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MG MGF Technical - Common Faults with MGF'S

Hi there,

(Tried to post this to the MG Usenet group but for some reason my ISP won't let me so I thought that I would pick the brains of the smart peeps on here, hope this is OK?)

I am new to this group so if any of the following Q' s have been asked I
apologise & feel free to point me in the direction of the FAQ, however......

The other half & I are the proud owners of BRG 2000 MKII MGF 1.8i (no VVC
though.)

But, much as we love the car it does seem to have its faults. First off, I
should point out that this is our second F, we had numerous problems with
our first (second hand '98 MK I) F, culminating in the blowing of the head
gasket. Here in lies my first question, Is this a common fault? I ask this
having been told by serveral people, including a dealer in Bolton that it
can be a problem, only to be told by another dealer in Manchester that, as
long as you check the oil & water regularly it shouldn't be a problem as it
should minimise the risks. OK thought we, until we watched this evenings'
Watchdog & their report on the K Series Rover Engines (The 'dealer',
Carcraft, - please don't ever consider buying a car from these crooks -
eventually agreed to swop our older model after much wrangling, although now
we are wondering whether or not this was a good idea, due to the fact that
they -eventually- got the head repaired for us & there apparently should be
no problem with them once they are repaired.) Are there any telltale signs
we should be looking out for & is there any preventative measure we can
take. (Other than selling the car of course!)

Second Q. The gear linkage on our new F sheared off the other day leaving
us stranded in the Lakes waiting for the breakdown service. Is this a
common fault & are they items which would just 'snap' without warning or
would a fault like that be noticable had the car been inspected properly at
the time of sale (4 months ago.)?

I thank you in advance for any advice anyone may be able to pass on

Sally



ashnsalnhen

HGF is unfortunately a problem. How common it is remains to be proved but there are a couple of indicators that lead to the belief that it is fairly widespread.

1) The subject of HGF comes up on this forum with alarming frequency, usually a new one is reported once or twice a week, however not all of these make it onto the Hall Of Shame.

2) MGR are very tight-lipped about this, therefore there are no official figures on the subject available to the public. A few years ago one of the (then) member s of this forum set up a website called the Hall Of Shame to record incedents and collect data for statistical analysis - this remains the only independant data on the subject that is available to all. If you have had a HGF then surf to >> http://www.shame.4mg.com/ << and fill in your details.

The head gasket is effectively a safety valve that is designed to blow first to prevent further engine damage. This means that a HGF is normally the result of another failure and these are many and various. On a front-engined car this is annoying, but the cloud of steam pouring over the windscreen is a BIG clue that you should stop the car ASAP. In an F or Elise, with the engine behind you, the cloud of steam can go unnoticed leading to the engine being run with no water = major engine damage and a HUGE repair bill (new engine). This is IMO why it crops up on here time and again, this site is a forum for reporting problems and getting help, HGF is a big problem, that costs on average circa £500.00 UKP to repair (assuming no other damage). Therefore when it blows, the owner, faced with a large bill does some reserch and bingo! up pops this site on a search engine - another HGF posting. Of the long-term regular users of this forum, people who have been on here a number of years who surfed here for other reasons, there are quite a few who have yet to suffer HGF, Ted and Rob Bell have going on 8 year old Fs with fairly high mileages (Rob in particular races his F on circuits at weekends) and to date they have been HGF free - this is a BIG clue as to the nature of the problem IMO. Personally, i had a HGF at 6½ years old and 96,000 miles, statistically i am an anomoly according to the HOS, but how many other Fs are there out there with this kind of mileage? Furthermore, how many of them have enthusiastic owners who regularly surf the forums and know of the HOS? Not many - 1 in fact, me :-)

What do i think about it? Well, ever the optomist, i like to believe that MGR have got the problem more or less licked and that the TF should be pretty much HGF free (or as good as any other car out there). Late model Fs appear to be more reliable in this regard than early ones according to the HOS - this is not conclusive, but is a pointer. And if you have an F that dates from 1995/6/7/8/9 then IMO you should either take out an extended warrantee (from someone like the AA for example), or put £500.00 in an 'HGF fund' - just in case.

Repair work should be done using steel dowells and the current, uprated gasket. It is also important to try to find the cause, which means thoroughly checking the cooling system for leaks - early Fs are known to have corroded radiators, split hoses, corroded underbody coolant pipes, poor coolant hose clips, leaky inlet manifold gaskets and expansion tank caps, any of these could cause HGF if undiagnosed for long enough.

----------------

The gearbox on the F is located in the engine bay, the lever, as you know, is located in the cabin - there is therefore a pair of cables linking the two and there are two common faults that can occur with them. 1) is a snapped cable - annoying and relatively expensive to replace, the cables are around £50.00 each and there is a lot of labour involved in replacing it due to access problems (strip of of interior trim, may also require a partial dropping of the engine). 2) there is a retaining clip on the underside of the gearbox that can go, this costs pennies and is realy easy to replace (if you have one).

The problem is specific to the F/TF and is usually quite rare. It comes up on here i'd say five or six times a year roughly.

Hope this helps.

SF
Scarlet Fever

Scarlet Fever @work ??? some job you have if yu have time to sit and type all that cr@p !
Glandular Fever

My fan has appeared again.

Flattered. :-)

SF
Scarlet Fever

That one made me smile Andy ;-)) Dave.
DC Morris T6 DCM

I never had a HGF with the 2 of MGF I owned or own :)

.. knocking on wood ;)

Snapped gear linkage at the first, though.
This was (IMO) due to wrong adjusted cables. (by factory wrong adjusted)

Cheers
Dieter
PS. 80k km with fun going on, ... almost.
Dieter K.

Did have an HGF on a 1998 VVC, the car was very well maintained, not flogged when cold (or hot). The temperature gauge did not even have a chance to rise above normal as I could smell the antifreeze glycol with the window down before the level dropped much.I was expecting it though considering all the other problems I had with the car. This was after 12,000 miles from new. In my opinion HGF is a MGF K series problem. I drive an Audi 80TDI also. The head gasket went on this as well but after 186,000 miles. I think I can live with that.
Paul Robertson

Thanks for the info folks. Thankfully HGF is apparently covered on our F's guarantee for the next eight months. Unfortunately the linkage wasn't :( so bye bye holiday fund. Ah well, looks like we shall be roughing it on next year's trip to the continent with Mgfey. Btw any experiences of MGF's 'on tour' would be well received. I am convinced that the F will go down a storm in France as they seem to go for practicality over style as far as their choice of motors goes.

Happy Driving.

Sally
ashnsalnhen

Sally

look out for 'mgf on tour experiences' flooding in.

There has been a regular continental tour organised from here for a few years, Andy Bates recently toured about 3000 miles (IIRC) over most of Europe, Bob recently took part in (nearly said competed!) the Cannonball Run to Morocco, we 'did' France last summer ...

JohnP

I have a June 2003 TF 160 Sprint and find the gear change very stiff. I this normal or should I be patient and wait until the car has done a few more thousand miles? Currently it has just clocked up 2000.
Alan Westlake

I had a gear linkage failure in a brand new VVC that I had been loaned while my car was being serviced. Meant I had to drive it home, and then back to work the next day in 2nd gear, so glad it was a VVC.
antony

Alan the gear change is a little stiffer than other cars I've driven and as far as I can remember has loosened up a bit but not much.....you do get used to it though and it's nice that it feels a bit more solid IMO.
Darran

GET AN MX5!

Problems solved.
Rob

This thread was discussed between 04/11/2003 and 18/11/2003

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