Rover 200 (1995 - 1999) - 214i 1995 1.4 - juddering when in low gear

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Fri 8 Aug 2008 17:04
214i 1995 1.4 - juddering when in low gear - Scarlet.kitty
Hiya

Sorry if this is a repeat of earlier messages.

OK, so we bought this Rover 214 a couple of weeks ago, I drove it home and although it drove ok in higher gears at 50/60mph, in the lower gears it seemed pretty juddery.

We took it for a once over at our local garage and he said it needed a part new exhaust so replaced the front pipe. We told him about the judders but he didn't have time to look at it at that time, and suggested perhaps it was the head gasket as these notoriously go on rovers? However, originally he said it wasn't showing signs of the HG going so I am hoping he's wrong about this!

Since then, my husband has been driving it daily to work and said the juddering isn't as bad, but still occurs when accelerating slowly and slowing down - he says it also feels like the car is holding back and then will surge forward...

Can't afford expensive repairs since we only bought this car to replace another one costing us a fortune!

Any ideas anyone?

Please can you keep responses simple - relative novice on car related issues!

Thanks
Kat

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 08/08/2008 at 20:57

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Fri 8 Aug 2008 17:53
1995 1.4 Rover 214i - juddering when in low gear - BenG
My old '94 Rover 214Si used to judder but only when setting off, and I think that was due to the clutch being past it.

If it still happens while in gear in stop-start driving then it might be worth checking the engine/gearbox mounts - which attach the engine/gearbox to the body - if the rubber is perished or a mount is broken then the engine could be moving around too much.

Another possibility could be an engine management fault, in which case the cheapest thing to do would be get the fault codes read at an independent garage. I guess it might be possible to pick up a secondhand ECU from a scrapper if a replacement is needed.

That's all I can think of, but other people might have more ideas?
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Fri 8 Aug 2008 20:55
1995 1.4 Rover 214i - juddering when in low gear - Scarlet.kitty
thanks for your response - it seems there are a number of things which could explain it! hopefully we'll get to the bottom of it.

K
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Sat 9 Aug 2008 14:18
1995 1.4 Rover 214i - juddering when in low gear - scrapmetal
i would try a rotor arm and distributor cap before anything.
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Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:58
214i 1995 1.4 - juddering when in low gear - bbroomlea{P}
I would change your mechanic for pulling the headgasket card out! From what you describe its mis-firing which isnt a sympton of the headgasket going.


It sounds like some new leads, plugs, rotar arm and distributor cap might be a good idea. Do you know when they were last replaced? If the HT leads are not good quality ones they do seem to wear quite quickly on the k series. All of these items are available very cheaply - £50 tops for the lot from Halfords/motorfactors and even someone who has not lifted a bonnet shouldnt have a problem changing them with the help of a haynes manual/online sites.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 11/08/2008 at 13:31

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