MG ZT 1.8t : Possibly the most difficult "easy" DIY jobs!

[MGJohn]

Took my Boxster driving friend in my MG ZT along with two others to a Quiz night. The guy who used to castigate me for my choice of cars... Quiz event and raffle ... Had a good evening and our table won three of the raffle prises .. bit embarrassing that.

On the way home about 11pm, S0D's Law intervenes. Nearly home and about to drop folks off, steam from under the bonnet!! Long story short, the little hose connected to the Turbocharger had split sending coolant onto the hot Turbocharger. Hence lots of steam. Boxster friend helped get water and by topping up a few times, got home without too much trouble taking it easy. Car soon will be twelve years old and the hose certainly the original. Nothing lasts forever ...

Not used the car since and decided to change that hose with a good spare I had in the winter sunshine this afternoon whilst listening to the football on the radio. Few big shock results. Good stuff..

Those powerful factory fit spring clips were used to secure most of the hoses. I do not like them! Correction, I loath them! Not DIYer user friendly and no doubt designed to save time on the assembly line. The one securing the larger end of the little hose to the main coolant tubes was very difficult to both access and remove. Took over an hour to access and release! I had to dismantle a lot of other stuff in the way including the PRT ( Pressure Relief/Remote Thermostat ) to provide better access to that horrible spring clip. Still that drained all the remaining weakened coolant from the system. Using my trusty old Mole Grips, I eventually was able to remove the short hose. When refitting the replacement, I will discard those spring clips and use Jubilee style worm drive stainless steel fasteners instead. Much more user friendly. Soon after removing the thing, the sun went down behind the hill and then the temperature dropped like a stone. Even with rubber gloves, tools were so cold it was not nice working with them. S0D that for a lark. Quickly packed all the stuff away and will complete tomorrow.

Why do these things invariably happen in the depth of winter with the lowest temperatures forecast? S0D's Law again...

The attached images show what was involved. Whilst under the car, I also took an image of the recently replaced rear suspension bush on the offside lower arm. Job's a good 'n.....

Edited by MGJohn on Saturday 24th January 20:06

[Spangles]

http://toolmonger.com/2009/10/06/flexible-hose-cla...

You could have finished the job in 5 minutes with the right tools.

[MGJohn]

Spangles said:

http://toolmonger.com/2009/10/06/flexible-hose-cla...

You could have finished the job in 5 minutes with the right tools.

Thanks for that link.

Constant-tension hose clamps. So that's what they're called. Constant-HIGH tension hose clamps more like .. very strong ..

Not even with that clever gismo would that time be possible. Undertray and lots of other stuff in the way and even with all those removed, severely limited DIY access will consume time. Working under a car up on drive-on ramps doesn't help timewise either particularly this very cold time of year. With better access, my Mole Grips would have had them off in seconds once all the stuff is no longer in the way. A workshop hoist like this would help but still need time. Deep joy if I had access to one of these. Most under car jobs a doddle then...



EDIT to add @ 09:51:~

Your post prompted me to search ebay to see what's on offer. For around a tenner I think I will get one of these :~

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_tr...

This one looks ideal :~

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Flexible-Locking-Hos...

Edited by MGJohn on Sunday 25th January 09:51

[Spangles]

MGJohn said:

Your post prompted me to search ebay to see what's on offer. For around a tenner I think I will get one of these :~

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_tr...

This one looks ideal :~

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Flexible-Locking-Hos...

Edited by MGJohn on Sunday 25th January 09:51

The latter one looks exactly like the one I've got, dunno about the quality though. Essential on modern cars, you'll probably be OK if you stick to Rover's though

[MGJohn]

Bought that one. For £10.99p cannot be bad. As previously stated, I do not like these hose clamps. I have some good quality Jubilee style worm drive clamps and will use those when I reassemble the job later this morning.

P.S. I don't "do" modern cars ...

[PaulKemp]

You need good quality jubilee clips or you can't get enough tension
I like using Mikalor clamps after the jubilees blew off my oil cooler at speed

[MGJohn]

PaulKemp said:

You need good quality jubilee clips or you can't get enough tension
I like using Mikalor clamps after the jubilees blew off my oil cooler at speed

Agreed and got some. Although I've used ordinary Jubilees without problem except with previous ownership over tightening which strips the worm drive slots at a critical point in the tightening sequence.

Made a start at the crack of .. 1 pm this afternoon .. By preparing some 50-50 OAT anti-freeze. I was pleased to see the four pints I drained from the system was still reddish pink confirming some anti-freeze properties. Since the hose split, we've had some of the coldest nights locally well below freezing. I was worried about coolant strength. The system took ten pints of OAT mix to refill. Here's what I used :~



This was my "workshop" for the job..



These are the two items to refit. Replacement Hose and PRT ( Pressure Relief Remote Thermostat ) Note the good quality ~ I hope ~ fasteners on the hose.



Here's a close up view of the Coolant Hose in place.



On reassembly, I replaced the five original Constant-tension hose clamps I had to release with the Jubilee style worm drive fasteners. Being careful not to over tighten them. This is what the final job looked like :~



Carefully bled the system after progressively adding ten pints of 50-50 dilute OAT coolant.It was longer than usual for coolant to emerge from the 8mm Bleed Bolt on the metal coolant pipe above the Bell Housing. I suspect the cold weather with slow warm up meant it took longer than usual for the PRT to open up and allow coolant to flow.

