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MG MGF Technical - Replacing underfloor coolant pipes

I'm about to replace the underfloor coolant pipes on my 1996 MGF with a pair of MS pipes. The current ones are showing signs of external rusting at the rear, so it's preventative more than anything else.

I'm curious about the access. I have a set of ramps and a pair of axle stands, but would prefer to use one or the other, but not both at the same time.

Has anybody had experience of changing these pipes with only raising the car at one end? i.e. can you get better access by from the front or rear?

Tony
Tony Thompson

Good luck Tony,

Just got garage to replace mine...

£141 pounds labour, apparently it took them 3 hours to remove the old ones!!!!

paul weatherill

3 hours to remove the old ones! Yeah right they must have been using Tony's axle stands;-)
Can smell BS again.
Mike.
mike

I did question the 3 hours, but the service delivery manager just gave a blank expression, and said they were seized.

What come back does a customer have?

besides not to go back there again?

paul weatherill

Your biggest issue will be in correctly bleeding the system after you've drained it.

There's a page on Rob's site (from what I remember) on how to do it properly.

IF you get it wrong, and end up with a hotspot, that can get serious!

If you follow the instruction in the WS Manual, then something they don't say (!) is to run the engine until the pipes to the radiator are hot - you don't just want the thermostat to be open, you want it to be fully open to flush the air through.

Neil.

Neil

I think Pauls bill of £141.00 is equal to £40.00 per hour plus VAT - so that is three hours work in total, presumably including the cost of refilling and bleeding the sysytem as well as the replacing of the pipes, which in this day and age is a very fair price.

But of course much cheaper to do DIY:-)

Ted
Ted Newman

Nope,

The £141 was purely for replacing pipes.

The radiator was replaced under warranty, and cost of coolant and labour was also included under warranty.

I was responsible for the costs of the coolant pipes, and the time spent fitting them.
(Actually states on invoice, £141 labour, removing seized pipes.)

I didn't kick up much of a fuss, as the garage managed to convince the warranty company that there was a fault on the radiator (even though it was 6 years old).

Also got track rod ends replaced, and (tracking reset, hmm) all under warranty.

So work done:

Radiator replaced. (Warranty)
Track rod ends replaced. (Warranty)
Tracking reset. (Warranty)
Coolant system drained and refilled. (Warranty)
Coolant pipes replaced. (Optional, but advised)

Ended up costing me £120 parts from Mike, and the £141 labour.

So for £260 can't complain, but being charge £141 labour, is still a bit harsh i think.



paul weatherill

>So for £260 can't complain<

Absolutely - especially for a six year old system!

>but being charge £141 labour, is still a bit harsh i think.<

I still think it is a very good hourly rate in this day and age - wish I could get those rates in London:-)

Ted



Ted Newman

>wish I could get those rates in London
Why - whats your hourly rate* (someone told me I was 1k a day eek!)

Will
* I mean that in a compleatly non sexual way
Will Munns

Don't want to be too picky here, but can anyone answer my original question? I've read all the info on changing the 'bleeding' pipes and the bleeding and the second bleeding, etc. (meant in good humour, by the way), but just foresee a problem of access once I jack up one end of the car.

i.e.

<Has anybody had experience of changing these pipes with only raising the car at one end? i.e. can you get better access by from the front or rear? >

Tony

Tony

heh, sorry for the hijack Tony ;-)

here's a free bump!!

I personally wouldn't like to try it with just axel stands, i'd imagine there's going to be a lot of blood, sweat and tears getting them changed.

a lot easier if the car is properly raised.

Apparently some places you can hire the lifts by the hour, at reasonable rates.

paul weatherill

How about raising with both axle stands on one side ?
It's anyway whether you raise rear or back cause the works locations at the opposite side are bad to reach.

Coolant off, (both rear hoses). Catch coolant in a low plastic box.

Else works to be done (IMO)
- unbolt large center sheet metal plate (lots of screws)
- get off the front hoses 'in any way' (might be difficult due to the cars age)
- unbolt pipes, take care on the plastic clamps for the other lines down there.

Mount back reverse and use best quality SS hose clamps. And than the mad bleed procedure.

Dieter
PS. I'd go with Pauls opinion.
Dieter K.

Paul,

Thanks for you comments. Need to explore possibility of hiring a lift locally, though I don't know of any at present.


Dieter,

I must admit I had not thought of lifting and using axle stands on just one side. Might be worth a quick lift just to see how good the access is. Your comment about undoing the front hoses makes it sound as though these are particualy difficult. I'll take a closer look when I raise the car.


If you get the impression that I like doing things myself rather than putting it in a garage, then you are right. Apart from the satisfaction of doing work myself, I would rather remain 'in control' of something that could cause a lot of problems if it goes wrong. Bleeding thing !!!!! LOL

Tony
Tony Thompson

>>> I have a set of ramps and a pair of axle stands, but would prefer to use one or the other, but not both at the same time.
=== a bit mystified by this - as the car is safer 'on the level, but up in the air' rather than one end up and t'other down, with an angle twixt stands and subframe, surely ? Certainly I often use 2 pairs of stands to enable complete underside access on other cars....
David

This thread was discussed between 24/03/2003 and 25/03/2003

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