Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

I'm wondering if anyone can help me here. Sometimes the engine will struggle at idle and the revs will dip, most of the time they will pick up but sometimes they will splutter and the engine will die. Then when I try and start the engine and it just refuses to start until I leave it for some time and it'll go with no trouble at all. Does anyone know what the problem is? Is it a common fault on the1.6?? :/ I've got a '90 216 GSi by the way

Does it struggle at idle just after starting the engine or during a drive ?

If it's the former ( and without wishing to sound like a broken record) , it sounds like the old favourite of fuel pump relay - the brown one behind the centre console.

Other than that, it's usually the ignitor or coil pack inside the distributor.

These are all common problems, so you'll find several other topics on the subject on this forum - search for 'fuel relay', for example.

Distributor bits are readily available on ebay but good relays are getting a bit scarce.

Good luck !

Just been checking out my remaining bits-and-pieces in the garage ahead of PoL and have realised that I have a SOHC spare dizzy with both an ignitor and a coil pack and also another coil pack.

If any of these are useful to you , give me a shout as I'm intending to dispose of all my spares at PoL - see separate thread.

GTiJohn wrote:Does it struggle at idle just after starting the engine or during a drive ?

If it's the former ( and without wishing to sound like a broken record) , it sounds like the old favourite of fuel pump relay - the brown one behind the centre console.

Other than that, it's usually the ignitor or coil pack inside the distributor.

These are all common problems, so you'll find several other topics on the subject on this forum - search for 'fuel relay', for example.

Distributor bits are readily available on ebay but good relays are getting a bit scarce.

Good luck !

Thanks John, it's after I start the engine. For example I turned the engine off after a drive and I noticed I had forgotten to shut the windows so I needed to turn the engine back on and when doing so the revs dripped below their standard idle point, struggled and died :/ Could this be due to engine temperature or the distributor? Also, why did I have to wait to start the engine again? Thanks for you help here!!

Yip, those are the symptoms.

It's all to do with the 'starting' and 'running' circuits for the fuel pump and the switching between the 2, apparently.

Has anybody else got a more detailed explanation ?

The brown relay in the photo is the bit you're after.



You don't have to remove the centre console, just reach behind it and remove the retaining screw. It is a bit fiddly. I then left the relay loose behind the console, as I knew it was likely I'd need to replace it again sometime...

It's possible to take the relay apart and see if there are any soldered joints that have come apart - I tried this but couldn't find one. So I just kept replacing it with another until it worked

There are no individual parts on ebay at the moment but several cars are being broken....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/honda-concert ... 4ac32a5c87

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Breaking-1995 ... 2a2b698a46

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-216-GTI ... 3a7fbb0d54

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/rover-216-cab ... 1e793b820d

Maybe get more than one , as you'll need a spare someday

I found something useful on d-series.org if you are having difficulty finding an OEM relay:

http://www.d-series.org/forums/diy-foru ... grade.html

I quite fancy giving this a go at some point, I've got plenty of random relays knocking around which could be put to good use!

Our Honda engined 216 would dip and almost stall at idle but was an easyfix. People forget that the idle speed has a mechanical adjustment as well as the electronic idle air valve. The electronic valve should be disconnected when setting the idle using the mechanical idle air adjuster before reconnecting the electronic idle air valve. The procedure is described nicely in the Haynes manual.