Sorry to hear about the sump, Kris, in our case the plug itself was stripped by the main dealer, and the sump was ok.....what happened to the days of steel sumps and brass plugs?? All done for a very good reason! Peter.

As I said, the bonnet is up on a regular basis, and a close eye kept on levels, particularly coolant, after many previous years of experience with the 3.5 V8 in various saloons and a 1988 Classic, in fact the bonnet release lever broke in two recently! I've now driven Rover V8s continually since...

Our 1996 4.6, now on 185k on original engine and owned for 16 years, uses a pint of coolant every 2 to 3 weeks and has done for years. Valley gasket renewed 3 years ago improved oil consumption, but water consumption remains the same! Cylinder heads have never been off.....but a close eye has...

A new radiator cured our similar problem, apparently the bottom elements get furred up..... Peter.

I bought our 1996 4.6 in September 2000 on 53000mls from a garage in Leeds. The service book was showing 6000ml services at Rocar Moores in Huddersfield....I phoned Rocar Moores before completing the deal and their service department assured me that if a service was stamped in the service book...

1996 4.6, 179k on ORIGINAL ENGINE and transmission. 6000 mile oil and filter changes with good quality oil, transmission serviced at 70k and 140k. My local independent garageman comments this is very rare! Bonnet is up at least weekly and a very close eye is kept on the water. Peter.

Following advice on this forum, I changed the (garage supplied) oil for the correctly specified Unipart grade also fitting a Land Rover filter. The start up rattle, which had been particularly noticeable after a few hours parked, vanished and the engine has been quiet on start up ever since.

The first one we saw was white, with the appropriate final three letters on the registration number: FUD. Fuds they have been ever since, in our family. How DO they see out of that back window?

October 1996 4.6, 175000mls, on original engine and transmission. No water loss, has never overheated, oil changes at 6000mls, with good quality oil. Frequent, at least weekly, underbonnet checks have probably helped. Bought it in 2000 with 53000mls, and a service history that...