My MGF blew up!! Only had it 2 weeks!

[Cattypatty]

I am in real trouble! I bought a MG MGF 2 weeks ago & I was on the motorway alone on Sunday & I think it's the head gasket that has gone! The radiator is pretty bad too!!

Any advice or anyone that can help please?

A very distressed Catherine

[MIRAstig]

Hi Catty. Give this chap an email on: [e-mail]
His name is Russell and the folks on mg-rover.org swear by him.

A garage will charge you anything upto £2000 to fix a blown headgasket on the MG. Russ travels to you and does it all inc water pump etc for around £500 he is ex MG Rover and knows his onions!

Good luck and stick with it!

Stiggy

[MG Mark]

Sorry to hear that - sadly an occupational hazard of MGFs, as you will gather from many related forums. You don't mention what happened or the circumstances, but the key will be whether it is actually the head gasket that has gone, or if you are lucky that it has just been coolant loss from a radiator or pipe leak caufght in time - if unsure, do make sure that whoever does the diagnosis confirms whether the head gasket has actually failed.

MG Mark

[ypauly]

I bought an MGF 2 weeks ago



Can't offew anything but I hope everything turns out ok

[ronaldo342]

Sorry to hear that Catty, wonder if the previous owner had an idea ? mirastig has pointed you in the right direction for repairs, he seems to be well quoted in MG forums.
Check the dipstick for mayo!

[MIRAstig]

Mayo on the dipstick is not a reliable indicator of HGF as cars that are primarily used on short journeys IE commuting suffer from it too,Its simply condensation reacting, that goes for any make not just MG.

Mine suffers from it but a decent run at the weekend or in the week if I have time soon gets rid of it.

[160steve]

Good luck getting it sorted Catherine, the first option is Headgasket but it could be a number of things. Hopefully you pulled over straight away and minimised any damage?

[Cattypatty]

Thank you for all the replies.

I literally stopped as soon as smoke/steam started coming out the back!
2 roadside recovery men helped me push it back into the service station where they slowly started putting water back in but then a mass of white smoke came out the back!!

The car is being looked at on Friday to find out what the damage is! Just so annoying!!

[160steve]

good job! You might have saved yourself from a huge outlay! I hope its something simple that can be fixed easily and cheaply. Dont let it put you off too much!!

[esselte]

MIRAstig said:

A garage will charge you anything upto £2000 to fix a blown headgasket on the MG.

That must be for a brand new engine,if the head's warped and the liners have gone etc? Surely not this much for a simple HG relacement?

[Cattypatty]

Hi,

I have contacted that guy MiraStig & he has messaged me so i'll see what he can do. Any other advice is welcome

[T66ORA]

Once you have a diagnosis, contact Russell and tell him what is wrong, iirc he lives in the Midlands, so i can`t see him coming down just to diagnose.
The guy is a legend on the .Org site, he checks the head for warp, changes water pump and cam belt as well as the HG, in under 4 hours normally, and is cheaper than most garages, the last time i spoke to him he reckons to have done about 1000 Head gaskets
I See you are on the south coast? they have a very active calender for meets and events,just MGF/TF`s, all younger people to, its worth signing up to the site and seeing what it offers
Good luck

[MIRAstig]

esselte said:

MIRAstig said:

A garage will charge you anything upto £2000 to fix a blown headgasket on the MG.

That must be for a brand new engine,if the head's warped and the liners have gone etc? Surely not this much for a simple HG relacement?

Nope this quote was from a well known franchise garage in My area that used to be MG/Rover. You would think at that price you would be talking about a new lump.

However a mate recently had spectacular cambelt failure in his MK1 MR2 and it cost him £1400 for a recon engine!

[MGJohn]

MIRAstig said:

esselte said:

MIRAstig said:

A garage will charge you anything upto £2000 to fix a blown headgasket on the MG.

That must be for a brand new engine,if the head's warped and the liners have gone etc? Surely not this much for a simple HG relacement?

Nope this quote was from a well known franchise garage in My area that used to be MG/Rover. You would think at that price you would be talking about a new lump.

However a mate recently had spectacular cambelt failure in his MK1 MR2 and it cost him £1400 for a recon engine!

Provided more serious engine damage is not involved, possibly due to severe overheating once the coolant is lost, replacing a cylinder head gasket on any K-Series is a simple job and should not cost anywhere near that amount, even on the MGF/TF where engine access is restricted thus involving more time. 300-400 is a more likely reasonable figure, rather more on the two seater MG because of access.

Cattypatty said:

I am in real trouble! I bought a MG MGF 2 weeks ago & I was on the motorway alone on Sunday & I think it's the head gasket that has gone! The radiator is pretty bad too!!

Any advice or anyone that can help please?

A very distressed Catherine

These things don't just happen. It would be interesting to have more details. Only two weeks would suggest the possibility that the problem was there before the car was purchased and it was simply a matter of time. Not for the first time. Was it a private or trade purchase ?

Any updates Catherine ?

[thatone1967]

a good forum for MG related stuff:

http://forums.mg-rover.org/forumdisplay.php?f=12

[bigbadbikercats]

No promises, no guarantees, and I'm slightly surprised no-ones mentioned it yet, but...

Assuming no other obvious symptoms of HGF (mayonnaise etc) then before panicking check the coolant filler cap. On 'Fs the pressure relief valve is very prone to failure and it fails "open" meaning that the cooling system doesn't pressurise and the coolant boils resulting in exactly these symptoms and a very worried owner[1] who is extremely relieved when it only costs about £3.50 to fix...

If you (or anyone else reading) wants to explore this possibility before calling for professional help then bear in mind that if the car's lost a significant quantity of water the you'll need to A) make sure that you top up with the correct coolant in the correct concentration and B) bleed the system to make sure there's no air trapped in the system.

I can't help wondering how many owners have paid big bills for unnecessary head gasket replacement as busy (or ill informed, lazy, or just plain greedy) workshops jump to conclusions about anything involving K series engines and steam...

[1] Me!

--
Jonathon.

[HereBeMonsters]

If one were to purchase an MG F, would it be a good idea to get the gasket done before it blows, or just wait until it happens?
Also, is it the Freelander gasket that you need?

[thatone1967]

HereBeMonsters said:

If one were to purchase an MG F, would it be a good idea to get the gasket done before it blows, or just wait until it happens?
Also, is it the Freelander gasket that you need?

advice given to me is wait.. although MGF's / TF's are renowned for it, it not buy any means guarunteed... why waste money on some thing you may never need?

[thatone1967]

T66ORA said:

Once you have a diagnosis, contact Russell and tell him what is wrong, iirc he lives in the Midlands, so i can`t see him coming down just to diagnose.

His postcode is TN15.. which IIRC is Tonbridge in Kent

http://www.mgroversolutions.com/

[bikemonster]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It seems that if the car gets beyond approx 20,000 miles/35,000km without a HGF, it is unlikely to experience one.

I believe that there is a full "kit" which includes replacement stretch bolts, uprated gasket, and uprated oil rail.

Other than that, watch oil and water levels and apeparance, and give the oil time to get up to operating temp before caning it.

James