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The Fine Art of Owning: A Rover 25

34K views 436 replies 22 participants last post by  Spudgun! 
#1 ·
This is day 7 of Rover 25 ownership for me. For the past 6 days, I've been going over the car with a fine tooth come, looking for all of those little faults that shouldn't really be there. I've found a fair few!

There are days when I wake up and say to myself: Some people shouldn't be allowed to own cars. Just how can someone allow a vehicle to deteriorate in such a fashion? The faults I found aren't major. Hell. The Rover would still pass an MOT. It's those little details that let the car down. They also annoy the hell out of me!

The head gasket had been changed, along with the water pump and the cam belt. I didn't mind the old cam belt being left in it's box in the boot, but they never filled the cooling system with antifreeze. They just used water. I've got several litres of 'dirty dishwater' cooling the engine. That'll have to go.

The 4 pin Trafficmaster clock had missing segments. OK, the Trafficmaster system has been switched off, but that's no excuse for not replacing the clock with an ordinary 4 pin (Job completed).

The car had a cheap and nasty CD player in it. ISO connectors everywhere! I thought the head unit was a 2 speaker only job. I replaced the CD player with an original fitment cassette player (CD autochanger to follow). It turns out that both front speakers were dead (Now replaced)! The wiring is a lot neater as well now.

The light in the glove box didn't work. It only needed a new bulb (Job done). What's wrong with people? I can understand not replacing the broken bulbs in the switches and behind the heater panel (On my to do list) as they're awkward to do.

Considering that I bought my 25 via Ebay. I'm surprised that other broken parts haven't been replaced. The centre dashboard air vents were broken. £10 from Ebay. Job done! Then there the stupid plastic fuel filler cap that I found on the washer bottle! GRRRRRR! I'm on the case with a replacement!

The air conditioning doesn't work! 'Well, the light comes on' Said the previous owner. 'The revs don't drop when you switch it on though' I reply. 'Oh, I didn't know that' He says. RAAAANNNTTT!!! That's another thing I'll have to get fixed.

There are things where I can't point a finger at previous owners. I can't even write a letter to Rover for the things that annoy me.

I don't like the really tacky printed wood effect on the heater controls. That's being replaced with the plastic moulding from an earlier model (I'll replace the broken bulbs while I'm at it).

When I fitted the front fog lights. I found that the screw retaining clips were present. What's the point of fitting the retaining clips, if you're not going to fit the lamps? OK, there is an explanation here. The clips were fitted before the front bumper was sprayed up.

Another thing that puzzles me is: Why is a complete cigarette lighter cheaper from Rimmer Bros than just the element itself? Suffice to say. I bought a complete lighter.

I'm slowly getting the 25 back up to spec. There's still a lot of work to do.
 
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#32 ·
Three more jobs were crossed off the list today. I took up the Rover to my local Autocare centre (as it's just around the corner from where I work). The air-con has had a complete service and is now working fine. The coolant (It was nothing but water) has been replaced with long life anti freeze. The dodgy exhaust centre section has been replaced. The car no longer sounds like a tank on start up.

Yesterday, I started looking at the arduous task of cleaning the interior. The inside if the Rover is filthy! The 2nd owner must've lived somewhere very muddy. The spare wheel was absolutely caked with mud. I've got most of it off and out of the spare wheel well, but a bucket of soapy water and a brush will be needed to get rid of the rest. The inside of the cabin does have a brownish hue to it. It was noticeable when I gave the glovebox a scrub. The glovebox is now a light grey again. The rest of the dashboard is a darker shade. There's mud present! Cleaning the upholstery is going to be a pain. Not looking forward to doing that.

The only other jobs that will need doing are the brakes and the spark plugs. I'm almost there folks!
 
#34 ·
I'm already mentally prepared for the task in hand. I will be taking some pics when the job is done. The only ones I have at the moment are the ones when I bought the Rover. The car looks better than it really is. Judge for yourself.



What you can't see is the hole in the passenger side indicator (Now replaced). Only just visible are the marks on the bonnet, where the paint went a bit funny when the engine over heated and took out the head gasket (Now replaced). Still. Not bad for the £320 I gave for it.
 
