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MG MGF Technical - YAY! HGF cherry popped..

Well ive got a story for you guys!

It starts 6 months ago when we get the AA extended warranty thing for out N reg 55K mile MGF. We love the car, its great!

Fast forward 2 months, the car makes funny noises and the guage goes to full hot while in traffic, in the first 8 miles of a 110 mile journey. call the AA, he does a pressure check and says the problems are either a faulty guage, dodgey thermostat or dodgey fanswitch. my Partner (it's her car) takes it to MGR in slough. They have the car 2 days and SWEAR there is nowt wrong with it. Alarm bells ringing with both of us.

We both notice a VERY slight oil slick in the header tank, you can barely see it and only in certain light. alarm bells still ringing, but the car still running very sweetly.

Fast forward to Easter. Im polishing the car on a lovely warm day and notice coolant all over the radiator (and the floor)! OMG, take it straight into boxer motors in maidenhead for a new rad, and apart from that they give a full bill of health. On inspection of the rad its totally shot with whole areas corroded. And yes i did turn the heater knob to hot before they touched it!

Fast forward another two weeks, to last week. The car starts making squealing noises from the n/s/r wheel, i correctly diagnose worn pads! :) On the way back to berkshire from leic, car starts overheating and sounding funny again (only happens with the missus in the car!). She pulls over, calls AA. He notices the header tank empty, and says it must be an airlock from when the rad was fitted. He fills it up, follows the car for ten miles and my partner makes it back to berkshire with the car working fine. She Promptly books it into Summit in maidenhead for them to sort the pads.


We take it to Summit and get them to do a service as well as its badly in need. after 2 hours they diagnose the following

- rear pads and disks shot
- exhaust downpipe shot
- under body coolant pipes badly corroded.

they replace these, and take a close look at the head...

...and HGF! apparently its not a true hgf, its an internal leak or something. the water from the header tank apparently drains straight into the sump. But obviously needs replacing. He says its safe to drive and wont blow, but we're not taking any risks.

What was that site where u can record hgf's? Anyway, the bill will come to just a shade under 1000 pounds, but that includes all of todays work and the new head gasket, and hes throwing in a new cambelt for good measure. they seem a very good garage my partner was particularly impressed with them so thanks to all who recommended em! Also, the guys at boxer did not reconnect all of the fan leads for the rad correctly so thats another thing thats annoying us!

any thoughts?

jon
jon

A classic case of HGF following other problems, in your case a leaking radiator, lose of water, overheating and apparently an air lock in the system.
Putting your name down in the hall of fame is not justified. You didn't have a HGF for no apparent cause.
Pete
Pete

Hmmm, not sure if this is how the Hall of Shame is supposed to work, i understood it was just a way to record HGF incedents, as it is the only independant data we have on the subject.

Is it just for HGFs that have no discernable cause? In that case my one shouldn't be on there, radiatir and underbody coolant pipes failed over time causing air locks and ultimately HGF.

>> http://www.shame.4mg.com <<

SF
Scarlet Fever

Jon, sorry to hear of the expensive HGF, but do fill in the details for the hall of shame - if you can include the likely cause, then this adds useful information for others to interpret the numbers in years to come.

For clarification, the shame.4mg.com site is for ALL HGFs. :o)
Rob Bell

Oh well the hgf is fixed, the AA paid for it! We have to reccommend Summit motors in maidenhead. very good, cheap, quick and friendly service.

The guy even fought my partner's corner when the AA tried to weasel out of paying on a technicality. so we're happy again...

thanks summit!
jon

Great :-)

Just in time for the weather to turn bad :-(
Will Munns

JON, out of interest what was the "technicality" that the AA tried to get you on ?? I'm just interested as I too have the AA warranty (no HGF yet though...touch wood).
Cheers,
Carl
Carl L

I'm interested too - I have an AA warranty, and they paid up with no quibles when I had my HGF.

Tim.
Tim Jenner

Bumping this, as I'm still interested in a reply from Jon.
Carl L

This thread was discussed between 13/05/2004 and 25/05/2004

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