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MG MGF Technical - Bye, Bye my unmissed MGF!

Hi all!
I´m just posting here the news that i traded my troublesome F for a reliable and dependable Z3 1.9.
I couldn´t have made a wiser decision as i came to the conclusion that the F is nothing but pure crap!
I wisely advise you to trade your F´s for another roadster a.s.a.p.
I can assure you of one certainty....the Z3 is a hole new level...an upper level by all means, that is :
- Reliability
- Status and Prestige ( at least the gals say so!)
- Riding Confort
- Handling (M Technics Suspension Kit)
- Higher trading Value = no crap !


PS. - At last but not least i would like to thank to Roger Parker, Rob Bell, Dirk Vael and Dieter for all their usefull advice and help, hope you can join me on the Z3 community soon!

Farewell

Bruno Valadas, Lisbon, Portugal
Bruno Valadas

- Status and Prestige ( at least the gals say so!)

Girls don't know crap do they. Other than 3 letters. B M W.

I wouldn't mind a Z3 M Roadster, but anything slower, nope.

But good luck with your new Car!

:)
Hanah Kim

>I´m just posting here the news that i traded my troublesome F for a reliable and dependable Z3 1.9.

Yeah, but it's still a Z3!!! ;-)
Chris George

Sorry to see you go Bruno, but do enjoy the new car!

The choice of a 1.9 is surprising- I thought you were a speed freak! I guess that the Z3 won't be remaining entirely standard for long eh?

All the best

Rob
Rob Bell

All,

Is it just me or did Bruno play around with his "F" ? From looking at all the posting over the last year it seems that anyone that played around with their "F" paid a price (i.e. Icon chips, better exhaust's.. etc all caused other issues... the law of cause and effect) If you park the "F" in rain, damp conditions or in the snow expect it to have problems starting up. If you hit pot holes, speed bumps and so on expect the tracking / suspension to break or change for the worse.

I would like quote my father here (a motor mechanic for 30 or so years)
"Matt your problem is that you drive your "F" like a racing car, it's not. If you drive it that hard, it will have these types of problems"
How many people here can truly say they don't floor it when it is safe to do so... it's great fun I'll emit that, How many speed bumps do we hit at more then the posted speed rate, How many times do you rev past 3000 when the engine is cold in the morning.

Guys it's not a racing car, it's not a high end sport car, its just a above average car that can go topless.

Can I also to point out that from Bruno past posting's it sounded like his dealer knew crap around the "F" and how it set it up / fix any problems that did happen

Enough from me.. I'm having a drink (it's 9:42PM Sydney Time)

Matt
Matthew Minion

Matt

I have been saying these things for the last four years but I am told I am an idiot and that modern cars should be capable of anything we throw at them or even worse anything the likes of Bruno and Dirk throw at them.

Give your Dad my regards I am an ex-mechanic of 45 years standing.

Ted
Ted Newman

Sensible points Matt.

These were points that were bound be to made, frankly.

Experiences are varibale. My car is nearly 5 years old, has done more than 50k miles, is Sprinted and Hillclimbed regularly (ie used like a race car!!! I have used up an entire set of brake pads and significantly worn the rear tyres within 12k miles, so you get the picture), has an aftermarket exhaust and air filter. Mechanical problems? Zip. Nil. Nought. Zero.

I am sceptical about the claims of certain after market product manufacturers. I haven't fitted an ICON chip for example.

The point, I think, is to exercise common sense. The MGF has the potential to be a great car, but some have undeniable, real problems. The reasons for these disappointments are probably multifactorial, and too many to list here. But the cautious use of an engine until it is warm is very sensible, and the addition of a couple of bolt on goodies that release no more than 20 bhp are not going to cause problems in themselves.

Hmm, this has the potential to turn into quite a debate! An interesting one though...

Rob
Rob Bell

I have had my F Abby for about 6 months now, and I love it. However, I quickly realised that it is very much a compromise between a sports car and a road car (for want of a better term). The ride is definately compromised to make it more comfortable for which I am grateful, but it performs more than adequately when asked.

I totally agree with Matt's dad, most of the parts on the F are standard to other Rovers (hence not particularly hardy 'sports' components!) so if continually driven hard, they will break. As Rob says, it is purely an exercise in self control. It is very hard not to blast it first thing in the morning when the engine is cold cause the temptation is very great, but we all know that taking it easy is the right thing to do.

