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MG MGF Technical - Rusty Coolant pipes - Coolant Loss

Hi there,I am a new member to this bbs site so any help advice or tips would be welcomed by me.
I have owned a 99 MGF for 1 year and I anjoy driving it very much (she is my babby
I have a 99 MGF and have also had a recent head gasket replacement and am also very worried about my coolant loss in the past few weeks. I noticed i was loosing approx 1 litre per weekand i just keep topping it up until today when i took it to my mechanic.
I just recieved my car back from my mechanic and he told me that both coolant pipes that run underneath the car need to be replaced as they are nearly rusted out and are leaking coolant. Is this a common problem?? Can replicas be manufactured in stainless steel or is there an aftermarket place that manufacturs some more suitable replacements.
Any help or direction would be appreciated.

Thanks in Advance

Jazz1
Paul

<<Can replicas be manufactured in stainless steel or is there an aftermarket place that manufacturs some more suitable replacements.>>

www.mikesatur.co.uk

for some nice aluminium ones :-)

paul weatherill

thank you very much Paul, I will take a look there first. :-)
Paul

Yup, unfortunately, this is a common age-related problem Paul: those coolant pipes start to corrode and need replacement by 5-7 years of age. The ones on mine survived 8 years, but have just been replaced by alloy items purchased off that ever inventive Mr Satur! :o)

Not sure what the export costs would be to Oz, but I am sure that Mike will fill you in on this.
Rob Bell

Hi Paul,
interesting that you down there with no salt on the roads etc. experience this for us common problem !
Please enlighten us on the story of the car; keept outside at all times close to sea-side? Always driven in heavy rain?
Did your mechanic also discover that all of the outside rust was at the fastenings and that there was rust comming from the INSIDE as well ?
As preventive measures I have fitted a separate thick insulated ground -return (minus cable) from the battery terminal all the way to the starter /gearbox in order to prevent voltage drop and diffs. between front and rear.IMO this is one way to stop or at least slow down radiator and coolant pipe corrosion.

BR, Carl.
Carl Blom

Hi Carl & Rob. thanks for your information which i found very helpful and informative.
Adelaide is a very dry place and it only rains in winter but it never snows so we dont ever put salt down onto the roads. My car is a 99 1.8i MGF totally stock standard except for the optional air-con (bec its not uncommon to have a 40 deg c day here). My car is garaged at night and parked undercover all day when I am at work. It has had a recent head gasket replacement and am wondering if the coolant had drained away previously and caused the head gasket to fail.
After a nervious nights sleep I woke up and made a call back to my mechanic and he has sugested that i sould make enquirys about having a s/steel replica made up as he told me the replacement part here in Aust could be very expensive. As it turns out, unfortunatly he was right. About 5 days wages. Geeez.
I decided to take a look myself and discovered that there was a blister like bubble in the middle of the pipe that was weeping green coolant. Lokked like an infected pimple hahahaah but other than that it looks simple to replace.
The brackets holding the flow and return piped are in excellent condition with no rust, radiator hoses are in good condition with no signs of leakage around the clamps.
I then made a few calls to a mg specialist garage and i was told to visit an exhaust custom manufacturer and that they may be able to make me an exact replica. Well i found a nice bloke who took a look and said "Yep, No problems mate, will make u one later in the week". "Just take it off and bring it to me and I will bend you one up in s/steel and weld on some tags for You".
I was wondering if this sounds like a reasonable solution to you or if anyone has tried this before. Does coolant affect s/steel tube, I shouldnt think so but I am no expert. Any comments would be welcomed

Thanks again to all
and Dont you just love driving your MG !!!
Paul


Hi Paul,
most certainly SS will be fine but a bit heavier than the replacement tubes from MS.. If it is regular welded tubes for SS exthausts they are not that much different from the original ones. Hope all goes well and donīt forget to bleed the system by the book!

BR, Carl.
Carl Blom

Paul, getting some stainless pipe made up as a replacement for the originals sounds like an ideal solution! :o)

Go for it! Actually, you may find that there is a local market for these amongst fellow MGF enthusiasts! ;o)
Rob Bell

If you just have a single hole along one pipe why not just bodge it for a while?

You could try wrapping the pipe with a cut piece of old radiator hose of appropriate diameter and holding it on with one or more terry/screw clips.

Smear it with some gasket sealant before you start, for good measure.

Good luck

jt

ps Were there any drip marks on garage floor?
John Thomas

Hi All
I have been out searching for stainless steel pipe to replave the flow & return pipes and i must say to great success.
The local stainless steel manufacturer sold me some 1 1/4 306 grade pipe for approx 10 pounds and then I made a phone call to a local exhaust place and they asked me to bring in the old pipes.
I took it to an exhaust place and they bent it up for me as an exact replica and welded on some mounts and they charged me 7 pounds.
Tomorrow is fitting day. I have brought some new s/steel worm drive clamp (I read elsewhere that its a good idea to replace them).
Looks like i have sorted out my problem, now all I have to do is fill it with coolant and dont worry guys I have read up on how to fill and bleed the cooling system.
Thanks guys (from a new member)for all your help, tips and advice.
This is a really great BBS site and hopefully I can share some information with some members or anyone interested in MGF's one day too.

