Everything about oil and your engine

The Rover SD1 camshaft & valve gear protection.

The Problem

It is well known in motoring circles that Rover 2300 and 2600 SDI cars, produced between 1975 and 1987, all too frequently suffer from an expensive engine failure in the lubrication system a crucial problem for a fine car.
This fault is aggravated by unsatisfactory maintenance, leaving oil changes too long, or caused simply just through sheer bad luck since oilway contamination builds up unavoidably as a consequence of normal running. The oil supply to the crankshaft and big ends needs to be copious and at high pressure and the design gives no problems in this respect, but lower flows and pressures are required for the camshaft and valves, and the oilways to these areas are necessarily restricted but, unfortunately, easily blocked. When this occurs, the passage of oil en route from the pump to the overhead camshaft and rocker gear is prevented, resulting in seizure of the latter inside the cam carrier die casting. This gives rise to FURTHER PROBLEMS, since the stationary seized camshaft holds valves open during parts of the engine cycle when they should be closed, resulting in clashes between the valves and pistons and subsequent damage to these components and, on many occasions, cracking the cylinder head itself.

THE PROBLEM IS BASIC: TO THE ENGINE ITSELF: SIMPLY REPLACING COMPONENTS OR EVEN FITTING A MODIFIED HEAD DOES NOT BRING ABOUT A CURE, AND THE VULNERABILITY IS STILL PRESENT.

Who Cares? You should!!

The full cam carrier assembly alone costs over Ł500, and repair necessitatas complete disassembly, rebuild and the difficult resetting of the overhead camshaft and valve gear, together with the removal of the cylinder head to check for valve and piston damage so that, with labour, the overall repair cost is frequently in excess of Ł 1000. If a new head is required, this would cost around an additional Ł600, so the better option might be a replacement engine-but this costs around Ł1200 (plus Ł120 if your own engine is damaged) plus more labour. Don't forget also that VAT must be added to these figures! Even if you bought secondhand parts and fitted them yourself, it would still cost several hundred pounds.

After all that, you still have a vulnerable engine wher the same thing could happen again!

So, what do you do? Bury your head in the sand and hope it never happens to you? Join the many who have lived to regret THAT decision!

But, you say, your car is "getting on a bit" so you'll throw it away if you get the trouble. Think Again; you probably bought the ROVER because there was no other comparable car available at such an attractive price, so you'll have to buy another and face the same risks again or pay more for something else that's not as good. It's still going to cost hundreds - in fact, even with a geriatric vehicle, you're probably nearing the Ł1000 figure again if you count what you're throwing away.

Sell it , perhaps for a decent price, hoping others are unaware of the problem? But they probably are that's why such a desirable vehicle without a ROSDI costs so little. If you are one of the lucky ones and are the proud owner of a later Rover worth several thousand pounds, you should need no persuasion to fit ROSDI protection.

Perhaps you've always wanted a Rover, looking longingly at the comfort and luxury of a Vanden Plas model, realizing what a good buy it would be if you weren't so worried by those dark tales of camshaft failures. Now you can buy it but, whatever you do, make sure it has a ROSDI or fu one yourself.

Some appointed garages are happy to discuss the problem, usually emphasising the dangers of poor maintenance. Non-attached garages, on-the-road servicemen and motoring organisation personnel are often more critical. Perhaps one should bear in mind the profits gained by selling expensive spare parts!

If you are one of the unfortunates who have had the problem, you'll now be wishing the ROSDI devices had been available earlier or that you'd fitted one when you first heard about them. If the car is still laid up, regrettably we can't do anything for you to avoid buying those costly spares - but at least you know what you must do as soon as the repairs are completed.

The Remady

The solution is simple, despite the apparent inaccessibility of the lubrication passages leading to the camshaft and valve gear; these lie mainly beyond intervening cavities in the block, head or cam carrier. This also prevents routine checking of their condition during normal maintenance or even with new components fitted following an expensive failure (when serious lubrication system contamination is known to have been present which could easily give rise to Repetitive failures through the same cause).
Rosdi units and what they do

ROSDIWATCH: gives immediate warning of valve gear lubrication supply failure, enabling engine shut-down to PREVENT HUNDREDS OF POUNDS' WORTH OF DAMAGE. The sensing system operates completely separately from the normal engine oil warning light system, since this and the pump can be functioning perfectly and yet the camshaft and valve gear can be on the point of seizure.
A single special bolt mounts the basic device to the engine and also provides the means to monitor the oil supply to the camshaft and valve gear: about an hour should see the whole system fitted and working - A QUICK AND INEXPENSIVE FITMENT TO GUARD AGAINST A FRIGHTENING EXPENSE. The warning indicator lamp is either a separate fitting (for pre-1982 models, positioned according to the choice of the owner) or a lamp fitted in an unallocated station on the central warning lamp panel (1982 models onwards) giving a neat integrated installation.

The Rosdi System.

Complete system

Rosdi Warning light

Indicator on the engine

SD1 Maintenance