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MG MGF Technical - Noooooooooooooooooo

That is it. I am burning this piece of scrap. Third time the bleeding gasket is going. Rover do the world a favour and get shot of the K.
Steve

if it's the 3rd time the gaskets gone I'd be looking for the source of the problem

Uneven liner height?
Bob Millar

... or consider crap repair 'expertise'....

THREE times aint no coincidence .... the above would be top of my list of 'problem sources'....
John McFeely

> I am burning this piece of scrap.

The workshop ?? ;)
Sounds like soon some more unemployed anones.

>Uneven liner height?
Should be checked always when the head comes of.
However, dropped cylinder liner wpuldn't be the first.

Anyway, you have my sympathy.

Regards
Dieter
Dieter K.

Okay maybe jumping to conclusions ( I hope ). Temp guage decided to go half way and stay there. Car was fully warm and besides going to a almighty 4000 rpm some 2-3 miles before this happened nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Anyway pulled in and decided to see what would happen if it was left to idle. Nothing other than the guage more or less stayed dead center which as everybody knows this is not correct.

Was wandering where the rad fan was and checked the fuse to find it was okay. Rad was changed 10 months ago so can't see the contacts being a problem. How do you force the fan on ? Anyway the problem occured when driving at 60-70 mph so no need for the fan.

That was two days ago and nothing since, typical. No obvious loss of water. Do the guage temp sensors have a habit of going ?




steve

Steve,

Classic basic signs of head gasket DAMAGE - they rarely fail - is coolant loss and OVER-pressurisation of the cooling system. There are other signs of course but those above are the real indicators. Temperature gauge behaviour is not a reliable indicator on ANY car.

Meantime, it's obvious that you are a little apprehensive about this matter - understandably so if you've already had two incidents - keep 'em peeled until your confidence in the last repair is assured.

Search the archives of how to check for these signs if you don't already know. On any car, a dead give away of head gasket damage is rapid coolant loss. Coolant being forced out of the system by over-pressurisation.

I once purchased a very tidy but, really cheap (almost loose change) MG which had changed hands three times in the previous twelve months - all enthusiast caring owners. Driving it on its first long fast run in my hands soon showed why the recent rapid changes of ownership. OVER-pressurisation of cooling system. The car came with much careful owner history including a recent Invoice for over 500 notes to include "Dressing of Cylinder Head and replacement of 'failed' head gasket".

One weekend I removed and replaced the cylinder head gasket - discovering in the process a small piece of carbon crud sandwiched and crushed between head and new gasket. No way would that gasket last very long and so it proved. I cleaned up the head and replaced the gasket (20 quid from MG-R) and now have a near bullet proof reliable car.

A 'professional' job on your car is NEVER a guarantee of a job well done..... My experience above is just one of several similar ones in a long period of car ownership.

JMcF.
John McFeely

My temp sensor went. The temp gauge became very erratic. Would shoot up to the red and back to normal in less than a second. Even with the engine cold, it sat at normal running temp. Very cheap to replace, but a g!t to get to. Expect a few scraped knuckles ;-)
Richard P

MX5 will never experience such a problem.
Three head gaskets gone? How do you people could possible defend the MGF as a good and reliable car?
MX5 Enthusiast

My bicycle aswell will not have ;)

Apology, but I couldn't resist.
Dieter K.

MX5 Enthusiast: 'Yaaaawwwwwwnnn Change the record please.'

Dieter: ;-)

Cheers

Sally
Sally

What's the latest news Steve?
Rob Bell

MX5 Enthusiast - the first thing to do before even thinking about posting any derogatory comments is to gain a fair understanding of the English language, I mean come on.... "How do you people could possible defend the MGF as a good and reliable car?"
Or has it been lost in translation from the native Japanese somewhere?

Phil J ;-)
Phil - '99 Solar Red VVC

Latest news is that it is one week since the guage moved and has not budged from where it normally resides. No water usage above normal ie 100ml-200ml / 6000 miles and no waterin the oil.

The only plausible reason I have for it apart from imminent HGF is that the large black plug ( very technical ! ) for the mems was attaacked by myself one evening at the side of the road. The reason for this was that other irritating fault of over idle. Now when I say I attacked it I mean exactly that. Guess what, for the first time in 8 months I have had perfect idle for I guess 3-4 weeks. So I may of upset something else along the way but I doubt it as I would imagine that the guage works straight from the sensor and not via the mems. Can anyone confirm ?



steve

The gauge does indeed use a completely different temperature sensor (it's mounted vertically, below the MEMS temp sensor).
Rob Bell

Love it! He who 'attacks' his multiplug thus rectifying his idle problems is no mug! ...LOLOLOL

Some poor Mugs have no alternative but to pay dealerships 70 quid per hour for failing to locate problem ..... DOH!

"Attack"?: More likely you simply improved a dodgy or dirty contact which was the problem all along .... 'appens...

John
John McFeely

..."How do you people could possible defend the MGF as a good and reliable car?"
Actually there are a few other mid-engine small sport cars in the market -MR2?- but in none of them HGF seems an issue as in the MGF. I drive a 97´MGF and must say I am a very worried thinking not IF but WHEN the HG will go. Mitch.
Mitch O´Rahilly

Why worry about "WHEN hgf not IF hgf"? take out a cheap warranty through Aa and enjoy the car.
JohnP

Yup, AA warranty is a good way to go. Plus, never rev the car from cold (keep below 3000rpm until oil temperature starts to rise above 60deg), and you should be fine. :o)

Enjoy your car Mitch! No point worrying about something that may never happen. :o)
Rob Bell

>>>Love it! He who 'attacks' his multiplug thus rectifying his idle problems is no mug! ...LOLOLOL


I lived with this problem on and off mostly on as I said for 8 months.

No amount of tender care shown to the named plug would make a permanent fix. By that I mean crimping the connections tighter together and using most of a tin of kindly donated contact cleaner. Thankyou work !

Anyway one or two tempremental bends of the cable has done the trick. I recommend it to anyone. The joy of not surging on after taking the foot of the throttle at 70 mph is worth the risk of wrecking it. Oh and the obligatory 2000rpm revs at start up on a cold winters morning as well. Petrol as well, thought I was driving a Volvo for a good while.

Incidently about a year ago whilst being unfortuanate enough to be at a Rover dealer I noticed a tech with a new liner in his hand. Upon asking what it was for the reply was it was for a Rover 200 which had suffered bore wash. Why, because the bloody auto choke wouldn't switch off. Wonder why.

Oh and I will ask again is ther a way of forcing the rad fan on ?
steve

temperamental !

Thankgod for the net dictionary ! Don't remind me of the rest of my mistakes.
steve

@Steve,

I can confirm !!
The same is with my MEMS ECU connector.

However, let's talk about in a new thread.

<MEMS ECU Connector / idle high and sensor troubles>
Dieter K.

MX5's seem to have their own unique problem set though, MX5 owner.

http://www.mx5ocforum.co.uk
Kelvin Fay

This thread was discussed between 28/08/2004 and 05/09/2004

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