[Rovernet] Sterling advice sought

[magnet at ican.net]

I bought a 1987 Sterling 825S new, and still have it.  It has covered 
about 300,000 miles and on the whole it has been a good car.  The 
Honda-sourced engine burns a bit of oil now, and leaks quite a bit more 
-- difficult to see where from.  I replaced the timing belt at about 
160,000 miles, not because it needed it, but out of "an abundance of 
caution" as the current saying has it. Replaced the clutch at about 
70,000 miles, and the CV joints at 100,000 (they need it again).  
5-speed gearbox has been trouble-free.  It was my daily driver for about 
15 years.

Spots prone to rusting are the back edges of the rear wheel arches, and 
the inside of the rear wheel wells.  The body metal isn't as thick as on 
the older classic Rovers, and road salt is an enemy to be avoided as 
much as possible.

A lot of the electrics gave bother early on in the car's life, and 
despite the tired old anecdotes about the Prince of Darkness, all of the 
culprits were of non-Lucas (and in fact non-British) manufacture: the 
Japanese heater controls, the Japanese main ignition relay, and the 
Italian speedometer, for example.

I had one rear door handle break -- my own fault, the door was frozen 
shut and I pulled too hard for the brittle plastic.  The seat belt and 
hood latch problems sound as if they would yield to a bit of judicious 
lubrication. A dose of WD-40 all along the Bowden cable that works the 
hood latch, and some lithium grease on the latch itself worked for me.  
Can't comment on the seat, mine are manually adjusted.

The engine has always had a shortage of bottom-end torque, but still 
pulls quite well above 2500 RPM.

It's getting harder to get replacement parts for this car, the shock 
absorbers, for example.  A lot of, but not all, drive train components 
were common with the Acura Legend, but now even these are getting 
scarce.  Most of the chassis and all of the body components were not 
shared with the Legend.

I always liked the looks of the 800 series, and still do.  It's still 
the "baby" of my three Rovers, and as such it seems rather amusing when 
people come up and and ask "Hey, what a classy old car -- what is it?"  
But at least thety don't say "Wow, my grand-dad had one of these," as 
they do for my Rover 90.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

  -- Bill Daddis


On 19-Jan.-2022 5:44 p.m., Tom Rymes via Rovernet wrote:
> Rovernetters:
>
> I am considering the purchase of a Sterling, and I was hoping some
> Of you might be able to dispense some advice (even if it is “RUN AWAY!!!”).
>
> Anyhow, among the small annoyances this car has are broken front door handles, a seat belt that doesn’t retract, a hood latch that has recently refused to release, and a power seat that does not move.
>
> Are these common issues? Easily dealt with? Is it possible to move the seat manually until proper repairs can be made?
>
> What other areas of concern should I worry about (I fear the response will be “if you have to ask, you don’t want to know.”)
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Tom
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