MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGF Technical - Replaced pipes - now HGF

My 1995 MGF had it's coolant pipes replaced on thurs as they had started to corrode. The next day I took her for a drive and she started to overheat - I immediately pulled over, checked the coolant, and found that she had lost lots of water, so I refilled the coolant.
Today, she overheated again, and the AA man has just told me that she now has the dreaded HGF and I can see that there is mayo all over the dipstick and the starter has seized.
My question is - could this be the fault of the garage who replaced my coolant pipes?
She has never overheated in 4 years of ownership and it just seems a bit of a coincidence that this has happened now.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated..from this damsel in distress (absolutely gutted actually!)

Hayley
H Cantle

If the cooling system wasn't bled correctly when it was refilled after the pipe change then this could be a cause of overheating and HGF.Some one with a bit more knowledge will probably post and add a few more details...
Pete C

The previous owner of my f had the underfloor pipes done, and a few weeks later the head gasket went.
I know this from the service history.
I like you wondered if it was due to the coolent pipes being changed. It does seem strange that yours over heated the das after.
When you got the underfloor pipes done did you have a leak and lose any coolent prior to having them replaced??
If yes then maybe some damage had already been done.
If you got them replaced as a preventative measure ie you did not loose any coolent i think you are right to be suspicious.
Incidently when my local garage did the head gasket they did not bleed the system as they said the way they filled it up it did not need doing.
Me being me i bled the system myself ..3 times and got NO air out of the system, i should have trusted them.
It may be a case of you will never know.
Hope you get it sorted soon
Good luck
Mel
m e johnson

ps...
Should have said the previuos owner had been looseing water prior to the underfloor pipes being done as it said "check for coolent leak" on the service history.
Hope this helps.........
m e johnson

Possible the re-fitting of old rubber hoses to the new rigid pipes left a bad seal, or that there is a leak from the pipes (unlikely I'd say), either way it appears that the overheat was due to either coolant loss or an airlock due to insufficient bleeding, and the gasket failure is the result of the overheating. If you can find coolant leaking out from anywhere (worth checking all the bleed points were done up again properly), you may have a chance of a goodwill gesture from the garage. The radiator gets increasingly fragile over time, so the disturbance of the rubber hoses may have opened a fracture.

There are numerous other places that coolant has a proven ability to escape, not all of them easily visible, so as Mel asks - was the pipe replacement due to them having started to leak, or just precautionary?

The 1995 engines with the early gaskets seem less able to cope with cooling problems, but if yours has lasted until this 'sabotage' then a rebuild with the new gasket should give you another 12 years at least...



Mike Hankin

Thanks to everyone for your advice so far -
my coolant pipes had begun to corrode prior to their replacement (advisory on my MOT) - but I had kept the coolant levels topped up, the oil was completely clear and she had never before overheated until after the coolant pipes had been replaced.
When she did overheat and finally lost coolant, I noticed that when I refilled her the coolant was leaking from the rear of the car (almost below the header tank), I don't know if there is a seal or bleed point there?

Thanks again
Hayley
H Cantle

The nearest bleed point would be the one on the engine, which is tricky to get to without removing the engine bay cover. As to where the coolant would finally appear on the ground I couldn't say, but I guess it's a possible suspect. Fluid seems to be able to defy gravity, I swear...

The starter seizing isn't a common symptom of HGF, but it's presumably as a result of steam getting inside it. They can be repaired, but buying a secondhand one would be my advice, and probably cheaper.

Hope the repairs don't dent your summer too much... 8-/
Mike Hankin

This thread was discussed between 08/04/2007 and 11/04/2007

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG MGF Technical BBS now