick cable failure but this cylinder failure might be it they usually last a few weeks once refilled but do eventually go totally. Search around here there is loads on this subject, we all here been through it. A place in Southport can do a new clutch and slave cylinder relatively reasonable priced i paid under £500 for it a couple of years ago and did nurse the clutch system for two years prior as it was leaking as described but eventually got to bad to carry on i.e. refilling weekly its just the point of absolute failure at that stage and your seller could well have known all about that.


EDIT


In my own experience when the clutch fluid begins toi get low the clutch peddle drops lower and it begins become difficult to get into reverse to start with and eventually first and second become impossible you end up pumping the clutch several times to get limped home so if any of that sounds familiar.....

[Reebs]

Thread moved to the technical help section.

[Mike Noc]

Originally Posted by Reebs

Thread moved to the technical help section.

Maybe change the title to Clutch Hydraulic Failure too Paul. Could have been a coincidence, or given the time frame, Mr Previous Owner may have had the clutch hydraulics fail, gave it a quick bleed and sold it on.

[Yorkshire GOC]

Originally Posted by Lozz

Hi there Rover 75 and MG ZT Owners club.

Last year, I bought a Rover 75 diesel tourer in a bit of a mad moment. We drove down from Leics to Kent and back, and then to Hay on Wye and back, no problem. She drove like a dream, in fact, although I did notice some hill start issues. The next week however, wouldn't go. Due to this club's forums I sussed out it was the ECU, it had essentially drowned in torrential rains, so that got replaced at no small cost via cloning of the knackered one in Lithuania or somewhere.

Drove great for a couple of weeks then, won't go into gear when the engine's running. I really like this car, and I'd love to keep it on the road but is it going to be one thing after another? Obviously, there's always going to be a fair amount of that with older motors. The body work is a bit tatty but the engine is sound. I don't have any mechanic skills unfortunately, and the other 'alf, who is also the driver, isn't too knowledgeable in that area. I could do with some advice. Should I persevere with it? Is there a common gear box issue it's likely to be?

You should have posted this issue re the drowned ECU - there is a trader on here who specialises in sorting diesel ECU's (and remapping to 160 bhp) - Big Russ at Liversedge in West Yorkshire - am sure he will have been much less costly.