My new purchase - poorly Rover 75
 

Hi all,

A couple weekends ago I purchased this Rover 75 from a scrap yard, it was listed as breaking for spares on ebay but decided to buy the car whole.

I'd intended to break the car myself, to use some of the parts on my other two (the ZT and 75), but now I'm not too sure and am considering repairing it and getting it back on the road.

Little bit of background about the car, it belonged to a chap who unfortunately passed away in 2011, and his wife refused to sell the car due to sentimental value. But unfortunately, instead of looking after it, she just left it stood still for 5 years and I'm guessing it must have been left on grass or near bushes/hedges or trees.

I gave it a good jet wash on the weekend and was amazed to find that it came up very nice, and the bodywork is in great condition. Not a single dent or deep scratches on the sides. There are some scratches on the bonnet and bootlid but will have to see if they come out.

However there are quite a few issues:
- the brakes don't work at all, really have to stamp hard on the brakes and the pedal goes very low down. When the scrappy went to collect the car they said one rear calliper had seized. Not too sure how to sort this, would new brake disks and pads all round fix this or would callipers and other bits need replacing?

- The interior is flooded due to the sunroof drains leaking water inside the car, the waters probably been there for much of the 5 years its been there. Will need to take the carpet out to see how bad it is underneath.

- The boot spare wheel well was completely flooded, which contained the sat nav drives. Hence the sat nav/head unit doesn't work at all.

- The wipers like to come on by themselves now and again, I think this is a common issue due to the flooded satnav drives from memory?

- The aircon doesn't work, says "err".

- The indicator stalk doesn't work at all, no indicators etc.

- windscreen and headlamp washer jets do not work at all.

- the rear seat needs replacing completely.

- Drivers side headlight is all fogged up and dirty on the inside, im guessing the cap on the back of the headlight must be missing allowing dirt to get in. Is the headlamp easy to dismantle to clean and then put back together and seal properly?

- Sunroof does not work, not sure if this is due to a failed motor or because of the electrical issues.

- the mileage on the dash is showing 999999.

- Haven't checked fuses, not sure if a lot would have blown due to the water getting in over the years.

- There was no history with the car, so no idea when it was last serviced or if the belts had been done. Is there a way to check if the belts have been done i.e. are belts dated and is it possible to check the dates?

Other than the above, amazingly it starts first time everytime and sounds lovely. Drives smooth too. And I couldn't believe that even with all the leaves all over the car, the plenums were completely dry! :eek: It's got some nice toys too, headlamp washers, cruise control, rear power blind, electric heated memory seats, auto rain sensor wipers, auto dimming mirror. Has a walnut steering wheel too.

Can't quite decide whether to just break it, or to try and fix it and sell it on. I need to have a look under the car yet to see what the underside is like, but from what I could see it seems pretty clean. It could turn out to be a lot of work to get it through an MOT, which wouldn't be worth the cost involved.

Here are some photo's of it from the weekend:

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7302/2...67733803_c.jpg

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7400/2...3a5a627f_c.jpg

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7426/2...04c8d227_c.jpg

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7261/2...fd2c7976_c.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7596/2...d1e06558_c.jpg

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7351/2...b9ed5544_c.jpg



https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7354/2...d63cd5e6_c.jpg



https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7395/2...4cb54838_c.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7324/2...1484d897_c.jpg



https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7260/2...75a3dd4e_c.jpg


After a jet wash, came up lovely:

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7400/2...8ee1b69a_c.jpg

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7057/2...abab9d68_c.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7327/2...8ca16986_c.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7387/2...84c4d029_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7651/2...67b1b173_c.jpg

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7342/2...d9774499_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7079/2...82b094cd_c.jpg

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7456/2...409d9796_c.jpg

Well done you sir,:bowdown: You are brave I'll say that but with patience and taking things one at a time, I bet you'll get there and another will be saved.

