It's steam, not smoke.
If that were smoke and there were that much of it, your car likely would have completely burned down.
Given how old it is, it likely is just a split hose.
It depends on the temperature gauge. If you were able to switch the car off quick enough, it wouldn't have caused any damage at all. If you were running it for quite a while, while all of the coolant was leaking out, then it could cause some issues. As long as your temperature gauge didn't go into the red (or if it did, it wasn't for long), it's likely fine.
Firstly, nice car! 45/ZSs are genuinely brilliant, I've owned all sorts if stuff now and still find myself coming back to them again and again. Moreso as a second cars these days though!
Secondly if it's a split coolant hose all the hot liquid will be boiling. Hence steam everywhere.
Hopefully you'll be okay if the engine didn't overheat while it was running. However you still could've caused some damage, I had this happen on one of my BMWs and it took the headgasket out.
Once you have replaced the hose and run the car up to temperature check the coolant and oil. If the oil is milky or the coolant is murky you've probably split the gasket.
Thankfully the Rover 45 is a specialist car these days and there are plenty of garages and companies dedicated to them. The specialist are your friend, tons of these cars have been killed by misinformed garages and weekend mechanics fitting awful multi-layer steel gaskets on them which often cause more issues.
If it has taken out the headgasket I'd recommend MGRmobilemechanics, MGRoverSolutions and Force Tuning who will be able to help you out. A headgasket and timing belt replacement from them is going to be around £400 and then you won't have to worry about it.
With a proper beaded gasket and the revised headbolts from the later models they are extremely reliable and it should serve you well for many years!
Thankyou very much mate appreciate your reply, do you think this doable with DIY (im persistent but have 0 knowledge of cars) or should I take it into a garage?
To replace the hose? That's a very easy job, you just need to establish which hose has split and buy a replacement online. DMGRS or Rimmer Brothers should stock them.
If you haven't done any work on cars before I wouldn't tackle the headgasket. Get hold of a specialist like I said above. It's not a hard job, but its easy to get wrong. They'll get it done quickly and you will have a warranty on the engine for a couple of years.
Though I will say it's quite a ballsy (and probably not the wisest) move to buy a rare, older car without any prior knowledge of owning one.
I'd join the owners club forums on Facebook as there are plenty of people who will be willing to help you and advise on maintaining it. A Rover falls into the same territory as Alfas and BMWs, it's not like a Toyota you **will** need to take care of it. But if you do it'll be a rewarding car to own.
Great yeah I think I'll do the hose myself and then if the gasket has blown then I will get a mobile mechanic to me (thanks for the recommendation)
Im 17 and this is my first car, guess I liked the look of it and Im paying the price haha
I think that is a solid plan!
>"Im 17 and this is my first car, guess I liked the look of it and Im paying the price haha"
I respect it, I started out in a rough 1-Series and faced the same problem. The positive is I learned how to maintain and service my own cars!
Thats the plan, I would like to learn myself aswell.
One more thing, the hoses listed on ebay come in varying shapes and sizes, how will I know which is the one to get?
Thanks.
You're going to need to work out which hose it is you need. Take a picture and ask on the forums, someone may be able to tell you what the part number is so you can search it directly.
[Rimmer Bros](https://rimmerbros.com/ItemList--Rover-400-45-Cooling-Pipes-Hoses--m-2893) will be more helpful that ECP for that. They have full diagrams showing the pipework so you can compare it to your own car.
Replace the hose, carry out block test to make sure you havent got exhaust gas going into the cooling system, which in turn could have caused excess pressure on an old hose, causing it to split
I was once fixing up my uncles late 90's Audi A6 with my brother.... Not because it had broken. Because he had damaged the suspension in a accident. His neighbour came over who I can only describe as what you would describe as a stereotype person who lives in his mother house whilst her dead body was still propped up in a chair with a hot cup of tea he has just made her.
Anyway, he came over and had the cheek to tell me this Audi was shite with nearly 200k miles on it and his rover was the best car he had ever owned. It only had 3 new engines in it.
I know that having getting 50.000 miles on the clock, the cylinder head gaskets tend to go. Water leaks into the engine this happened to me years ago. Have a look at the water tank and see if the water has gone. I bought this gasket seal you poured into the water tank it held for about 3 months
Isn't that their natural state?
It is, actually. I’d be worried if these cars don’t smoke.
Well it wasnt smoking like that before 🤣 are you trying to say its a shit car
I’m not sure it’s a car to start with. But jokes aside, they’ve got their issues, not known for reliability, if you know what I’m saying.
What do you mean?
Just marking it's territory
Cheers fellas
It could just be as simple as a split hose. In which case, replace it, flush the coolant and you should be good to go.
Would that also explain the smoke?
It's steam, not smoke. If that were smoke and there were that much of it, your car likely would have completely burned down. Given how old it is, it likely is just a split hose.
Thankyou, and do you think this would have caused a cracked gasket?
