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MG MGF Technical - Sudden loss of coolant

I have just run the car for about ten miles and when I stopped I had smoke coming from the engine bay, rubber smell. After leaving the car to cool for about an hour, I check the expansion bottle to see almost all the coolant had gone (I check the level every day). Now I know that this sounds like HGF, but the gasket was changed less than a month ago. Does anyone have any ideas? Does it sound like poor workmanship?
aj harris

hmmm.. sounds a lot like what happened to me on saturday.

It wasn't hgf in my case, but a split hose to the left of the engine block. To test I pressurised the system with air and found a BIG split in a complicated rubber hose - which is on order from rover now.

Maybe yours is similar? Get the engine cover off and look for where the coolant has come from.

On the other hand, if the gasket was changed, but the head was warped then no amount of 'good' labour would fix it. Get the garage that did the work to check it out.

Dave
Dave

Dave

Thanks for your comments, I had a quick look with a touch, but I will have a better look tomorrow. When they changed the gasket, the head was skimmed as well. But I will get back to the garage tomorrow and see what they say.
aj harris

Split hose one of the main front to back went, hope I did not do any more damage?
aj harris

Thats good (well, better anyway ;) )
If you pulled over and cut the engine pretty sharpish you should be okay. Best bet is to get the compression tested to ensure no head gasket damage occured, also have a good look for mixed fluids (oil/water).

The hoses are all still available from rover, have a good close look at all the other hoses, if one has perished the others may not be far behind!

Dave
David Monks

Completely agree with you David - this is probably the sign that all the hoses should be replaced.

With luck the cylinder head and gasket will have got away unscathed. A lot does depend on how hot the engine got before you noticed the problem and were able to stop the car.

Extreme heat will lead to softening of the cylinder head, rendering it scrap - so fingers crossed you've got away with it.
Rob Bell

Assuming that this pipe was disturbed during the repair, then any good mechanic would have inspected it before reconnecting and found that it would not last another month.
You do not say how old the car is.
ALL Rubber pipes deteriorate with age.
My belief is that any pipe over 5 years old that is disturbed should be replaced and all at 10 years.
Wire clamps should only be used for mass production assembly and replaced with SS Jubillee clips if removed.
Geoff F.
G. Farthing

Geoff

she is almost five, 2001. All seems ok now after the hose replacement. I did ask that they checked all the connections for me and that I would not have a repeat of this in another month. Well time will tell I guess.

Thanks for all you help and comments.
aj harris

This thread was discussed between 10/01/2006 and 13/01/2006

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