Take F1 cars for example. They have the best quality components money can (and sometimes can't) buy, but they are driven hard, and they still break!

So I suppose the moral is if you look after your F it will look after you.

Chris
R585 ERO
Chris George

And do not forget that F1 cars are completely stripped and rebuilt every 'few' miles, ie after every ten trips to the supermarket.

Ted
Ted Newman

Sounds like that is what happens to a couple of the 'F's on this board, usually not by choice!!!

Chris George

Bruno, You boy racer, you.
Dirk, you nutter, you.

Chris, maybe a look at the suspension setting will change your impressoin of the handling, my car goes round corners like a sports car, no problem.

Ted, your an idiot :-)

Matthew, I would say that some modifications have been applied over the years to actually improve the reliability of my F and those of others. Many of us have also improved the handling and solved many problems that came with the car from new.

For example,

The use of good quality a performance air filter can improve the performance and reliability of an engine. My engine runs cooler and I have had no engine problems since I fitted it and the SP exhaust almost two years ago. I had a head gasket failure before I had fitted any mods.

Also the exhaust allows me to hear the engine, when it is cold and so acts as a reminder not to push it too hard until the engine warms up.

My car with the Rover specified settings for the front suspension wore out front tyres double quick and gave me car on ice steering effects. Since I changed the settings my tyres last and the car feels rock solid.

I did not change the settings without first making sure the suspension could handle it by fitting compliance washers and much better specification powerflex bushed all round, thus improving reliability and safety.

All of the work apart from fitting an air filter and an exhaust was done by professional mechanics, but most people can do this simple work of bolting things on.

Many of us who have had problems drive our cars in a reasonable manner. We look after the car when it's cold, reving any car hard from cold will give a higher possibility of problems.

I agree reving up to the red line all the time is not good for the engine, but up to 5,000 - 6,000 is quite within the operating perameters. I will quite often get to this level while accelerating onto a motorway for instance.

Rob does sprints in his 1996 MGF regularly and has not had any of these problems.

Also it is a fact that some Rover mechanics know less than the owners about how the car works.

No the F is not a racing car or a Ferrari but both have more power than you could use on a road and the racing car will do 18,000 revs before it hits the red line. 5-6,000
while accelerating is acceptable and is within design perameters.

Where I live I am surrounded by speed bumps, I can't go over them faster than the correct speed without grinding my car on them so I normally go slower than is required.

It is a sports car and not a family saloon, it's no ferrari, but it's no Metro either.

Rover make a big thing about the maximum power at 5,500 revs is a sugestion how you should drive it, because it's a sports car.

To make a blanket statement that the only people who have problems most of the time are those who have modified their car or drive like Sterling Moss is a little uninformed.

Most of us look after our cars and only modify where things will be improved. Many Available replacement parts are of a much higher quality than those used by Rover.

If you hit a pot hole by accident, which is usually the case, in a normal car you would expect the suspension to stand up to it, why should you expect anything else with an MGF.

The reason it is a problem with the F is that the only suspension adjustments are the toe angle and the ride height, the ride height is only a factor because of the design of the suspension.

My suspension was well off specification on things that could not be adjusted, and this had been the case from new. I have gone over one speed bump too fast and that was to avoid another motorist coming out of a turning, but that was two years after I found out about the suspension being out.

This little misshap made absolutely no difference to my suspension settings. The thing that made the biggest difference was getting the bushes fitted, this meant that they had to drop the front subfame and put it back again which seems to have brought the setting into spec.

Naturally the fact that the bushes hold the suspension much stiffer, it is much easier to actually measure the suspension geometry correctly in the first place

The dealer never told me what the results were from the alignment checks and adjustments so I never knew they were out of spec until I started looking into it by myself.

Everything is now within parameters.