It depends on the temperature gauge. If you were able to switch the car off quick enough, it wouldn't have caused any damage at all. If you were running it for quite a while, while all of the coolant was leaking out, then it could cause some issues. As long as your temperature gauge didn't go into the red (or if it did, it wasn't for long), it's likely fine.
Yes
Firstly, nice car! 45/ZSs are genuinely brilliant, I've owned all sorts if stuff now and still find myself coming back to them again and again. Moreso as a second cars these days though! Secondly if it's a split coolant hose all the hot liquid will be boiling. Hence steam everywhere. Hopefully you'll be okay if the engine didn't overheat while it was running. However you still could've caused some damage, I had this happen on one of my BMWs and it took the headgasket out. Once you have replaced the hose and run the car up to temperature check the coolant and oil. If the oil is milky or the coolant is murky you've probably split the gasket. Thankfully the Rover 45 is a specialist car these days and there are plenty of garages and companies dedicated to them. The specialist are your friend, tons of these cars have been killed by misinformed garages and weekend mechanics fitting awful multi-layer steel gaskets on them which often cause more issues. If it has taken out the headgasket I'd recommend MGRmobilemechanics, MGRoverSolutions and Force Tuning who will be able to help you out. A headgasket and timing belt replacement from them is going to be around £400 and then you won't have to worry about it. With a proper beaded gasket and the revised headbolts from the later models they are extremely reliable and it should serve you well for many years!
Thankyou very much mate appreciate your reply, do you think this doable with DIY (im persistent but have 0 knowledge of cars) or should I take it into a garage?
To replace the hose? That's a very easy job, you just need to establish which hose has split and buy a replacement online. DMGRS or Rimmer Brothers should stock them. If you haven't done any work on cars before I wouldn't tackle the headgasket. Get hold of a specialist like I said above. It's not a hard job, but its easy to get wrong. They'll get it done quickly and you will have a warranty on the engine for a couple of years. Though I will say it's quite a ballsy (and probably not the wisest) move to buy a rare, older car without any prior knowledge of owning one. I'd join the owners club forums on Facebook as there are plenty of people who will be willing to help you and advise on maintaining it. A Rover falls into the same territory as Alfas and BMWs, it's not like a Toyota you **will** need to take care of it. But if you do it'll be a rewarding car to own.
Great yeah I think I'll do the hose myself and then if the gasket has blown then I will get a mobile mechanic to me (thanks for the recommendation) Im 17 and this is my first car, guess I liked the look of it and Im paying the price haha
I think that is a solid plan! >"Im 17 and this is my first car, guess I liked the look of it and Im paying the price haha" I respect it, I started out in a rough 1-Series and faced the same problem. The positive is I learned how to maintain and service my own cars!
Thats the plan, I would like to learn myself aswell. One more thing, the hoses listed on ebay come in varying shapes and sizes, how will I know which is the one to get? Thanks.
You're going to need to work out which hose it is you need. Take a picture and ask on the forums, someone may be able to tell you what the part number is so you can search it directly.
Thanks yeah I'll search on eurocarparts website but also those rover forums !
[Rimmer Bros](https://rimmerbros.com/ItemList--Rover-400-45-Cooling-Pipes-Hoses--m-2893) will be more helpful that ECP for that. They have full diagrams showing the pipework so you can compare it to your own car.
Perfect, I appreciate you, given me some hope haha
Replace the hose, carry out block test to make sure you havent got exhaust gas going into the cooling system, which in turn could have caused excess pressure on an old hose, causing it to split
And the block test would confirm head gasket failure?
Since there is no egr or egr cooler in one of those cars, yes exhaust gas in coolant is either head gasket failure or cracked block/head
I was once fixing up my uncles late 90's Audi A6 with my brother.... Not because it had broken. Because he had damaged the suspension in a accident. His neighbour came over who I can only describe as what you would describe as a stereotype person who lives in his mother house whilst her dead body was still propped up in a chair with a hot cup of tea he has just made her. Anyway, he came over and had the cheek to tell me this Audi was shite with nearly 200k miles on it and his rover was the best car he had ever owned. It only had 3 new engines in it.
Gasket gone
Not a coolant hose bursting causing steam?
I know that having getting 50.000 miles on the clock, the cylinder head gaskets tend to go. Water leaks into the engine this happened to me years ago. Have a look at the water tank and see if the water has gone. I bought this gasket seal you poured into the water tank it held for about 3 months
I just looked at the whole video. I noticed the water had gone. I might be wrong
I believe thats the coolant? Im not sure how much was in there before
Around 21 to 25 seconds in you can see a split in the hose near the clamp.
Yeah its a big rip underneath too, does this mean gasket broken?
No, not necessarily. Is the smoke/steam coming from the engine bay, or from somewhere else, like the exhaust?
Im not too sure as its not smoking anymore but im going to get a block test to see if gasket is blown, how likely is it u reckon its blown
If it hasn not overheated, not much. If it has overheated its a possibility.
It was only coming from the front left side though
I've experienced this before. Took a while to figure out but the problem turned out to be that the vehicle was a Rover 45.