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MG MGF Technical - where to go ??

HGF, its happened and im depressed, but think Ive caught it early enough not to have done major damage to the engine.
The coolant level has been dropping very slowly over the past couple of months (topped up), but no signs of water in the oil until today. The long motorway run last saturday with oil well over 100c meant the dipstick was clean on Sunday. Its now covered in emulsified oil (mayo) and I notice a bit of steam out the exhaust. :(

only question is, where do I take it ?? and what can I expect to pay ?? what needs doing ?? Im in the Herts/Bucks border and have used Priests in Chesham, but at the last service they were a bit condescending about the tyre wear and other questions I had, and had to wait nearly a month for service/work to begin due to them being busy.

The car is 1.8i, '98 'R', 42K. and have noticed the uprated inlet manifold gasket on the job sheet.
Simon

Simon

Brown & Gammons have a very good reputation and they are in your neck of the wood somewhere - have a look at the drop down menu at the top of this page and go to advertisers.

Ted

Ted Newman

You probably figured this already - but you should get your car transported to the garage that will fix it. Driving it will only cause damage.
As for who can fix it, then it typically comes down to who has the workshop time available - most garages have slots available for cars that break down. Some may even have a trailer to transport the car.

Steve
Steve

Ive just phoned B&G and am already very impressed. The service manager talked me through everything they do and standard cost for the job, subject to no further problems. Earliest opening is six weeks!!!! but that still beats my other local dealers by a week or two, who couldnt tell me what to do, what they would do, and didnt seem to care if I drove it or not....

now only question is do I leave it sitting there for six weeks without starting it ? is it possible there could be corrosion inside the engine ? is there a way of turning the engine without it firing to circulate the oil ?? Im used to VW beetle engines :D and take the coil lead off to build oil pressure before I fire the engine after a long rest....
Simon

Ours went much the same almost exactly a year ago, and we waited 4 weeks to get it into B&G. Just left it parked up OK, I'd cover it with a tarp if not in garage just to keep the tree sap off it.
David

Simon,

I had the head gasket go on my '97 VVC in January of this year after only 30000 miles due to a failure of the pressure cap on the coolant reservoir. They are supposed to release the pressure when it gets to about 8 psi but mine when tested did not blow until over 20 psi. Obviously all the pressure then found the next weakest spot which was the head gasket. Cost of repair was £490 incl VAT. Although in my case it was an external leak so i did not emulsify the oil. I suspect the cost will be higher for you i'm afraid becasue you will need all the engine and hoses cleaning to remove the emulisifed oil. A couple of bits of advice i was given are that whilst they have the engine stripped down get them to replace the cam belt and alternator belts if you have not already had these changed. You might also want to get them to check the spark plugs as these should be changed on the 5 year/60K service anyway although this will bump up the cost even more.

Although you should get 12 months parts and labour warranty after the repair make sure that the garage identifies the cause of the fault.

Adrian
Adrian Jones

This thread was discussed between 12/07/2002 and 14/07/2002

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