My main concern if it's been left on grass all that time would be the underside especially suspension upper arms etc., Good luck and I hope if you do start the project, we can expect some of your lovely pictures as usual!:D

looks to be a very well cared for car.if it was mine I would remove the interior dry it out in the heatwave we are expecting(you read that here first btw)and then see what happens.as for the caliper just as easy to swop for a good one.as I say dry it out first then see. as I can see you are torn by the car but on the other hand do not want to go 2 silly in case there is some major wrong with it.look up olds old mots which may help.good luck which ever way you decide to go

Looking at MOT history it was last MOT'd in 2010. However the previous MOTs only had minor failures (a tyre and stop light) and no advisories what so ever. Best of luck and keep us informed on your progress

I'm not sure where it was parked for 5 years, it might have been on a driveway close to a hedge, which I think was the case as the underside looks pretty clean when I had a little look, and the passenger side of the car was in a much worse state cover in moss than the driver's side. Will get the car up off the ground on the weekend and take a good look around :)

It is a lovely looking car, after giving it a wash over the weekend I just had a good walk round it amazed at how nice the paintwork came up. I need to give it a good polish and paint restoration yet so it will come up much better yet. Even the neighbours noticed it and complemented the colour.

I think the first job will be to remove the interior and carpet and see how much damage has been done underneath. And then to try and solve the electrical issues before moving onto the bigger things like the brakes.

Yeah very torn by this one, the last one I broke was a definite breaker as it was completely rotten to bits and the bodywork was in a state, but this one is lovely on the outside, and to be honest the inside is lovely too apart from the wet carpets, damp marks and ruined rear seats which can all be sorted.

I've taken a look at the MOT history, and it's had a very good MOT record. Only failed twice which was on silly things, work tyre and blown bulb.

Here's the MOT records:

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7139/2...deabb11f_z.jpg

https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7358/2...17ded950b2.jpg

Oh that also reminds me, the other reason why I don't fancy breaking it is due to it's relatively low mileage. It had 80k miles on its last MOT, not sure how much it was driven after that but could find out from the mileage stored in the LSM. I doubt it's any higher than 85k miles.

Nice one for saving it.. looks like it will be a fab car once back on the road..

I have just saved one in a similar condition to that.. just done the clutch, steering rack, spring, brakes etc.. had wet carpets and sopping boot etc.. doesnt seem to have any "other" faults at the mo..

so don't give up on it.. it looks like it will be worth it in the end.. :)

I would hazard a gues that some one spike the electronics trying to jump start it, 999999 is a common problem...The EPROM has been corrupted but a T4 operator should be able to restore it from the LSM

That's good to hear :)

I'll have to do more investigating before deciding on repairing it or not. I wouldn't want to throw money at it only to realise it will take a lot more work to get it through an MOT. The only issue is I'm a bit limited mechanically, the brakes and electrics I'll probably be able to sort myself but other mechanical issues I may not be able to fix. We will see :) I'm hoping it'll be repairable as it is very nice, royal blue is one of my favourite colours too :).

It also depends on if anyone would want it after its been repaired as it's not one I plan on keeping :)

Yeah I think the guys as the scrappy must have done it when they jump started it. Same thing happened on my dad's 75 a couple years ago but never got round to having it sorted. Would be interesting to find out what the mileage is on this one :)

Help
 

If anyone has any suggestion or advice on how I should tackle the following issues I'd really appreciate it :)

- Issue with the brakes - the brakes don't work at all due to being sat for 5 years, really have to stamp hard on the brakes and the pedal goes very low down. When the scrappy went to collect the car they said one rear calliper had seized. Would new brake disks and pads all round fix this or would callipers and other bits need replacing?

- The aircon doesn't work and shows up "err" on the display. Where should I start with this? Never had this issue before myself.

- The engine idle's a little high at times. On start up the revs go up to about 1.5k to 2k revs for about 1 - 2 seconds and then settles down to idle just below 1k revs. Is this normal on a v6? Also, every now and again it decides to idle above 1k revs, usually around 1.5k revs after being run for a few minutes. Any ideas what this could be?

- The indicator stalk isn't working at all. The indicators don't work and neither does the full beam. Has anyone had this before? Seems like an electrical issue.

- I've dried the boot out but the wipers still like to turn on by themselves now and again, although it's doing it a lot less now that the boot is dry. Would disconnecting the satnav drives solve this issue?

- For those who have had their satnav drives swimming in water, are they done for once they've been wet or can they be dried out and working again? I'm pretty sure mine are going to be absolutely shot but just wondering what to do?

I'll probably have more questions as and when I notice more issues :)

Many thanks!