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MG MGF Technical - A cloud of steam.....

1.5 litres of water added, a puddle on the floor, and my good lady was driving it!

The good news is that my local dealer will look at it tomorrow.

Mike H
Mike Hall

The garage have just rung to confirm the dreaded HGF. The bad news is that the mechanic (yes, mechanic *not* technician) who they entrust all the F work to, is away on a course tomorrow, Friday and Monday. Although he has started on the strip-down, he wont be able to resume until next Tuesday :-(

The good news is that the Service Manager sees no reason why MGR shouldn't cover this under the extended warranty bought with the car last May :o)

Mike H

.....and before anyone suggests it, I am just off to log it on the HOS.
Mike Hall

I still can't read the thread title without getting 'jason and his multicoloured dream coat(???)' in my mind....

A cloud of steam
A flash of light
the coolant squirts out of the side
nee-dle climb-ing in-to the red,
worse was yet to come....
Will Munns

Good news then Mike :o)

Will, you've been doing too much panto... ;o)
Rob Bell

Just been down to the dealer's to look at the stripped down engine/head. The bad news(?) is that head has got to go away to be skimmed because of 'grooving'. Having seen this, it looks like the liners have 'indented' the head. This is worse on cylinders 2 and 3 , and only seems to be apparent on the exhaust manifold side. Can anyone explain this? Also, from the machining marks on the head, it 'looks' as if the head may have been skimmed before. Does anyone have any thoughts on a second skim? I seem to recall hearing/reading that 0.080 in was max skim allowed?

Incidentally, the HGF was between a water way and the outside world by no 2 cylinder. Fortunately there was no water ingress into the oil at the time of failure, but the engine bolt adjacent doesn't meet length spec (according to the dealer). This is too long and will need to be replaced or have 2mm ground off. If this stud was bottoming out, could this have contributed to the failure?

Sorry for the long post- just interested in the why's and wherefore's from anyone who might have the relevant experience.

Thanks, Mike H

PS The dealer will replace the plastic dowels with metal. Is this standard practice these days?
Mike Hall

>This is too long and will need to be replaced or have
>2mm ground off. If this stud was bottoming out, could
>this have contributed to the failure?

EEKK did the dealer tell you that???

The bolts streeeach during tightening (they're ment to), and this streach may occur on the thread, if so then the thread will not mesh properly with the oil rail, then the bolt needs replacing, grinding off the bottom will _NOT_ work.

In order for the bolt to bottom out then it would have to go an awful lot further into the sump, as the holes are not blind, and there would have to be about 20cm of thread sticking out the other side!

>The dealer will replace the plastic dowels with metal.
>Is this standard practice these days?

Part of the gasket replacement

Will Munns

>Will, you've been doing too much panto... ;o)

To be honest, I'm a little dissappointed that noone has done the next verse!
Will Munns

Will, regarding the engine bolts, these were tightened into the block by hand and a go/no-go gauge used to check the distance between the block and the bolt shoulder. (I was told that this is a standard test). The bolt in question could accomodate the gauge with (I guess) 1-2mm clearance. The others would not accept it.

Mike H
Mike Hall

>I was told that this is a standard test

It is a standard test, but the solution is no to grind off the end of the bolt, anyone telling you so clearly has not seen the bottom of the engine.

>The others would not accept it.
And rightly so, a new bolt is only £6
Will Munns

This thread was discussed between 27/01/2004 and 04/02/2004

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