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MG MGF Technical - Tail light seal adjustment

After last night's downpour I discovered a lovely damp carpet on the nearside boot floor of my '96 VVC. Looking at the rear light seals, it looks like the nearside tail lamp is sitting too far out from the body compared to the offsite tail lamp, meaning that the seal is getting wet and letting water into the boot:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tim.jenner/images/MGF/light%20seals.jpg

Question is, how can I adjust the position of the light unit?

Thanks,
Tim.
Tim Jenner

Stupid question coming up... ;-)

You have tried tightening the (3 IIRC) retaining bolts to the light cluster? They are in the boot compartment and (again IIRC) you will need to unclip the bulb carrier to get access to them.

At first glance it looks like one of your light clusters has the new (thicker) gasket and the other one hasn't, has this been a leak point in the past? Could it have been replaced by a previous owner (if there was one)?

Basically, as far as i understand it, there are two types of gasket for the light clusters, a thick one and a thin one. MGFs are fitted with the thin one 'out of the box' and if the boot leaks then they can be replaced with the thicker one.

SF
Scarlet Fever

Tim,

This was pointed out to me by Stu Gray on one of the CSMGF Runs last year - he thought someone had bumped his car and damaged the light. I looked at my car and it was the same. Others have mentioned this and on closer inspection they have all been the same (all MY2000 cars) - one tail lights sits further out from the other.
David Clelland

Thanks for the responses, guys. As far as I know the seals have not been changed - the previous owner used the car as a second fun car so I don't think it got wet very often! Not a silly question about the mounting bolts, SF, because I haven't tried them! :) The reason being that I couldn't work out how tightening them up would pull the lamp unit any further into the bodywork, since pushing on the lamp unit from the outside doesn't move it at all. Figured I'd just end up breaking something. :( I'm assuming the bolts you are talking about are these ones?

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tim.jenner/images/MGF/taillight%20bolt.jpg

Interesting what you say about them all being like it, David - it looks like the black plastic bit should cover the seal and drain water outside (as per the offside of mine, bottom photo), so I'm suprised everyone's car doesn't leak through the nearside light if the seal is exposed! It looks like both seals are the same thickness, it's just that the offside one is covered and squashed a bit tighter than the nearside. Think it's worth changing the seals or having a go at adjustment?

Thanks again,
Tim.
Tim Jenner

Hi Tim,

nipping up the retaining bolts may help :o)

However, if you find that the seals still leak, then it is possible to simply replace the gaskets: http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/water_leaks/leaking_lamp_gaskets.htm

Interestingly, the new spec gaskets are thicker than the original '96 items - evidently a move by MG to sort a known problem...

This is what I've done on my car, and yes, it was definitely worth doing! :o)
Rob Bell

Good picture Tim, you could take pics for the SOS site any day ;-)

Yes, this is one of the (three IIRC) bolts i was talking about. To be honest it's been a while since i had a good look at the F rear light cluster, having swapped to MS ones in 1999, but they are secured in the same manner and nipping the bolts up a bit shouldn't do any damage and may cure the problem.

I had a boot leak with the standard light clusters and when i swapped to the MS ones i changed the gaskets to the thicker spec ones and this cured the leak.

Hey, it worked for me! :-)

SF
Scarlet Fever

Well the sun's out today, so maybe some of the urgency has gone away temporarily! :) I've put the thicker gaskets on my "list of things to get on first visit to MGR parts department" along with smoked indicators (anyone know if these are still available at the giveaway price?) and some touchup paint. Thanks for the link with part number, Rob! Hopefully get along there next week, change the seals and tighten up the bolts at the same time. SF - as a point of interest, do your quad light units show the same difference in gap between the lamp unit and the body on either side of the car?
Tim Jenner

This thread was discussed between 27/07/2003 and 02/08/2003

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