Known Issues
Early hand-finished units were affected by inconsistent production tolerances (1996-1999). This caused the height of the cylinder liners to vary, which risked over-compression or under-compression of the head gaskets. The production facility was re-engineered prior to launching the Rover 75 (1999-2005). Those changes resolved all known issues and the KV6 has a positive reputation for reliability..
The 1999 redesign of the KV6 by Rover Group under BMW included replacing the original metal inlet-manifolds and butterfly valves, with plastic units manufactured in Germany. The redesign also involved replacing the metal thermostat housing with a plastic unit. A costly but uncommon side-effect to using plastic components are breakages in the butterfly valves that are mounted inside the non-serviceable inlet manifold, as well as perishing thermostat housing that can lead to loss of coolant. A third common fault is wear in the VIS motors that are mounted on the sides of the inlet manifold and control air intake. Damage to the butterfly valves and/or VIS motors is limited to causing excessive noise and/or minor loss of power.
A Kia manufactured variant of the engine was also fitted to the Kia Carnival (people mover) with some problems on early model engines. A large percentage of first generation (1999 -> 2005) Kia Carnivals sold in Australia required a new engine— some multiple engines. In most cases KIA provided a reconditioned short (without transmission) engine free of charge and with no questions asked, providing the vehicle was under warranty. For those outside warranty, Kia "covered costs proportional to what should have been the full expected life of components" and charged for labour and consumables.
Read more about this topic: Rover KV6 Engine
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