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MG MGF Technical - Can someone help this guy?

I received the following email - not being very mechanical perhaps someone else can help him. Please reply directly to him demetre.kolokotronis@videotron.ca as he does not check this board. Many thanks
Rick

Quote In need of some major advice.



I drove my vehicle for a total of 1.5 Km from start to finish a total of 3 minutes running time.

I reversed it into a parking spot and revved the engine with a tap on the throttle and turned off the ignition.
It made no noises and ran smooth with plenty of power.



All was fine until I tried to start it six hours later.

It would not turn over at all; the wires on the starter heated up and the battery and booster vehicle did not help.



I removed the starter and checked the fly wheel…no change.

I am of the suspicion it is seized. However I cannot see how from such a short drive, I doubt the engine even reached temperature!

I even tried using another car to push-start it at 25 Km/hr using first and second gears, but in both cases as we engaged from neutral, the car came to a screeching halt as if all rear brakes were fully applied… no turn on the clutch fan!



I am about to start to remove the engine and was hoping for some advice.



Is it possible that the timing chain snapped off and jammed the Crank shaft ?

Or is it the crank seized on all or some of the 5 main bearings?



What should I do first?



Confused and need good experienced advice! Unquote



Thanks,

Demetre

Rick Brown

I'm slightly wary about emailing to someone I don't know but I take it this isn't an F?

Maybe a rev then shut-off flooded it big time and it is hydro-locked. Did the carb/electric fuel pump get switched off at the time? I would pull the sparkplugs as a first and see if anything is in there.
Tony

Well he should find out with the engine removed. I have heard of similar happening to an old Rover when a liner dropped and locked the engine.
David Billington

Thanks for the prompt imput and replies.

I have removed the spark plugs and checked with a fiber optic cam...no damage.
I also tried to rotate it using a powerbar on the crank shaft nut....no way.

I am about to start the removal...is it possible it is the timing chain?

Thanks,

Demetre
Rick Brown

Any idea what engine it is, that would help somewhat.
David Billington

perhaps, or perhaps you were running with no oil pump and the movement of the engine was keeping it going, when stopped it froze. All in all you would be better on the midget or MGB boards, as our K-series engines have almost nothing in common with the A/B series and they a cam belt rather than chain.

I would expect that the full force of a bump start at 20mph would have flattened any valves or sheared the rockers, leading you off in a tinkle tinkle valve death noise.

Will Munns

Please disregard as I meant to post this on the B board and accidentally hit the MGF Technical section

Rick
Rick Brown

Ok this might sound very stupid but is has happened to me.

I parked the car and 1hr later i tried to start and didn´t hear a single noise, nothing. I did notice on one occasion that the oil temp indicator moved downwards.
Seemed to be the feed of the starter motor. A lucar plug that was fitted, but appearantly got shifted somehow. So a little of a twist and turn at the plug and I could start the eninge again.

You never know. Things can be very simple!
David Peters

This thread was discussed on 29/08/2006

MG MGF Technical index

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