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MG MGF Technical - Another one bites the dust!!!

While driving to work this morning, I saw the terrible sign of "steam" from the rear engine vents, luckily it was only half a mile further to work.

I have just spent about three hours reading the archives on this subject, but can someone answer me the following points:

Driving the car this short distance, will it have caused damge to the engine, ie new head or worse?

There was about 50% loss of coolent and "milky" traces on the dipstip, the cap is now so tight that I cannot unscrew to check beneath it.

There have been minute traces on the dipstick recently only at the bottom when the engine was stone cold, I only travel five miles to work, is this normal for short distances, or was it the start of HGF?

I have booked the car in for the work, been quoted £500, which seems the average price off the archives, is there any upgraded gasket that I should go for?

Many thanks on this much too frequent topic.

Regards.

Andy

P reg 96 VVC, 50 000 miles first HGF!
Andy Beard

Hi,

sorry about the problems with the head gasket.
Initial cause may be anything else like blocked front cooler, gone fuse for the front fan or the damn coolant temperature sensor. The cam belt can also be the reason for overheating due to faulty ignition timing.

The mentioned 5 miles per day will IMO not be a main cause for engine wear which leads to problems. I do only 2 miles on 5 days per week and then a 180 miles ride every week since more then one year now.

No problems since 50k km (31k miles) Knocking on wood !!

Hope you get it done for 500 quid. I think it sounds OK.
Though, I would check and inquire in advance which parts they want to change.
On a 50k miles engine should be done as well the waterpump and some more bits that could wear out soon.
VVC owner comments may be of more help.

Regards
Dieter
Dieter K.

Andy,

I'll try to cover the points in turn, though hopefully other people will share their experiences:

Driving the car after HGF can cause serious damage, however the car really needs looked at to see if this is the case. However, people have required new heads after stopping immediately, though that would probably be no concillation.

Dipstick could have just been condensation. And this can happen when making short journeys. I would imagine it would happen more in winter though.

Mike S does an uprated gasket, however the main item to ensure you get is the newer uprated dowels for the engine (metal rather than the old plastic ones).

Good luck, hope the damage is minor,

Leigh
L Reid

Andy,

Get a 2nd opinion. There have been several instances where MGF owners have been wrongly advised about a suspected HGF. Although from what you describe it does appear likely, it's NOT a certainty. Even so, a 2nd opinion should always be obtained. Only recently on this thread, a 2nd opinion following an incorrect initial diagnosis saved someone the expense of an unnecessary head gasket replacement.

As a matter of interest, has any work or service been undertaken on your car recently, particularly involving coolant levels?

Good Luck

JMcF.
John McFeely

Deiter, Leigh, John

Thank you all for your comments. Brown and Gammons have collected it today, I will let you know how I get on.

(B&G only fit metal dowels and they have regulary serviced my car for the last 2 1/2 years, I will check up about the water pump)

Regards.

Andy
Andy Beard

Not wishing to make you feel any worse but something that is often missed is that the problem may show only some miles AFTER the problem has reached a critical point.

Rog
Roger Parker

This thread was discussed between 21/08/2002 and 22/08/2002

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