Does anyone know what the life expectancy of a 2.0 T Series is? ours has only 52k on it, how many miles has your T Series done?, or at what milage did it fail?

63k and pulls strongly

I had a Rover 420i with the 2 litre T-series in it. We sold the car with 136000 miles on the clock. Since then it has been used by someone commuting 80 miles a day in the car.

The car now has around 168000 miles on the clock, the owner is delighted with it, and the car is still running fine.

Another friend has a Rover 820 with 190000-odd miles on the clock. She did need to replace the head gasket a few months ago, which cost her £350 and was completed in a day.

420 . 138,000 still going strong

Two of my T16 Turbos have in excess of 90,000, the other a mere 115,000 (TomCat). All run superbly. A fine engine by any ordinary production car standards. I am a great fan of this power unit..... I would love one in my ZS..;).

A recent visit to a local breakers showed three T16 cars, two N/As with near 200,000 and a Turbo (Vitesse) with 158,000. There are examples which have exceeded 200,000 by a wide margin.

I have known examples with engine problems. The most recent a 600ti where someone had leant on the little coolant hose from the Radiator to the turbo fracturing the mounting allowing a progressive loss of coolant through the near invisible crack ..... this lead to a damaged head gasket. A doddle to repair. One of the easiest DOHC cylinder heads I've ever worked on.

So it is safe to say it is a strong motor then if looked after correctly? do they still suffer headgasket problems like the other units?

If ours gets anywhere near 200k it will have been well worth its money :cool:

Is there any specific tips for looking after a T16?

No the gasket problem on the T-series is very much a minor issue, it weaps oil from the right top of the block. soem will weap for years with no probs and some can start to leak too much, a different gasket is used to combat the leak.

My turbo coupe had a small weap which sealed once warm, but as I'm padantic I changed to the Klinger metal gasket.

I had it for 5 years covered just under 100K miles with over 10 trackdays and 'enthusiastic' driving and it never missed a beat!! One of the best engines I've had so far (Haven't owned my ZT V6 long enough to get a full picture, but is so far excellent) - This includes a BMW 2.8 straight six, this wasn't as quiet as the T-series - v. noisey injectors and a few minor rattles.

I did hear this year that it is on its 4th owner (I was the 2nd) and has done around 120+K miles and still going strong.

So it is safe to say it is a strong motor then if looked after correctly?

Precisely so.... but, this applies to most engines of course. If you're the kind of owner who only checks under the bonnet when things go wrong ... things will go wrong.


Is there any specific tips for looking after a T16?


Nothing special, just regular checks and maintenance. That's all.

Regarding your 'strong motor' comment. In a highly tuned form, these engines have produced well in excess of 500 bhp for competition use.. Here I have in mind Andy Nicholls' record holder.... which underlines the inherent basic strength of the motor.

And this engine is based upon the O series found in the Maxi/Marina I think. :D

So well proven!!

Mine was in turbo format and was great, so yours, in NASP is very understressed!!!

Thanks MGJohn, yes I do check weekly under the bonnet, it never seems to use a drop of water which is no bad thing, but do need to top up with oil every so often which is understandable, and yes it does have a little weep on the righthand side of the block, never got worse so I'll leave it alone, I plan to do oil and filter every 5k, I always do it at slightly less than the recommended 6k, it is a nice engine, very smooth and quiet (lol it is now I've had a new downpipe!), I really like the car as it's sensible as I've got kids, and it looks just like any other 200, but it also has a few little luxuries and power too if i need it, which I've always been used to.

The O series never made it into the Maxi - that was the 4 cylinder version of the E series. The O was in Marina/Ital, Princess/Ambassador, Rover SD1 2000, Sherpa, Maestro and Montego. It was also supposed to go into the MGB and TR7 but never made it there, either. The O became the M and then the T. The O series actually evolved from the old B series of the 1950s.

As for longevity - we have 153,000 on our Vitesse turbo and 137,000 on our 820 Sterling and both are still going strong.

Mine was in turbo format and was great, so yours, in NASP is very understressed!!!

Hmmmmm, turbo, is it an easy job to add a turbo to the NASP T16 or is there major differences internally i.e. pistons, crank etc?

211,000 miles last might whilst driving up the M40 talking to an old mate over the phone, he asked how the car was doing and the mileage cropped up.

Got my car was swimming last night, the M40 was flooded and I couldnt see 2 feet infront of me. Car is performing well though, alot better since I increased my mileage per day again, find town driving was killing my engine, motorway driving reverses the effects.

Hmmmmm, turbo, is it an easy job to add a turbo to the NASP T16 or is there major differences internally i.e. pistons, crank etc?

Yes, different pistons, engine internals - oil pump etc, camshafts, exhaust, electrics, gearbox, cooling system.... :D

But that doesn't mean to say the NASP uses inferior parts to the turbo, just a different spec.

Yes, different pistons, engine internals - oil pump etc, camshafts, exhaust, electrics, gearbox, cooling system.... :D

But that doesn't mean to say the NASP uses inferior parts to the turbo, just a different spec.

Of course yes, I'm used to the Ford CVH Turbos, which there are the same differences between CVH Turbo and non Turbo.

I'll stick with my NASP T16 for now, but want to go back to a Turbo when I get some cash to play with, T16 Turbos have a hell of a lot more standard BHP than Std Ford CVH Turbos, So guess what I'm going to be looking for.........

Plus the Ford CVH doesn't realiably respond well to upping the power. :D

Plus the Ford CVH doesn't realiably respond well to upping the power. :D

Lol yeah tell me about it, I also realised after the 3rd engine that the CVH was just a little delicate to handle a turbo and more power :doh: