mgf head gasket
Discussion
hi everyone im new to this site but been reading all the mail its real cool and helpful ,just bought a mgf ,3 weeks ago had new cat ,and head gasket just gone to cant believe my luck, trouble is i love it its the nuts when its running well,just had a quote of my mate who is a mechanic said he will do it for 50 quid plus ive got to buy the parts about 300 quid in total ,well chuffed with that
Welcome to the fold 
HGF is a pain, but if you sort it with a proper gasket set and upgrade the head bolts too, then you should be sorted. Remember, to replace the water pump too. I would also do the cambelt and tensioner at the same time, as your mate will be stripping it all down, so this is a must.
Check the flow pipes to the Radiator and the 3-way heater hoses for any corrision, chafeing, blockages etc.
When I had my HG done, I didn't think to check the 3-way hose - it had badly chafed and all the water fell out!! Fortunately, this happened on idle - would have been a big F****** disaster down a motorway run.
HGF is a pain, but if you sort it with a proper gasket set and upgrade the head bolts too, then you should be sorted. Remember, to replace the water pump too. I would also do the cambelt and tensioner at the same time, as your mate will be stripping it all down, so this is a must.
Check the flow pipes to the Radiator and the 3-way heater hoses for any corrision, chafeing, blockages etc.
When I had my HG done, I didn't think to check the 3-way hose - it had badly chafed and all the water fell out!! Fortunately, this happened on idle - would have been a big F****** disaster down a motorway run.
Chances are it was already damaged when you bought the car.
Cylinder Head Gasket failure can happen to any car. There's numerous reasons why but, loss of coolant is a prime cause and the little K-Series is one of those engines which needs close monitoring for the first signs of coolant loss.
Few weeks ago, my wife pulled up in our MGZS ( 1.8 K-series ) outside our house and I noticed the fan running on after she switched off the engine. That can happen when the AirCon is switched on and I remarked to that effect. She said she did not have it switched on! Uh ha.... and it was still running strongly some thirty seconds after switching off. It gets worse. I lifted the bonnet and was horrified to see a completely empty coolant expansion tank! Squeezing the rad top Hose ... completely empty! Glancing down under the car, I noticed a ever larger pool of engine coolant under the timing belt side of the engine... with a miniture waterfall of coloured coolant dripping steadily from the timing belt cover! It then occurred to me that the Water Pump had suddenly expired, allowing all the hot coolant to escape and drop to the floor. Hoped that was all it was and that it had been caught in time. took a chance and bought a Pump off ebay before I could identify the cause of the coolant loss. We bought the car new in 2003 and it has been 100% reliable ~ just needing tyres, brake pads and a new rear silencer during those seven years.
I was right about the water pump and the ordered one from an ebay supplier ( £25 incl. p/p ) arrived next day ~ excellent.
I wrote up a thread about fitting this pump ( and the three drive and timing belts I had bought a few weeks before ~ manufacturer recommended to change them anyway after six years ) ~ glad I delayed fitting those new belts as they all have to come off anyway to fit the pump... win some ...
Here's the thread with illustrations of the process.
http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=358870
The car has done another 1,000 miles since fitting the new Water Pump and it looks as though luckily we caught the problem of coolant loss before any damage to the over heating engine was done. Had my wife not come home at that time but went for a long motorway run, no doubt all the coolant would have been lost unnoticed and the engine damaged from that coolant loss.
EDIT to Add @ 23:42 :~
If a damaged K-Series cylinder head gasket is diagnosed in time ~ that is before any overheating has damaged other parts of the engine ~ the good news is that replacing it on the 4-cylinder K-series is one of the easiest 16v DOHC engines to work on. I have fitted two cylinder head gaskets to friends' cars ~ both of which were caught in time before more serious damage has been done. The job is a bit more involved with the MGF/TF because of the mid-engine location which reduces access compared to those cars with it located up front under the bonnet ...
Cylinder Head Gasket failure can happen to any car. There's numerous reasons why but, loss of coolant is a prime cause and the little K-Series is one of those engines which needs close monitoring for the first signs of coolant loss.
Few weeks ago, my wife pulled up in our MGZS ( 1.8 K-series ) outside our house and I noticed the fan running on after she switched off the engine. That can happen when the AirCon is switched on and I remarked to that effect. She said she did not have it switched on! Uh ha.... and it was still running strongly some thirty seconds after switching off. It gets worse. I lifted the bonnet and was horrified to see a completely empty coolant expansion tank! Squeezing the rad top Hose ... completely empty! Glancing down under the car, I noticed a ever larger pool of engine coolant under the timing belt side of the engine... with a miniture waterfall of coloured coolant dripping steadily from the timing belt cover! It then occurred to me that the Water Pump had suddenly expired, allowing all the hot coolant to escape and drop to the floor. Hoped that was all it was and that it had been caught in time. took a chance and bought a Pump off ebay before I could identify the cause of the coolant loss. We bought the car new in 2003 and it has been 100% reliable ~ just needing tyres, brake pads and a new rear silencer during those seven years.
I was right about the water pump and the ordered one from an ebay supplier ( £25 incl. p/p ) arrived next day ~ excellent.
I wrote up a thread about fitting this pump ( and the three drive and timing belts I had bought a few weeks before ~ manufacturer recommended to change them anyway after six years ) ~ glad I delayed fitting those new belts as they all have to come off anyway to fit the pump... win some ...
Here's the thread with illustrations of the process.
http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=358870
The car has done another 1,000 miles since fitting the new Water Pump and it looks as though luckily we caught the problem of coolant loss before any damage to the over heating engine was done. Had my wife not come home at that time but went for a long motorway run, no doubt all the coolant would have been lost unnoticed and the engine damaged from that coolant loss.
EDIT to Add @ 23:42 :~
If a damaged K-Series cylinder head gasket is diagnosed in time ~ that is before any overheating has damaged other parts of the engine ~ the good news is that replacing it on the 4-cylinder K-series is one of the easiest 16v DOHC engines to work on. I have fitted two cylinder head gaskets to friends' cars ~ both of which were caught in time before more serious damage has been done. The job is a bit more involved with the MGF/TF because of the mid-engine location which reduces access compared to those cars with it located up front under the bonnet ...
Edited by MGJohn on Wednesday 26th May 23:42
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