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MG MGF Technical - Workmanship rant

Bought S-Reg VVC in November with only 27K miles on the clock. ECU failed in December. Various problems found at 5 year service in February. Head gasket failure in March. Now a misfire/juddering problem has today been indentified as faulty oxygen sensor which might mean replacement of exhaust manifold and CAT. Best part of £2500 worth of bills in 6 months.

Can't say I'm exactly impressed with the workmanship on this famous marque and I can see myself getting rid of it pretty sharpish.

Rant over....
I A Charlton

Oxygen sensor was £136 +VAT +fitting last month. Manifold replacement if dealer breaks it changing the sensor. If they do then they should pay. I don't pay for things that get broken by ham fisted mechanics.

However I can see how your view of the marque could become clouded - I would feel exactly the same.
JohnP

You get my sympathy as well. I do worry that your garage might be seeing you as a new and rich source of revenue.

ECUs can fail but this is a solid state device and has been used in most Rover cars since before the BMW arrived. They are not noted as a weak spot. I expect some garages to use the 5 year service as a means of finding faults to generate revenue. However very suspicious that a month after the 5 year service the HGF goes - isn't the 5 year service when they drain out the coolant out of the car? I assume the 5 year service included the MoT yet a couple of months later the oxygen senson, CAT and exhaust manifold need repalcing.

This all has a very strong smell of rodent about it. Did you buy the car privately or from the servicing garage? Is the servicing garage an official Rover garage?

I am sure it is absolutely no comfort for me the report that in five and a half years of F ownership I have had to pay for new HT leads and plugs, two window stops and repairs to the cabin fan. The rest has been standard services and the call of the dark side (OK the odd rpair under warrnaty in the first year).

I think you may need to use come of your employer's letter head to write to the garage!

Good luck

Patrick
Patrick Beet

Wow, bad news, you say,quote" can't say im'e impressed with workmanship of this famous marque", Patrick may well have a point about smelling a rat, could it also read im'e not impressed by the workmanship of this garage, Dave.
DC Morris

I agree with Patrick, ECU are very reliable,also they can be service exchanged, I had cause to suspect the unit on the wife's 214 Rover, the cost £122, repaired by Rover, However, turned out to be the immobiliser needed re-syncing with the fob.
Mike
M J Gibbens

Sounds very 'Ratty' to me as well even assuming the list of requirements were actual the price should be much nearer £1500.00 still bloody expensive but £2500.00 sounds a bit 'like lets try em on'!

Ted
Ted Newman

MEMS ECU's DO give trouble

Oxygen sensors fail with alarming regularity - often, when unscrewing them the threads come out of the manifold - NOT anything that can be assumed to be the result of a 'Ham Fisted' Technician. Yes, a new manifold or a repair by a machine shop is required.

HGF following a service which entailed a coolant replacement?

I'm saying no more......

VVC Misfires? HT Leads, definately. Commmon as hell.
MG Technician

Thanks for all your thoughts! Not sure if I suspect the current garage as seeing me as a new source of gullible income - the work has been done by different outfits each time. Palmsville, Hereford etc.

Current problem with oxygen sensor ties in with emission failure on MOT so not sure if missfire is due to the HT leads but then I'm just a lawyer not a mechanic!!
I A Charlton

My O2 sensor replacement was also due to MOT emission failure.

MG Technician; your probably right about manifold threads but a customer would always try for the 'ham fisted' technician and look for a reduction in a rapidly increasing bill :-)
JohnP

I have to sympathise with the MG Technician. Working on the exhaust system is a 'hiding to nothing'. Removing the oxygen sensor on an old system usually means destroying the threads that the sensor screws into. So replace the exhaust manifold. This may mean destroying the remaining exhaust system components trying to get then apart. I'm dreading the bill when my system packs up (nearly 7 years now, keep 'em crossed). I can see myself purchasing a new silencer, cat and flexipipe all in one go and then doing the work myself!

Bruce
Bruce Caldwell

PS

Of course similar problems exist on most cars not just MGFs.

Having said that I found that the build quality on my car was well below average. Body parts did not line up correctly and this was unnoticeable to the untrained eye. My son laughed when he first saw the car (96). He has a bodywork shop. He pointed to many places around the car where the panels were out of alignment by as much as half an inch! Now that I am trained what to look for I can only say that the build quality has got better.

Bruce
Bruce Caldwell

This thread was discussed between 28/04/2003 and 30/04/2003

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