[BridgetN]

My Dad has a Rover 45, 51 plate and a garage has told him it has some sort of electrical fault. Someone else said it could be the carburettor. It revs dangerously fast and sometimes there is some smoke from the engine. He's in Maidstone in Kent and can't find a Rover dealer to help. I would appreciate any ideas or advice. Does anyone know a Rover mechanic or garage near Maidstone?

[220 GSi turbo]

You can definitely rule out 'carburettor', as no Rover 45s were ever made with a carburettor. (Unless a previous owner has done a strange modification to fit a carburettor from an older Metro or Rover 214!)

What colour is the smoke coming from the exhaust? Or is it from another part of the engine?

And how high is the revving? There are various electronic engine management faults that can cause the engine to sit at around 1500rpm when the car is stationary but I would not consider this to be 'dangerous'. If it is much higher than that, the throttle cable could be sticking or the spindle in the throttle body could be sticking (many of these cars were manufactured with a plastic throttle body and these can give problems as the car gets older).

In reply to one of your other posts, 'Montegoman' suggested a few specialists who might be able to help out. It is likely to be a fairly simple problem to fix and probably a better bet than getting rid of the car.

[BridgetN]

You can definitely rule out 'carburettor', as no Rover 45s were ever made with a carburettor. (Unless a previous owner has done a strange modification to fit a carburettor from an older Metro or Rover 214!)

What colour is the smoke coming from the exhaust? Or is it from another part of the engine?

And how high is the revving? There are various electronic engine management faults that can cause the engine to sit at around 1500rpm when the car is stationary but I would not consider this to be 'dangerous'. If it is much higher than that, the throttle cable could be sticking or the spindle in the throttle body could be sticking (many of these cars were manufactured with a plastic throttle body and these can give problems as the car gets older).

In reply to one of your other posts, 'Montegoman' suggested a few specialists who might be able to help out. It is likely to be a fairly simple problem to fix and probably a better bet than getting rid of the car.

Thank you very much for your help and advice which I've passed on to my Dad.