Please look out for my next novel on this very BBS :-)
Tony Smith

Wow Tony!
What have you been on (need I ask)!
;)
Dot

All,

Sometimes I hate checking out the bbs (I check it most weekday mornings Sydney time) It makes me look (and hear) problems that aren't really there. (and some of you pomps are sad gits... ok I'll stop pomp bashing now)

I've weared out 8.. (that's right 8) "Good Year Eagle F1" tyres in 12 months, ( 1 nail, 1 glass, 2 pot hole, 4 due failed Hydragas suspension sphere) and I now need to start looking at replacing the set again due to wear (20000km)2 broken Hydragas suspension spheres, a clutch and 2 handbrake issues.

BUT looking back at it... I "could" or "did" cause the above issues... the F1's are $365 AUS a pop.

Anyway I need to start doing some work.

Matt
PS My "F"'s in Australia website is near competion it has kick ass tech area that's taken me alot days to create. I'll kept everyone posted
Matthew Minion

sounds as he was awake only and nowhere 'on'. :)
Or was it already a pre-written novel ?

Agree with Tony in several terms. Sadly remembering my stupid accident with nearly the same great technical setup.

Bruno,
my best wishes for you. Even if the 'clownshoe' will never get my choice.

:)
Cheers
Dieter
Dieter Koennecke

Well, Im still asking to myself, everytime Im back here @ bbs, why somebody whos buying a bmw (or an audi or a...) has this need and this urge to write to an Mg message board. Enjoy your nu cars, Sirs, bye bye.
Worldwideweb is full of bmw clubs.

Just to update the truly Mg faithfulls, my '97 Mgf, after 40.000kms, is still perfect, Im only checking the levels every 5000kms,and never added anything but fuel.

Whats my secret? Dunno, Im no Stirling Moss, but Ive an heavy right foot when Im out in the country during the weekends, as much as Im sweet in my city driving in the working days.

This is my 5th car in 20 years, one Austin Innocenti J4
(a tank!), one Metro and two Peugeots, and, believe me or not, Ive had more driving and mechanical problems and costs with those so "reliable" cars than my actual, so "difficult", so "expensive" and so "dangerous" Mg.
Yours, still enthusiast. The cap.

Flavio Candiani

The company I work for makes stuff for the auto industry. My boss (who has just replaced his Series 5 with a Merc after suffering 3 years of paintwork problems, electrical faults, engine problems, ...) has a lot of contact with folks in most of the major OEMs, and whilst discussing with him the various merits of my wife's F against Z3's, he tells me that someone from inside BMW told him (allegedly) that Z3's are the worst car in every respect ever made by BMW ...

I'm just about to replace my trusty company Vectra (2.5 V6, 81K miles, six replacement clutches, two flywheels, four sets of tyres, two cambelts, clutch still sticks in reverse ...). Was offered a Series 3 and turned it down. Getting an Alfa 156 2.0 TS Veloce instead (sportivo cuore and all that stuff), metallic red and black leather to match the missus's F.
David Dewick

David,

> replace my trusty company Vectra (2.5 V6, 81K miles, six replacement clutches, two flywheels, four sets of tyres, two cambelts, clutch still sticks in reverse ...).

Call that trusty? I have a 2.0DL estate that has covered 52K miles in just under 3 years original clutch, 1 set of tyres, no cambelts (have chains!)

OK so yours is a rubber burning speed machine v's my paraffin slugger. I even tow a caravan with mine and with the extra torque still haven't burnt out the clutch!!

ER

Ewan Ramage

Hi Ewan..

That was something called 'sarcasm'

:)
Hanah Kim

I have a customer who took delivery of his BMW 3 series convertable 2 months ago today.
Problems to date:
1,passenger window sticks.
2,stitching coming undone on leather seats.
3,Drivers seat rattles.
4,check engine light stays on after after reseting.
5,drivers door handle sticks.
6,central locking jamming.
7,soft top not closing shut correctly.

The car has been back to our BMW dealership in Darmstadt on no less than 12 occasions to have these problems sorted,and there are still problems.
Believe me this is not a "one-off" I have worked with BMW now for 5 years and the new 3 series has lately given us real headaches.

My own car 1997 1.8i mpi which I purchased from new,49,000 kms regularly thrased around the Nurenburgring.... problems to date nil.
Easily the most reliable car I have ever owned.

Regards Stuart
Stuart Whiteway

Congratulations Bruno in taking a wise decision :-)

My week passed by as usually with NEW F#?*ING problems in my F, one almost fatal.

