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MG MGF Technical - Not HGF, but might aswell be!

Driving home from the ER meet. 3 minutes from home, Loud bang and all hell broke loose. Loss of power, backfiring, stalling.

Thought exhaust may have fallen off/broken. Not too bad or so I thought.

Stripped engine bay cover off this morning, got my wife to turn her over whilst I had my head in the engine to see where the leak was.

Just missed having my head taken off by the spark plug as it exited the engine at a very fast rate of knots. Stripped plug thread :(

I'm taking it to a garage in a minute, I presume it means head off. If so, advise needed for head gasket. Do I get them to fit the standard replacement or do I get a better one from Mike or friends? Anything else I should think about.

All advice welcomed, and thanks in advance.

PS Warranty cover told me to go whistle as the plug must have been cross threaded/loose blah blah blah.

:((((((((
Richard P

>Warranty cover told me to go whistle as the plug must
>have been cross threaded/loose blah blah blah.

Bugger 8-(

> I presume it means head off. If so, advise needed for
>head gasket. Do I get them to fit the standard
>replacement or do I get a better one from Mike or
>friends? Anything else I should think about.

Go standard, it is improved from the early days.
I'd think about sending the head to DVA to get a helicoil fitted (cough)
Will Munns

Aw Rich :-(

OE gasket is much improved (bede pinned through the metal). Also go for the OE steel dowells in place of the plastic ones.

How strapped for cash are you mate? Its just that with the head off it's an opportunity... ;-)

SF
Scarlet Fever

Might be an idea to get the cam belt(s) changed at the same time if they haven't been done recently, it'll save the labour later on.

Tim
Tim Jenner

go for the mike satur competition gasket, the garage that fitted mine said it was much better than OE and only a few quid more. My cam belt was changed as a matter of course when they took the head off.
MW

The warrenty co/garage probebly won't cover any failures of a 'non-standard' gasket - even if they deem it better designed!
Will Munns

Thanks for the opinions guys.

Car now at MG approved garage. Won't see her for a week or two :(

ref the cam belts (VVC). Had them changed 10 months ago/9K miles. For the money they cost, I'll get them done again.

Ok I'll stick to the standard gasket, but where are the steel dowells available from.

Andy,
you know the tappity noise I had, any chance you think it could have been the plug?

Richard P

>Ok I'll stick to the standard gasket, but where are the steel dowells available from.

they come with the gasket

>you know the tappity noise I had, any chance you think it could have been the plug?

Could have been - diesily noise?
Will Munns

>diesily noise<
Yup, like a tractor!
Richard P

Gently Tap your helicoil Thread with a little grease on the taps to collect the debis, wind the helicoil in, remove the tang again with some gease or use a pair of longnose pliers. fit the plug and drive away.
NB. Only use Original Helicoil Tools and Inserts. They are worth the cost to make a good job.

Geoff.F.
G. Farthing

Heh Heh! :)

The MGF centre has come up trumps again.

Just phoned the garage that's got her at the mo, and told them to stop any work, as she's off to a specialist!

Vic and her team are 99% sure they can, as Geoff says, do the work with the head on :)

So with the money I'm saving (wife’s thinking, but hey it works for her) I'm getting the rear screen replaced, front bumper sprayed and who knows what else when I pick her up.

Also a large thank you to the RAC, who even though don't really cover me for the journey have agreed to pick her up in the morning and take her up there!

So tonight still involves lots of beer, but now it's celebratory and not drowning my sorrows

:)
Richard P

Sounds like you have a result. Might be worth saving the extras until Victoria has confirmed the first diagnosis (I wouldn't wait either but my wife would).
JohnP

Richard.

There is nothing "specialist" about a Helicoil Insert. Your Yellow Pages should have a local engine reconditioning dealer who can do it for you between beers.

Geoff.F.
G. Farthing

>There is nothing "specialist" about a Helicoil Insert<

Agreed. But if it can't be done and the head has to come off, I'd rather it be in the hands of the MGF centre (who IMO are specialists ;-) ) than my local MG approved garage. Also the only extra cost, to me, is a train fare up there to collect her. (and the extras)
Richard P

So that was that noise last night could have been worse might have sounded like that marcos 500 bhp great
sr foster

Just an update.

Helicoil went in a treat. The tappity/diesel/tractor noise has gone, so all is well!

One moan though...not a single F/TF on the way home to wave and grin at ;-)
Richard P

oops, forgot my manners.

Thanks all for your help/advice.
Richard P

Richard,

Did you have the other three plug threads checked or are you going back next week ??

Good Luck.

Geoff F.
G. Farthing

Good news :-)

SF
Scarlet Fever

Post mortem query - who didn't tighten up the plug properly in the first place I wonder?
jt
John Thomas

Or even over-torqued it?
Rob Bell

Or cross threaded it?
Will Munns

>Post mortem query - who didn't tighten up the plug properly in the first place I wonder?<
>Or even over-torqued it? <
>Or cross threaded it?<

Confession time.

When I picked up the car (15 months ago),
half way home it started stuttering when I put my foot down. Had simelar problem on my rover, turned out to be the plugs. So booked it into my local garage for service etc. They couldn't do it for about a week, so I did the plugs myself. Used their torque wrench, old plugs came out a treat and the new ones went in with no extra effort or grawnching. Set torque to what the garage told me, and here we are today.

99.9% sure it was not me. Maybe a previous problem from the last owner?
Richard P

Forget torque wrenches with plugs, always follow instructions on pack!

It is possible that previous owner crossthreaded the plug and weakened the thread
Will Munns

>It is possible that previous owner crossthreaded the plug and weakened the thread <

That's what I keep telling myself ;-)
Richard P

Yup, that's entirely plausible - and it sounds as though you did the job perfectly well. Bad luck I guess.
Rob Bell

OFF TOPIC

Rich, don't need you to pick up my luggage nets now, they arrived in the post this week.

Pic
>> http://www.forums.mg-rover.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11692 <<

SF
Scarlet Fever

Very nice.
Doesn't mean you can keep the trophy ;-)
Richard P

Richard, if it makes you feel any better, a scan of the archives will show that you are not the first person to have 'blown a plug' in this way.

However, you did find the most cost effective solution :-)

Happy MotorinG

jt
John Thomas

This thread was discussed between 07/05/2004 and 14/05/2004

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