Rover K-series engines have a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to head gaskets. Most of it is justified to be honest and its mainly due to the changes they made to the engine during its life cycle to make it cheaper.
Combine this with the super-accurate temperature gauge in the Elise and you can end up a nervous wreck as the figure slowly rises. 91..92..93 - the beads of sweat form - 94..95..96 - hands grip the steering wheel tighter - 97..98..99 - evasive manouvers are deployed, on goes the heater and the windows opened. Usually around this time you'll start moving anyway and the temperature drops right back down ready for the cycle to be repeated.
As the blog title suggests, this is all needless worrying. The head gasket appears to be fine and I'm always careful to let the car heat up properly before any sort of caning. In the worst traffic, the cooling fan kicks in at around 103 and it always manages to bring the temperature down again.
Doesn't stop me stressing though..
Combine this with the super-accurate temperature gauge in the Elise and you can end up a nervous wreck as the figure slowly rises. 91..92..93 - the beads of sweat form - 94..95..96 - hands grip the steering wheel tighter - 97..98..99 - evasive manouvers are deployed, on goes the heater and the windows opened. Usually around this time you'll start moving anyway and the temperature drops right back down ready for the cycle to be repeated.As the blog title suggests, this is all needless worrying. The head gasket appears to be fine and I'm always careful to let the car heat up properly before any sort of caning. In the worst traffic, the cooling fan kicks in at around 103 and it always manages to bring the temperature down again.
Doesn't stop me stressing though..
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