#41 ·
Thanks for the kind words folks, but the pictures make the 25 look better than it is. Of course, you can't see the faults that tend to plague these cars. Mind you. Most of these common faults have already been fixed. I can't fix the cigarette burn in the drivers seat though.
 
#45 ·
I had to park that close in order to get both cars in the same picture (he lied).

In truth, she has a habit of parking where I'd park the Rover when I'm out. I have to get real close, so I don't block off the entrance to my drive (Another car is parked on the drive). As for distance.....

Just look how far away she parked from the kerb!
 
#48 ·
I now have respect for the R25

I now have respect for the R25, they dont rot, parts are reasonably cheap, they go and handle nicely, reasonable on fuel, I never gave them a thought as I was a company car driver, then by accident almost I acquired a ZR with HGF which I have fixed (my daily driver is a R75 diesel tourer), what a great little car and if given the respect they deserve, the 25 is also a really nice car, I too need everything to work, it bugs me that people treat nicely designed machinery with such distain, heres my terrific ZR, this car was almost scrapped!!!!! 50,000 miles
[/url]1 by Mangizmo Brean, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
#50 ·
I now have respect for the R25, they dont rot, parts are reasonably cheap, they go and handle nicely, reasonable on fuel, I never gave them a thought as I was a company car driver, then by accident almost I acquired a ZR with HGF which I have fixed (my daily driver is a R75 diesel tourer), what a great little car and if given the respect they deserve, the 25 is also a really nice car, I too need everything to work, it bugs me that people treat nicely designed machinery with such distain, heres my terrific ZR, this car was almost scrapped!!!!! 50,000 miles
[/URL]1 by Mangizmo Brean, on Flickr[/IMG]

Looks familiar.

2005 MG ZR 1.4 105, MANUAL, 3 DOOR , Rio Red Excellent example | eBay

Holy Hell. You're in Barnstaple as well! How cool is that?
 
#51 ·
I've done a bit of tyre searching on the Web. You might find this interesting.

I went to a number of websites, where there is a local branch. I typed in my Registration number and a list of tyres came up as you would expect. All but one site had the correct 175/65R14-82T tyre on the list. One site had only had the correct tyre for a steel wheel (no listings for alloy wheels) on the list. One site only listed tyres for alloy wheels. Even then. 14' tyres weren't listed at all.

Is it any wonder that cars get fitted with the wrong tyres?
 
#56 ·
I want a 2Ltr Diesel auto with a 'Connie' spec. I don't like the facelift models. I think they're ugly. It also has to be a saloon. Yeah, I might be a bit picky, but I can wait. Moving swiftly on......

I did some more servicing yesterday. The sparkplugs were in perfect shape. Iridium plugs as well! I also took the wheels off to check the brakes. The front pads were brand new. Original Rover parts as well. The rear shoes need changing. They're pretty much at their maximum wear limit. Once I've changed the shoes. It'll mean that the tyres are the only thing that needs to be looked at. Speaking of which.....

It turns out that 175/65R14 aren't correct for my 25. It's actually 185/65R14. The 175/65R14's are correct for the 1.1 and the 1.4 Rover 25's. The 1.6 upwards use the 185/65R14's. This information comes from the original Rover 25 Handbook that came with the car. This means that my rear two tyres are the correct size, but are worn. My front two tyres are wrong, but are good. So why do tyre websites get it wrong?

Many tyre websites ask you to input your Registration number. The site then goes away and identifies your car and lists the tyres that should be fitted. There's a catch though. My Rover comes back as a red Rover 25iL. No engine size is mentioned. I think that this is a bit shoddy. The wheel itself is the same, but the tyre required is different.

I still ponder of the number of cars that have the wrong tyres fitted.
 
#57 ·
The proper size for a Rover 25 1.4 is either 175/65/14 or 185/55/15.
I had initially the former with metal wheels. I bought alloys ones in very good nick and put the latter.
And I'm pretty happy with that change.
 
#58 ·
At long last, I've got my CD autochanger properly fitted. It spent the past couple of weeks being velcroed to the carpet in the boot. I admit, it wasn't all that good, but it did it's job. Now it's bolted where it should be.



The next job on the audio front will be to fit the tweeters into the front doors. I think it's a bit silly to have the grilles for them, but nothing but blanking plates in behind. I got a pair cheap from Ebay. The leads are all made up and ready to fit. I'll do that another day.
 
