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MG MGF Technical - would you get the cam belt done??

hi all,
my 2002/52 plate is in for a service on tues,
it says in the book ,service every 12,000 miles or every yr whichever is sooner.

so mine will have done about 27,500 miles, so just over the 24,000 mile service(although it has full service history.the last stamp was in 2005-hence why im getting it done)

now would you guys recommend getting the cam belt done aswell???
as it says in the book change at 60,000 miles or 5yrs ,whichever comes first!!!

my car is 5 yrs old on weds.

cheers in advance
pat.
pat

yes.

Rubber deteriorates as it gets older and the consequences of it failing are devestating
Will Munns

another vote, yes.
Dieter

Yes Yes Yes. I had mine replaced at 5 years old and the car had only travelled 17000km (10200 miles). The belt was fine BUT I have seenn the results of to many belt failure on low KM cars. Peace of mind far outways the cost.
Andrew W Regens

ok guys,
so its a big yes then!!!
my next question then(still being new to mg ownership)
just get the belt done??
or get a full cam belt kit ??
and does everybody get things like the water pump changed at the same time?? for piece of mind as its down that neck of the woods??

anybody have rough prices as to what i shoud pay for all this work??
as the service is costing me the best part of £160+
and i did talk to the garage briefly about the cam belt ,and his prices (i think)

£200 for the belt to be done,another £100 if i want the kit,and another £100 for the water pump aswell.

so all in all with the service,and if i had everything done, close to £600 .......is that good???
anyone recommend anyone near hampshire (uk)for cam belt work if these prices are out?
cheers again
pat.
pat

I would get the whole lot done, the initial 200 looks good, but the extra cost of tensoner and pump sound expensive, I think that both of these parts are about 20GBP, and fitting for the tensioner is a case of fully removing two bolts that you have to losten for the cam belt change. The water pump is a case of pulling three screws, but it does also require draining and _correctly_ refilling the coolant.
Will Munns

Yes again, replace tensioner and water pump. When replacing coolant make sure the operative knows the system must be bled and where the points are, because I beleive that most HGF's seem to be after coolant replacement.
Andrew W Regens

well folks,
just got of the phone to the garage, and they said they will do the cam belt and tensioners + water pump for £300 all in ,then my service costs on top of that.
good price???

ive said yes anyway and hopefully i wont have to worry about it then, for another 5 yrs.
he did say there are various belts /tensioners fitted to these cars so wont know which one ive got till they get it?but not to worry they can get/got them in stock.

do this sound right??
im not doubting them,but i like to double check.
cheers again
pat.
pat

yup, good price - I guess your original quote was each seperatly.

And they are right, IIRC there are two different widths, an auto or manual tensioner and two different lengths.

Normally they would find out which bits you need from the VIN number, but as they say, they are all on-the-shelf parts and a garage will often order parts in the morning, do prep work, get delivery of parts then fit and it doesn't make sense for them to pre-order and have parts left on the shelf when people cancel on them.
Will Munns

oh well ,just dropped of the mg at the garage.........now im going to be on edge all day. lol

just hope they do it all ,WITH NO problems,
and whoever does it knows what he is doing(refilling/bleeding the coolant)

they had some expensive looking stuff comeing out of the garage when i got there, jags ,range rovers, race cars,and quite a few mr2's(thats what there good at)

so fingers crossed the mg fits in !!!(still the best looking car in the car park,...(i thought anyway. he he)
pat

If you have any concerns about them cutting corners, check they have remembered to do the little niggles as well. I have known main dealers forget to change the battery in the blipper and grease the suspension arms.

Chris
Chris

oh well, so far so good,just got the car back from the garage....£470 all in.-so not bad i suppose??

that was for the cam belt and tensioners,water pump (although the garage said the old ones were fine!!-piece of mind for me i suppose though)
a service, and fitting of reversing sensors...........
i know the mg should be ,and is easy to reverse park, but i had them on my last car and missed them already.and ive got lazy. he he.
get xmas out of the way ,and start getting some nice tune up bits next yr.

pat.
pat

Reversing sensors were available as an optional extra for the F, but previous threads on here suggested they were unreliable and withdrawn. But that refers to the MG version and about 10 years ago, so you might find a modern after market version works.

Chris
Chris

hi mate i would always change a timn belt,especially for the sake of £25,i think you wasted money on water pump as ive owned rover cars for 9 years and never had to do this.if this had been a garage of knowledge then thay would have mentioned head gasket problems.this is a mayor k-seris problem.ive just had a new two piece landrover uprated head gasket put on my r reg vvc,but im one of the lucky ones as me brother is now a colledge teacher,but used to be senior landrover/rover mechanic.so i just have to buy parts,at discount as well.if you have any more problems let me know and i will find out for you.p.s i aint after buisiness not like alot of people that reply to peoples problems.if you are have problems with your mgf do please contact like minded people as this will save you a lot of money.
ianarmstrong

does anyone have sugestions as to how to stop the instrument cowl flapping about.
FRASER

Hi anybody,just took ownership of a 96 MGF vvc and got some way into sorting the common problem with the wiring to the boot lid snagging and short circuiting.
The problem is with the interior ligthing, the 15amp fuse blows after locking the car with the eletronic device, any clues would be helpful.

Ps even with a few problems these are great little cars,driving it puts a smile on my face every time.

Regards

Alan Slade
aslade

sounds like you already know the answer to this one!

most common place on the boot hinge, wiring rubs thru insulation, add tape and jobs a good-un.
Will Munns

Ian, You have been lucky my F is on it's third Water pump the second travelled less than 25000km. I had a B&G low level water kit fitted and this warned me way before any damage could be done.
Andrew W Regens

This thread was discussed between 04/11/2007 and 30/11/2007

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