Its true MG is the Marquee of Friendship
P. Russell

Great work Paul - fingers crossed that the fitting goes smoothly :o)

Any chances of some pictures?
Rob Bell

Hi Rob and everyone else interested
I have nearly completed installing my new coolant pipes installed...seems the exhaust man had a few delays.
Rob, when it is all completed i will email you the pictured that you requested.
Its has taken me longer than expected to get everything exactly as i want it but all seems to be going well.
I will let you all know how it turns out and i think i have read up enough on re-filling the cooling sysytem but if anyone out there could point me towards a good web site for refilling and bleeding it would be muchly appreciated

Regards to all

Paul R
P. Russell

Hi Paul,
go to http://www.mgfcar.de/index.htm and search for "coolant bleed" for full instructions from Deiter.

Cheers,
Neil
Neil Courtney

Stainless pipes good idea!
we should all have them actually
the fractionally higher weight will not be noticed but the permanent fix to corrosion will be a good thing
I am going to get under the car very soon to check mine, as I waxoil the nether regions of the car.

SS would be best as a replacement. Does anybody have them here in UK?

Neil

Hi All
I agree with Neil, They all should have come out from the factory with S/Steel pipes. I know they are a little heavier but as you say "the fractionally higher weight will not be noticed but the permanent fix to corrosion will be a good thing"

I have been taking pictures of my "work in progress" and I would be happy to share my pictures-experiances with anyone who is interested.
I dont have a web site but i can email anyone who is interested.

So far i have been pleased with the work..although it has reuired some fiddling about here and there....
Hopefully I up amd running on Saturday with the last few days of sunny weather down here in Aust...

PS.... does anyone know what type of coolant i should be purchasing??

Regards to all

Tops down everyone!!!

Paul R
P. Russell

Hi Paul remember you now have to polish those pipes each time you wash your car dont want to get they dirty now do you should look great pity to hide them
Will definitlly do the same when I have to replace mine
Mike
M L Dippenaar

Why not have them Carrera style ? One each along the sills! / Carl.
Carl Blom

You will need OAT type coolant for the car
this lasts longer than the standard stuff, also it is bio-degradable and organic so Green, (in a environmental way and not a colour way )

Neil

Thanks Carl.... If only you had mentioned this earlier I could have done as you sugested ;-)
P. Russell

Hi All
I am happy to report that the new s/steel coolant pipes are all installed. Its was a breeze to install after a little bit of mucking about with the exhaust bending and welding guy.
The refilling and bleeding of the cooling system was made very easy by following the instructions on this web site http://www.apttony.co.uk/ made my re-fill very easy.
I also read the instructions (especially the about the 4th bleed point) on
http://www.mgfcar.de/bleed/index.htm
My "jiggle" valve was also stuck and with a simple procedure it was un-stuck
I am not sure if this helped bleed all the air out of my system and after the radiator was bled I let it sit for about 5 mins then I bled the nipple under the wioer cover. Ran the engine for 2 beers (approx 15 mins) and then checked the radiator return pipe nipple.. to my shock nothing came out. silly me..i released the radiator cap and out can a gush of coolant with no bubbles. sealed up this nipple and the job was done.
All the clapms were replaced by s/steel hjose clamps
Now I am just keeping an eye on the temp guage and the coolant levels (all seems normal - touch wood)

Thanks again all for your help and advice

cheers

Paul
P. Russell

Is there any reason why these pipes could not be made in another material, other than metal? Has this more to do with heat transfer?
wrenchos

I have installed high temp plastic pipes after the original metal pipes rusted. 8 months and no problems as yet.
David Law

>> Is there any reason why these pipes could not be made in another material, other than metal? Has this more to do with heat transfer? <<

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I have Mike's alloy pipes on my car... no problems yet but they've only been on the car 4 months... I can't see any reason why heat transfer would be an issue here Andy - electrolytic corrosion is more likely to be a problem when one combines steel and aluminium...
Rob Bell

>I have installed high temp plastic pipes after the original metal pipes rusted. 8 months and no problems as yet.

David,

sounds good !!
Any hints on materials source, dimensions, interconnections, fitment and the how to ?

:))
Regards
Dieter
Dieter K.

I saw these coolanpipes on Moss web site.
http://www.moss-mgf.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=420
only 35.95 pounds.
Has anyone used them? Or ever seen them?

Paul
P. Russell

Dieter

I will find add the specifications of the pipe later. The outside diameter of the pipe is exactly the same as the original so the hoses and clips fit over the new pipe perfectly. The inside diameter is very slightly smaller and this was my concern. So far I have not seen any noticible difference in water temp etc.
The pipe came in 6 meter lengths so I cut them in the middle and took them back home from the heating suppliers (where I bought them in the UK -BSS was the company) All I had to do was shape them using the originals as a template. I applied heat to the pipe and bent it into shape. Then I used the old pipe and fitting hole to make a bracket to secure the new pipes in place undet the car. It took me about 2 hours to fit the pipes then I had to bleed the system to get the air out. I have checked the condition of the joints and pipes at regular intervals and everything looks okay.
David Law

This thread was discussed between 22/03/2004 and 13/04/2004

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