May just have to give up.

[Jim-ME]

150 seems awfully low. Mine runs at 170 to 190. If it didn't I'd never get any heat out of it.
Jim

[siii8873]

If you take the Tstat out and run the truck you should see circulation through the radiator with cap off of course.

[printjunky]

You have GOT to be kidding me!

So I go out again, after work last night to try a couple of ideas, and they seem to hold promise that it really was just a burping issue. Between messing with some hoses - particularly the heater system - I got some bubbles and the system took another couple of quarts of fluid. Good sign.

Go to start it, and have a no start situation. And it definitely doesn't sound like it wants to start. Turning over, just nothing else. Something's up.

So I start the basic check process:

Getting fuel?: Yes
Spark?: No spark at the plug
Trace it back and check the coil: Spark at the coil.

So it must be distributor or leads. So I pull off the cap, and the brass contact piece on the top of the rotor has been sheared right off!!! No sign of the rivet that holds it on, and there's a small chunk of bakelite missing from the rotor.

What the #$@^%!!??

The lugs on the cap are also scored, but not crazy badly.

Anyway, I have a spare rotor, which takes 20 minutes to find in my basement shop, but when I put that on, still no start, though when I check for spark at the plugs I now have (what looks like a weakish) spark. So it should be firing. I had to give up move on to other things at that point.

I seems to have spent most of my life having what I might call bad Carma. Which was no surprise when I had my first car - a 65 Mustang I rebuilt on a shoestring (and again outside) when I was 16. Or when I drove that weird 65 American Ramble or the little $300 12 year old Honda Civic with a zillion miles on it, each for a semester in college (Not to mention the 74 Series III I drove in college). But I also bought a brand new Chevy S-10 in the late 80's that left me stranded several times, and in the 3 years that I owned it went through 3 computer brains and 2 transmissions. And there was the brand new 2000 VW GTI I bought that was in the shop for warranty work 9 times in the 3 years I owned it. That all ended when I bought my Miata. It has been the most incredibly reliable thing I can imagine, except for basic maintenance, a brake job and a trans/diff fluid change I did at 60k, the only thing EVER to go wrong is that one of the bulbs behind the heater controls sometimes goes out, but if you slap the side of the console it comes right back on. But now with the Rover ... I seem to be back in some Carmic hell.

The reason I'm telling you this, is to explain a bit, what might appear are my extreme reactions to what might appear to be routine vintage Rover glitches. But to me it feels like deja vu, all over again.

[Cutter]

So it must be distributor or leads. So I pull off the cap, and the brass contact piece on the top of the rotor has been sheared right off!!! No sign of the rivet that holds it on, and there's a small chunk of bakelite missing from the rotor.

What the #$@^%!!??

This happened to me a few months ago. Truck died while driving, took me a bit to figure it out. Thankfully I had a spare as well, though getting to and from the truck was a pain. I was pissed at the time, but this is the trade off for rolling in such a classy rig...

At least you got the burpin' taken care of.

[bmohan55]

I have 2 Rovers and a 2001 Miata, guess which one is the only one running right now? Oh, and they are calling for 3-5 in of snow tonight! (I know it's not much snow but believe me, southern snow and the idiots that think they can drive like always thru it is MUCH worse then the northern snow and experienced drivers).

Sorry, really can't offer any advice to your Series problems, just acknowledging the reliability of the Miata.

[xsbowes]

[stomper]

I had an '88 S-10 blazer, and went through 2 engines, and 5 transmissions before I traded it, so you are not alone on that one!

I had a rotor button die on me this summer, but since you are getting spark, perhaps you have crud on a coil wire? Does the spark look weak at the center plug on the dizzy too, or just at the plugs? Trying to isolate the reduced spark to a specific component with this test.

I went to school at Husson in Bangor, I don't know if you were in Bangor while I was, but we all had POS cars back then.

[printjunky]

Yeah, the spark *looks* weak, though I am a one-man-band, trying to judge from four feet away, craning my neck out to see as I turn the key. I wasn't able to delve too deeply into it after I discovered the broken rotor. So I'll give it a shot again tonight and see what it looks like.

Cutter,
Well put, and I'm sure I'll agree with you, as soon as I'm ROLLING in that classy rig, and it's not just sitting in the driveway mocking my very existence.

[printjunky]

bmohan55,
Like those Rover names!

And while every first snowfall seems to bring out the boneheads no matter how far up in the snowbelt I am, I'll bet it's multiplied exponentially anywhere south of the M&D.

[albersj51]

I've got an '02 BMW 530i, that requires a good bit of maintenance, but never lets me down, my Rover (obviously) that lets me down a lot, and a 1990 Miata. That dang Miata is bullet proof (knock on wood). My GF drives it mostly, but in the 3 years Ive had her only had to do maintenance.

I travel to Davenport for business every quarter, I'll drop you a line next time I'm there; always like seeing Rovers.

As for the problem: check from coil to plug and see where the spark is "weakening" (as suggested). I got my coil wet a couple months ago (new Flamthrower) and the truck wouldnt start because the spark was a weak blue. Put on the old coil from my spares and she fired right up. If you have a spare coil you may want to give it a try...perhaps your coil is dieing...