MGF Engine Oil Leak
Discussion
My old MGF "project" has an oil leak - when I got it the alternator side of the engine was in a right mess so after cleaning it down I suspected a leaking cam cover gasket which I replaced - but the leak still persists. I now think it may be a cam shaft oil seal which I would imagine involves a fair bit of work to replace? Anyone got any thought or ideas?
cheers
steve
cheers
steve
Unfortunately it's not a great job to do....and your diagnosis is probably right; may be as a result of an inadequate earleir job replacing the cambelt, or as a result of other similar work that was worth doing while in the area; if the seal got pushed in crooked (easy to do given the access) it will leak.
Replacing the oil seal means that the cam belt has to come off; then the pulleys need to be removed. Take care getting the old seal out, it's possible to do it with a fine screw driver, but you have to be careful not to damage the machined surface which the seal goes into! Once the old seal is out you'll need a large socket to drift the new seal squarely into the housing - push it in crooked and it will leak. A knowledgable garage doing the job should take 2-3 hours, DIY 4-6 hours. Perhaps look on the positive side that you will know that the cambelt has been done, and do the water pump whilst in the area too!
MG Mark
Replacing the oil seal means that the cam belt has to come off; then the pulleys need to be removed. Take care getting the old seal out, it's possible to do it with a fine screw driver, but you have to be careful not to damage the machined surface which the seal goes into! Once the old seal is out you'll need a large socket to drift the new seal squarely into the housing - push it in crooked and it will leak. A knowledgable garage doing the job should take 2-3 hours, DIY 4-6 hours. Perhaps look on the positive side that you will know that the cambelt has been done, and do the water pump whilst in the area too!
MG Mark
Thanks again Mark, pretty much as I thought - Can all this be carried out with the engine in situ - I may pull the cover off at the weekend and have a look to see "whats occurring" - was going to live with it as the car was a cheap winter commuter but I can't leave things alone - if I know something needs to be fixed I have to have a go.
cheers
Steve
cheers
Steve
It's an in-situ job, but it's fiddly because you access the top half of the cambelt cover from the top, but also then access through the side by jacking the car up, removing the wheel and the inner wheel arch cover to access the bottom half of the cambelt cover and the crank pulley. Then it's a case of swearing a lot because of the restricted access, putting as jack under the engine to take the weigth while you remove an engine mount, to then drop the engine a little to enable the removal of the belt. Then you can remove the tensioner and belt to get at the cam pulleys, remove them, unpick (carefully) the offending oil seal and then, as the Haynes manual always says, reassembly is a simple reversal of the dismantling procedure.....using a new belt, tensioner, and a new water pump while you are in there. You will, of course lose the coolant, so you will need to refill and make very sure that the system is refilled fully and bled from all the bleed points before you restart.
Mark all the pulleys up before you take them off. A few specialist tools are useful, like a deep socket to get the crank pulley bolt off, and a torque wrench, and getting the back end up fairly high (but not so high you can't work from the top as well) is useful so that you are not struggling around on the floor. Some useful pictures, videos and detailed instructions available if you type "MGF Head gasket replacement" or "MGF Cambelt replacement" into Google. Biggest danger is screwing up the camshaft timing after you have taken the pulleys off. Good luck!
MG Mark
Mark all the pulleys up before you take them off. A few specialist tools are useful, like a deep socket to get the crank pulley bolt off, and a torque wrench, and getting the back end up fairly high (but not so high you can't work from the top as well) is useful so that you are not struggling around on the floor. Some useful pictures, videos and detailed instructions available if you type "MGF Head gasket replacement" or "MGF Cambelt replacement" into Google. Biggest danger is screwing up the camshaft timing after you have taken the pulleys off. Good luck!
MG Mark
Once again Mark - many Thanks
Pretty much as I thought - these babies aren't the most user friendly are they !
Will have a look over the week-end.
It will be a DIY job when I get round to it as I can't spend any more money on the project F - or so I've been told by my "financial adviser" (the wife)
Meanwhile - had a great drive in to work this morning - very quiet roads - half term makes a big difference to the traffic.
Cheers
Steve
Pretty much as I thought - these babies aren't the most user friendly are they !
Will have a look over the week-end.
It will be a DIY job when I get round to it as I can't spend any more money on the project F - or so I've been told by my "financial adviser" (the wife)
Meanwhile - had a great drive in to work this morning - very quiet roads - half term makes a big difference to the traffic.
Cheers
Steve
No problem - and indeed they are not particularly user friendly when you need to get at the engine; the penalty of having it amidships! If you continue to drive it while leaking and top it up, make sure that it's not going anywhere near the wheels - a great way to very quickly lose grip......
MG Mark
MG Mark
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