New problem 1: something must have snapped in the front suspension - I didn't hit any pothole but the car is going really funny in wet corners, and sometimes I feel a little shock in the pedals when the front is all of a sudden drifting away... It feels like you're driving all of a sudden with a flat front tire, but I checked all tires and they're absolutely ok.

New problem 2: my bloody accelerator is starting to live its own live again. Since tuesday they pedal sticks again from time to time. This morning I drove into an underground garage and all of a sudden this piece of junk called MGF decided to accelerate full throttle straight towards a wall (wet concrete as floor)!! All I could do is stand on the brakes while going into neutral (this woke up the revlimiter, whole building must have heard me) and use other foot to get under accel to pull it up again.
I didn't want to cut out the engine because I needed the ABS system to avoid eventual people! Finally it stopped at 15cm (about 6") from the wall. Phew! This car is going to kill me, if it wasn't from a heart attack, it will just crash me into a wall without being able to blame myself for it.
Now I am REALLY pissed about this incident.
I am consider just putting this car in a garage box until spring and sell it, this becomes unbearable.

So WHAT can be done to fix this pedal problem. Before it was the throttle body going nuts (the pedal came back, revs didn't), it was finally replaced completely. But now I'm back with same situation, 100% mechanical this time.

ps: Now if MGF-crusader Ted Newman was crossing the street one day and I'm passing by, imagine it might just happen the accelerator sticks again, so Ted beloved type of car will be the sole responsible for driving over him! But sure, he'll claim I did it on purpose, he never had a habit of believing me anyway... >:(
Dirk

Ewan

Previous Cavalier: in 3 years 4 sets of front brake disks, wrong front pads fitted by local dealer on at least two occasions, lost count of how many wheel covers (can't abide those folks who use cable ties to keep them on - the sort of people who wear belts on their pyjama's), plus 3 sets of tyres with uneven wear.

I'm actually quite a careful driver: I only seem to get hit from behind at roundabouts. It just goes to prove that GM (and BMW, if Stuart's note is anything to go by) make can make crap cars like anyone else.

My wife's F, 1.8i Nightfire Red, black leather, purchased in May 2000 (when Rover suppliers could get onto the employee deal<gg>: loose radio speaker connection (left-hand speaker only worked going round right hand bends), electric window control unit failed, leaking cheetah on passenger window, all fixed by Lex Rover Stourbridge (now Stour Valley Rover, part of the Pendragon Group). They even sent out a very nice man to collect it from my works and returned it the same day at no charge. Otherwise, it's brilliant. Pity I only get to drive it 20 feet into and out of the garage.

The missus says it eats Z3's for breakfast ...

David Dewick

>ps: Now if MGF-crusader Ted Newman was crossing the street one day and I'm passing by, imagine it might just happen the accelerator sticks again, so Ted beloved type of car will be the sole responsible for driving over him! But sure, he'll claim I did it on purpose, he never had a habit of believing me anyway... >:( <

Dirk has finally flipped completely !!


>New problem 2: my bloody accelerator is starting to live its own live again. Since tuesday they pedal sticks again from time to time. This morning I drove into an underground garage and all of a sudden this piece of junk called MGF decided to accelerate full throttle straight towards a wall (wet concrete as floor)!! All I could do is stand on the brakes while going into neutral (this woke up the revlimiter, whole building must have heard me) and use other foot to get under accel to pull it up again.
I didn't want to cut out the engine because I needed the ABS system to avoid eventual people! Finally it stopped at 15cm (about 6") from the wall. Phew! This car is going to kill me, if it wasn't from a heart attack, it will just crash me into a wall without being able to blame myself for it.<

Dirk - do you really expect us to believe that you actually thought about switching your engine off but decided against it because you needed ABS so instead you very logically put the car into neutral, stood on the brakes and at the same time put your foot under the acclerator to try and lift it - how many miles long is this car park??

>Now I am REALLY pissed about this incident.
I am consider just putting this car in a garage box until spring and sell it, this becomes unbearable<

Best thing to do Dirk!


Ted
Ted Newman

Now I understand why Dirk has so many problems with his car.
He has obviously never discovered the clutch.
Dot

Dirk,

Both the problems you describe are certainly serious.

