Newbie TF owner - couple of questions

[Jaguar steve]

Plunge was taken and we now have a very tidy looking 04 reg 1.8 TF on the drive. 35k on the clock, new hood and rear window with some service history and headgasket done last year. Looking good so far .

Couple of questions 'tho:
Oil temperature? - gently driven it seems a bit high to me at 120deg.
Takes about 10 miles for coolant temp to reach middle of gauge - normal?
HTF do you get the air filter out?
Anyone recommend a workshop manual?
Any suggestions to help preserve the headgasket?

Cheers Chaps

[ianwayne]

I bought a TF in Feb and it still runs OK. Head Gasket was changed after failure last year along with cam belt. My oil temp only got as high as 120 degrees during the hot weather last month. Otherwise it's about 100 when warm.

My water temp. gets to half way on the temp guage after about 3 miles, but it takes a while longer to get any heat from the blower. Keep your eye on the water level. Watch it like a hawk. I check it every time before I drive it, because the loss of only a small amount causes overheating and HGF.

Maitenance manuals on CD-ROM are available on ebay. Probably copies but I've ordered one.

Can't help on the air filter other than presuming you have to remove the maintenance cover which may involve a fair bit of undoing the back of the hood first.

[OneJag]

Jaguar steve said:

Plunge was taken and we now have a very tidy looking 04 reg 1.8 TF on the drive. 35k on the clock, new hood and rear window with some service history and headgasket done last year. Looking good so far .

Couple of questions 'tho:
Oil temperature? - gently driven it seems a bit high to me at 120deg.
Takes about 10 miles for coolant temp to reach middle of gauge - normal?
HTF do you get the air filter out?
Anyone recommend a workshop manual?
Any suggestions to help preserve the headgasket?

Cheers Chaps

Hi,
More information than you could ever need: http://forums.mg-rover.org/forumdisplay.php?f=12

120C oil is fairly normal on the guage. Any more than 130C is a problem. Coolant guage should sit at around 8.50pm i.e. just slighty below halfway. It will get there sooner than the oil guage too.

10miles to warm up is a bit far; 5 would be more like it. Probably an old thermostat or someone has drilled a hole in the stat. Coolant system is long and hard to bleed on these, lots of people/garages don't do it right and bodge the stat to cover up their incompetence.

Air filter, yes, you undo the clips on the back of the hood, lift it from the boot vertically. Then there are 11 x 10mm self-tapped bolts on the inspection cover. Takes me about 15mins to remove. Three bolts near the drivers seat may be under the windstop if you have one (but fingers/spanner usually reach them without removing the windstop ;-) If you go this far, I would take the trouble to bleed the cooling system (look for CJJ coolant replacement guide on the mg-rover.org site) as you have access to the final bleed screw on the hot return at the back of the engine...

Good choice of car

Cheers,
OneJag

[Jaguar steve]

OneJag said:

Jaguar steve said:

Plunge was taken and we now have a very tidy looking 04 reg 1.8 TF on the drive. 35k on the clock, new hood and rear window with some service history and headgasket done last year. Looking good so far .

Couple of questions 'tho:
Oil temperature? - gently driven it seems a bit high to me at 120deg.
Takes about 10 miles for coolant temp to reach middle of gauge - normal?
HTF do you get the air filter out?
Anyone recommend a workshop manual?
Any suggestions to help preserve the headgasket?

Cheers Chaps

Hi,
More information than you could ever need: http://forums.mg-rover.org/forumdisplay.php?f=12

120C oil is fairly normal on the guage. Any more than 130C is a problem. Coolant guage should sit at around 8.50pm i.e. just slighty below halfway. It will get there sooner than the oil guage too.

10miles to warm up is a bit far; 5 would be more like it. Probably an old thermostat or someone has drilled a hole in the stat. Coolant system is long and hard to bleed on these, lots of people/garages don't do it right and bodge the stat to cover up their incompetence.

Air filter, yes, you undo the clips on the back of the hood, lift it from the boot vertically. Then there are 11 x 10mm self-tapped bolts on the inspection cover. Takes me about 15mins to remove. Three bolts near the drivers seat may be under the windstop if you have one (but fingers/spanner usually reach them without removing the windstop ;-) If you go this far, I would take the trouble to bleed the cooling system (look for CJJ coolant replacement guide on the mg-rover.org site) as you have access to the final bleed screw on the hot return at the back of the engine...

Good choice of car

Cheers,
OneJag

Thanks for info - really pleased with the TF so far.

Your username suggests we may have similar tastes in proper cars too