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MG MGF Technical - my new VVC block...WORRIED!!

I now got almost 1400 miles covered with my new VVC engine, and haven't past 90mph yet (difficult to do, but for the moment I succeeded!). not past 3000rpm first 1000km or when she's cold, next 500km max 3500rpm, accel & decel as much as possible to free her up, now I'm taking 4000rpm as a max rpm, but since Saturday something strange happened. I was in the centre of Luxembourg, driving in 3rd and amusing myself to accel & decel a few times between 50 & 70km/h (between 3000 & 4000rpm I guess) but I started noticing 'hmmm, that sounds rather deep'...
Then I parked in a parking lot, and then I heard very clearly my engine sounded so heavy, and I'm not joking, it sounds like a boxer engine! Some guys who were leaving the garage were waiting for me & watching to know what kind of car was driving in the garage, seems they though some Porsche would show up ;-)

Now this noise is getting quite noisy, even with hardtop on it becomes really loud when hitting the accel. 1 Million Dollar Question: WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

All looks normal (never got temp past 110° for the moment), no loss of coolant/oil.

I my VVC engine breaking down (already?!) or is this 'normal'? My previous VVC didn't have this sudden noise increase, but it didn't have a K&N or SP exhaust at that moment. If it's normal, it's great news, coz the sound in idle is awesome, 6-cyl alike (it is really the greatest ultraDEEP sound I ever heard of any F) and the roar when accel is very deep aswell, no sharp noise, but with past experience with K-engines I don't feel at ease!! (even when it's covered under guarantee).

So before bugging my dealer, anyone of you got an idea/experience with this?
Dirk Vael

Has the exhaust gasket started blowing?

Rob
Robert Bell

... or the manifold starts to break at our common point down at the manifolds flexi pipe??

DK
Dieter

I had that already once, then the noise is quite different (read: unbearably LOUD!)
And since it's only on the road for 3 weeks with new gaskets (also manifold, verified by my dealer on my request and diagnosed to be in "very good condition") a bit hard to imagine it already blew...
No, this time it's a deep grumbling engine, with a terrific roar when accelerating past 3000 rpm.
Quite puzzling!!!

perhaps a good hint for those looking for a nice deep exhaust tune... break the manifold gasket!?
Dirk Vael

Sorry Dirk,
no more validable ideas.

Let the car go its way to your luxemburgish dealer.
Dieter

It's the enchanting MGF VVC Genie inducing you to keep the car ;-)
Luc

Getting worse now: noise remains stable, but now the car starts randomly losing torque between 2500 & 3000 (had it twice in 2 days), feels like the engine gets insufficient fuel to accelerate (vibrates a bit, rpm doesn't go up although you push the accel to the metal). Both of the occasions it happened driving slightly uphill.

This morning another problem was added: the 'MGF speedo wobble' virus has now also infected my car :-(
What can be done about that?

For the rest my front wheels are badly aligned by dealer since I feel clearly vibration from 120km/h onwards.

My God, what is happening?! Someone in Longbridge with an MGF voodoo puppet perhaps?

Dealer will call back this afternoon (tech guy wasn't in)
:-(
Dirk Vael

From my recent experience, when the wheel shakes side to side (left to right throug the the steering wheel) throughout the speed range this is likely to be down to a tracking problem.

If the wheel starts to vibrates at a particular speed and higher (usually increases in intensity with speed and can also be felt through the car), I would suggest that it is a tyre balance problem.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.......

A known ability problem is with some tyre fitter's alloy wheel balancing skills.
Tony Smith

After Dirk's latest reports that it's getting far too much of what's supposed to be "good", maybe it's better to modify my earlier statement: so version MKII of the statement is now:

It's the enchanting MGF VVC Genie inducing you to sell the car ;-)

Luc
GHC216
Luc


>feel clearly vibration from 120km/h onwards

"Ohh mister, you have fitted other brake disks, verrryyy beautifull, and you have painted the callipers, also very beautifull.... sorry mister this is no MG/Rover problem anymore...."

Sorry Dirk,
But I am curious to know what happened now.

Cheers,
Erik

>>Getting worse now: noise remains stable, but now the car starts randomly losing torque between 2500 & 3000 (had it twice in 2 days), feels like the engine gets insufficient fuel to accelerate (vibrates a bit, rpm doesn't go up although you push the accel to the metal). Both of the occasions it happened driving slightly uphill.<<

It's the bungee cord to pull you back to your dealer going taut again! ;o)

The cat to exhaust gasket can sometimes blow slightly to explain the mild increase in noise. It does not explain the loss of torque though. Best talk to your dealer.

Rob
Robert Bell

Speedo wobble solutions should be covered in the archive. Basically involves disconnecting and reconnecting the joins in the speedo cable. I have tried this and it didn't help me. I have noticed that the problem disappears for a while after a long run.
The only sure cure is to buy a mk2 which has an electronic speedo.
Jon Baker

I think that a common cause of these problems may be nothing more than a need to have all the nuts bolts etc checked and tightened. The massive disturbance involved in changing the engine followed by a degree of 'settlement' may be all that is behind the problems. The speedo wobble may also be traced to disturbance as the cable will have had to be removed, so the run of the cable may not now be ideal, which is a cause of many 'wobbles'.

Rog
Roger Parker

ok, got my F back.

Dealer's first diagnosis: nothing found :/

we went for a 20mins ride and had a nice discussion about Fs & technology & tuning!

noise: that's because of K&N and VVC engine starting to loosen up, manifold is ok

loss of torque: bad fuel

and indeed I remember on Friday night I went to fill her up at a fuelstation I never used before. Now all I can hope for is that it disappears completely within the next week, otherwise I got trouble.

ps: he told me the Mike Satur brakes are much much more performant than the standard ones and very pleasing to brake with... in short, he loved them ;-)
Dirk Vael

This thread was discussed between 29/11/1999 and 02/12/1999

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.