#60 ·
I'm glad that you're enjoying the thread. I'm happy to write it. My Rover 25 is still a stop-gap car though. I still want a Rover 75.

If I'm honest, the 25 isn't as good as my old 416SLi. The suspension is harder. I've never been a fan of front wheel drive manuals. I've always found the gear change to be not as slick as a rear wheel drive manual. I don't like hatchbacks. The 25 is the first car I've ever owned that's got a 5 speed gearbox. I'm still getting used to it. Still. The 25 is certainly well put together.
 
#61 ·
I had an hour to spare this evening, so I managed to fit a tweeter to the passenger door (I'll do the drivers door tomorrow). It doesn't half make a difference to the sound! The high notes are soooo much 'brighter'! Well recommended as an upgrade..
 
#64 ·
The tweeters are essential in my opinion! Very good upgrade to a car without them.

I recently drove a 25 without tweeters and it was instantly obvious that they were missing, really dull sound from the radio. I was pleased to find that my 25 has tweeters, just a shame it doesn't have the rear speakers too as per the ZR.

Overall though yes tweeters are a great addition, as is swapping out the original head unit for a one of your choice. I've changed the head unit in both my ZR & 25 for better ones and the standard speakers are considerably better than you might expect once you feed them with a nice head unit.

It's worth removing the door cards just to give the woofer screws a little nip up too. My 25 was suffering with a touch of booming and distortion until I tightened the speakers screws (they were quite loose). I love free and easy improvements like that :)
 
#63 ·
The A/C is sorted. I took it up to the Garage and had it fully serviced. There were no leaks or anything. There just wasn't any refrigerant in it. I don't think it had ever been refilled for the past 13 years. When I had my old Rover 400. The A/C was done every 2 years (as Recommended). The A/C on the 25 is better than the 400. It feels cooler and the vent distribution is better. Moving swiftly along.....

I did the last bit of servicing today. That was changing the rear brake shoes. What a pain in the neck! Who the hell changed the design of the drum brakes? They ought to be taken out and shot!

In days of yore, changing brake shoes was a doddle. Just take the drum off. Unclip the spring retainers. Unclip the bottom shoe spring and then lift the two shoes off. Easy. Assembly was a reverse order affair. The only job that needed doing was to adjust the square head adjuster on the back plate with a special spanner. Just how easy do you want it? Then some jerk changed the design........

The manual adjuster has been replaced with an auto version. One shoe is now connected to the brake assembly by a cable. There's a sprung loaded plate that sits between the 2 brake shoes. Why is there this extra level of complexity? Does this redesign make the braking more efficient (I doubt it)? Does this redesign make the braking system cheaper to produce (Highly unlikely)? Is this redesign anything to do with people being more stupid (I'd buy that)?

In Summary: It took far longer to change the brake shoes on the 25 than it has ever taken on any other car I've owned.

I hate the design!
 
#66 ·
Something I forgot to mention.

When I was checking the condition of the brakes, I checked the condition of the tyres. I previously mentioned that the front tyres were the wrong size (185/60/14), but the rears were correct (185/65/14). When I had the wheels off, I took a good look at the tyres. The front ones looked fairly new. The rear ones were worn, but weren't MOT failures. However. The rear tyres had uneven wear on them. The outside edges were more worn then the centre or inside edges. I had checked the tyre pressures a couple of weeks previously and all of the tyres were over inflated (about 35PSI).

At his time. I suspect that the over inflated rear tyres were once on the front and the new tyres replaced the worn out rears, then put on the front (Rotating wheels is normal for better tyre wear). It's just a pity that I'll have to replace the correct sized rear tyres before the wrong sized front ones are done.
 
#67 ·
Oh gawd. It's that Rover 25 with the MG front end again (Picture on page 3 of this thread). That car is being subjected to some abuse! I was sat here surfing the net and I heard a grinding noise outside. Yup. It's the tortured sound of a gearbox in distress. It took two attempts to get it into 1st gear. I suspect that the gearbox is now full of grinding paste.

When the car was here yesterday. I noticed that the rubber seal that goes around the aperture for the rear passenger door was hanging off from the top. Some people shouldn't have these cars!
 
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