Took the car for a ten mile run which when fully warmed, included a mile at brisk pace. Kept an eye on the temperature gauge needle throughout and pleased to observe it stayed where it should be once it reached normal reading. Had a good look under the car on return. No sign of any coolant drips anywhere. Tomorrow I will check for sign of leaks again and top up where necessary as it is usual for some settlement of the coolant level after a coolant job like this.

[rossmcw]

Hate those clips, spent considerable amount of time swearing at them under a car!

One day I will get those pliers...

[MGJohn]

rossmcw said:

Hate those clips, spent considerable amount of time swearing at them under a car!

One day I will get those pliers...

Recommended. Having briefly used my newly arrived clip removal tool, realise should have got one ages ago.

[Jimmyarm]

As a 'professional' I like these clips, you can't over or under tighten them, they just work.

Admittedly sometimes the angle of them isn't optimal for removal but with the correct tools nothing is impossible.

They also take me two seconds to get off with my clip pliers, rather than fannying about with outdated jubilee clips !

[Toaster Pilot]

Need to get a set of those pliers - I hate those clips too (although a decent set of channel lock grips suffices)

Your photo also reminded me I want a 2 post lift so badly

[MGJohn]

Toaster Pilot said:

Need to get a set of those pliers - I hate those clips too (although a decent set of channel lock grips suffices)

Your photo also reminded me I want a 2 post lift so badly

That picture of the ZT up high on that pro-ramp lift was taken during the recent MoT. Deep joy to have one of those.. The only failure was that collapsed suspension bush. Bluddy Traffic Calming Devices ... Calm ... make my blood boil!!

A broken suspension spring on the floor from a Mercedes-Benz was another fail.



The one next to my ZT.



Two post lift... If I had my time over again... The pit in my double garage is full of stored stuff .. Typical ...

[Oldred_V8S]

Nice looking car MGJ. Quite fancy a ZT or a ZTT.

I risk getting flamed, but a failed hose is avoidable, especially if it is 12 years old

[MGJohn]

Oldred_V8S said:

Nice looking car MGJ. Quite fancy a ZT or a ZTT.

I risk getting flamed, but a failed hose is avoidable, especially if it is 12 years old

They drive as well as they look too. Should have got one years ago but, was put off by the naysayers. Big car little K-Series asked to punch well above its weight. Even nice examples can be picked up for little money now. After all the youngest is at least ten years old and all ordinary production cars are of little value by that age. Some of the stuff thrown away well before their sell by date in the UK borders on the criminal.

Yes they are that old and I'm usually on the ball with maintenance things like that. Last May, I replaced the Turbocharger with a good refurbished spare I had and checked all the hoses involved and disturbed in the process. They looked fine including that little one which was split previously on my other ZT. Thus, with that fresh in mind, I was careful to check that hose as it is always close to the hot turbocharger. Nothing lasts forever but, twelve years is a good shout!

Have a look at how much that little hose is :~

http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-PEH000510

Even shopping around for better prices for original equipment manufacturer item, best I could find was £37 !

I'm tempted to get quotes for a number made up for a group buy as there are a lot of Turbocharged Petrol 75s and ZTs still giving good service. Some of them have completed well over 200,000 miles. Not bad for the little K-Series! Surely those hoses can be produced for rather less than fifty quid. They're only six inches long!

One of the reasons nice cars are so frequently terminated is the Insurance Companies who are always quick off the mark to write off older cars. Various reasons for this. For example my wife's MG ZS bought new in 2003 which was written off back in late September last year following a rear end shunt. Other party entirely to blame so no problems there. That when parked up suffering "extensive" damage. Can you spot the damage? No, nor could I until having a much closer look. The Insurance companies two "approved" repair facilities provided quotes to repair close to twice the market value of the car! So that's how it works ... For a two inch crack in a bumper and some "popped" plaster bumper fasteners. I obtained a quote for little more than one third their approved outfit's figures and got it repaired to a very high standard. Car was NEVER a write off. All too convenient for the Insurance companies to quickly deal with things that way for various reasons... My "approved" repair outfit I've used for years restore anything from Ferraris to MGBs and work to a high standard for reasonable costs. Here's the before repair and after images of the MG ZS.

Before :~



After Repair :~



They made such a good job of the repair and paint finish that I'll need to sharpen up the rest of the car's paintwork by applying elbow grease and T-Cut ... that can wait for warmer times ..

Anyone in the Gloucester, Cheltenham and Stroud area wanting contact details of my "approved" repairer drop me a pm. Job's a good 'n...

[Oldred_V8S]

MGJohn said:

Have a look at how much that little hose is :~

http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-PEH000510

Even shopping around for better prices for original equipment manufacturer item, best I could find was £37 !

I see what you mean, not cheap.

Nice work on the wife's car, glad you managed to keep it on the road. It looks a good car.

[Turkey]

Had a similar fight with those clips on my old ZR, sod's law says that when you realise that there are special pliers to remove them, you've already wasted many hours grappling with mole grips and many other tools to try and get them off.

I now keep those pliers in the car AT ALL TIMES.

Also keep a roll of this type of tape in the car, and a bottle of coolant, just in case it might be able to to get me home: http://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repai...

[MGJohn]

Having used those recently purchased remote cable wire draw pliers, they work remarkably well and those powerful snap ring hose fasteners will be easy to fit and remove in future. My faithful long serving fifty year old Mole Grips will be largely redundant for much of their time from now on ...

I stuck all those "difficult" to remove-fit fasteners in a very weak solution of rust remover. I replaced all the hose fasteners with worm drive "Jubilee" style ones. The originals came up like new. Next time I work on those hoses, if there is a next time, I'll refit those originals. I now have access to the correct tools and technology ...