Regarding the first, I have suffered something similar in the past: one of the track control arm adjusting bolts came loose- giving unpredictable geometry and very unpleasant handling/ steering characteristics. Get this checked immediately.
[It is likely that they weren't tightened sufficiently when the geometry was last checked.]

The second problem relating to a sticking throttle is due to either with a sticking cable or weak throttle return spring, OR a distorted and/or dirty throttle body. Over tightened jubilee clips have been reported to distort the plastic throttle body and cause a sticking throttle. Which is why Rover have issued a warning, and do not use jubilee clips themselves.

I'd suggest that you do leave the car alone until such time as both problems can be resolved. None of us want a dead Dirk.

Rob
Rob Bell


Does anyone on this thread honestly believe dirks rantings,with all the hassle he has had over the years I can't believe that he didn't get rid of his F sooner.

Stuart
Stuart Whiteway

Stuart

What you don't realise is that Dirk like this bloke Ted Newman are phantoms, they dont actually exist they were invented to give someone with a warped sense of humour a chance to 'wind-up' people.

Lets face it no person in their right mind would have kept any car that allegedly went wrong as often as the so called Dirk-mobil MGF.

And likewise no person would hound a Dirk of this world unless of course their tongue is firmly stuck in their cheek.

I.N. Sane
I

>hope you can join me on the Z3 community soon!

Is that the Portugese version of care in the community?

Hugo

Hi all, thank you for your comments!
Rob i bought my car in Germany, Hannover precisely!
I´ve choosen the 1.9 instead of 2.8 because here in Portugal we have to pay taxes for the engine CC.
Of course i´m improving it already... :o)
It may be slower than the F but i had enough of F probs!
Somebody said that Z3 is the worst BMW! The worst of the BMW is better than MGF ..can you imagine it?
I lost that "car ?hypocondriac?" feeling that i used to have with my F.
F owners will always be worried with HGF!

Hugo....are you Portuguese? Where is the Z3 community forum?

Best Regards

Bruno "HappyZ3Owner" Valadas ;o)
Bruno Valadas

You will find the Z3 Forum across from the Pipe & Slipper stand
Russ

>>What you don't realise is that Dirk like this bloke Ted Newman are phantoms, they dont actually exist they were invented to give someone with a warped sense of humour a chance to 'wind-up' people.<<

Aargh, gotcha !
Finally someone discovers and discloses that Ted and Dirk are actually urban legends. Let's all admit it, they do not exist. They are just made up to comfort the crowd on this BBS with on the one hand an Eros-like fierce knight called "Ted of Sherwood" protecting the MGF-crown (jewels) and crest, and on the other hand a Thanatos-like bad-mouthing bold warrior called "Dirk Deluxe" raiding in the dark woods several horses equipped with MG-banner & MG-flag.
Big fun actually adding some spice to the MGF-soap & HGF-docu-drama.
Oh wait... hush-hush, you're providing Andrew Lloyd Webber some inspiration for a new Opera: "Ted & Dirk, brave warriors into battle in the wasted HGF-land" featuring a misty/foggy desolate 'Mad Max'-alike scenery due to all those white puffs of smoke evaporating from weaponry and MGFs. A cracker ! ;-)

Cheers,
Luc
Luc

Dirk, I think your car is very angry with you for some reason. Have you ever been cursed by someone? If so changing your car won't help :-).

I have never in my life known anyone who has been as unlucky with a car.

I can't wait for you to get your BMW, if you survive that long.

looks like the plot for Christine II, I think you are correct, your car IS trying to kill you :-).

>What you don't realise is that Dirk like this bloke Ted Newman are phantoms.

If only this were true :-)

Don't like the Z3 or I would have got one in the first place, if I wanted a front engine I would have got one in the first place.

Paranoia about a HGF when you have not had one is insane. I do not beleive I would be as happy with a Z3, now I have fixed most of the things that give the F a bad name at times.

I would miss looking out of my window at my MGF, a Z3 is just not the same. But then again I intend to be looking at my car for a very long time so it is important.

I would guess that most MGFs have not had an HGF, many of us have had one on this BBS and I believe it is a higher than average number for the model, but I don't think by any means it is most MGFs that have this problem.
Tony Smith

This thread was discussed between 01/11/2000 and 05/11/2000

MG MGF Technical index

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