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MG MGF Technical - New Rad and Coolant change - Scary...

Guy's, my radiator's like a tea bag and needs replacing. Therefore, it seems prudent to replace the coolant too. I have made my car doctor aware of the imorance of doing this correctly, and am collating as much as I can from the archives to make sure the procedure is carried out correctly.
He has just called asking how much coolant he should expect to use. I guess he need to know roughly in litres, so he can make up the mixture.
Does anyone know this please ? (thanks Dieter)

Cheers

Kieren
Kieren Gibson


Hi Kieren,

the manual says 10,5 liters from dry so 5 liters of the correct anti-freeze and the rest pure water should be OK. If not all gets into the system due to not total draining - take the remaining with You for future bleeding / refill ...Do NOT replace the plastic cover where the heater bleeder nipple is located until several bleedings during prolonged drives !
Have You had a chance to see the rad. and where the corrosion is ? Probably at the lower part of the rad... There is something dodgy here. As I wrote some time ago there is probably ground currents in the chassie involwed in this fairly rapid demise of coolant pipes and rad. I will on my "F" move the ground cable for the battery and route a ground return back to the starter / generator for several reasons . One is the possibillitys of the above mentioned currents in the chassie.
Probably others will respond with things I have forgotten to mention at the present, just be sure to bleed the system and top up when ever there is a chance for the first week or two.

Regards , Carl.
Carl

Kieran, while changing the rad it is worthwhile changing it for a larger capacity one these are about the same price as a new rad anyway (120quid) and improve the cooling. The system requires 5.5 litres of AF. BTW we have had 4 cars in this last week all with this same problem of corroded cooling fins ,this will cause a loss of efficiency and overheating and possible HGF. Easy to check,run a finger along the fins if they crumble and turn to dust then replace the rad ASAP. Low mileage is not a safeguard as we had a car in with constant O/H problems with 20k on the clock, the rad was shot.HTH.
Mike.
mike

Thanks for that guy's. The fins ARE all crumbling away. I hadn't thought about a larger capacity radiator, but if it's worth it I'll go for it.
I was considering changing the coolant pipes at some stage this year anyway. Think I might check them and do that sooner rather than later.

Cheers

Kieren

ps Any word on those Brake Calipers yet mike ?
Kieren Gibson

The lower left corner of my F's rad was holed because of corrosion - which incidently is the same area of oxidation that Carl noted on his summer-use only car.

Is there any evidence of this on your rad Kieren?

As cooling mods go, perhaps Carls remote thermostat mod might be a good idea for when you replace the under-body coolant pipes? More details on Dieter's web site: http://www.lame-delegation.de/mgf-net.de/thermostat/Water_System_Mods.htm

This is something that I am seriously considering...
Rob Bell

My rad and water pump went at the beginning of the year ... again the rad had corroded fins.

Gaz
'96 VVC
Gaz

This thread was discussed on 23/04/2002

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