Been looking, finally bought.

I've been digesting the pro's and cons of ownership and finally took the plunge. I'm sure I will be picking brains and skinning a few knuckles in the near future. 

Welcome to the Forum!
You have come to the right place for all things F and TF.
So what have you bought and please show us!

Hi. There is some excellent information here. Its made all the difference to many of us maintaining our cars. What have you bought, F or TF, which year and engine ?

Welcome to the forum, from Spain 😊

 

I have an 04 plate TF 135. Quite tidy but needs a bit of TLC and a few jobs doing soon. It has a good service history but has been SORN for the last 2 years. Full MOT so the basics are ok. Service history say the HG was replaced back in 2016. The cam belt 2012  (30k miles ago). Lots of underside oiling done, and only a rear tyre perishing on the MOT advisory. I will have a look tomorrow to see if the coolant pipes need to be done.
One issue is there are no remote fobs for the alarm. Can you purchase them and program them?

Scratch that, found one in the ashtray, working too!!

Welcome Steve.
I have only owned mine for a couple of years and benefitted from this site enormously.

steeeviej wrote:

Scratch that, found one in the ashtray, working too!!

That's good news. I would recommend getting a second fob programmed as soon as you can - with a working fob it's possible to program another via the cars' diagnostic socket, but if you were to lose the fob you have, or if it were to stop working, the only way new fobs can be programmed without an existing working fob is to remove the immobiliser module from the car and sent it away to have new fobs added.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it, but if it was last done in 2012, the cambelt service is nearly 10 years overdue!

Oh, and please look after that fob until you can get a spare.  Don't lock it in the boot!

+1 it really is best to change the cambelt unless there is a note or a sticker that shows it was replaced in the last 5 years.

The 1.6 and 1.8 Rover K series in our cars is an interference engine so if the cam belt snaps or slips then the pistons will hit the valves. That would make getting it back on the road requiring either a cylinder head rebuild or a 2nd hand head.

Ive changed cambelts on these a couple of times. Its restrictive due to the position of the engine but theres plenty written on the forum about it if you are like many of us here and dont mind getting your hands dirty. If you pay someone else to do it though please use one of the good specialists rather than a corner garage. It wont cost any more and will avoid the f'ups that many generic garages seem to make when faced with these cars.