MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGF Technical - water level low

hi look in prevous posts for story but just had f back 2 weeks ago. on sat water level on min so topped it up to max (did not overfill ) checked today when cold. level at min car going back to garage on tue to be checked out they are saying could be seals in piston liners but said they had a leak in thermostat housing when first rebuilt will check for obvious leaks. had head skimmed and all new bolts and land rover gasket and bottom rail. so any ideas where else it colud leak tiny drop of mayo on plastic ball on dipstick had the f for long time now just spent over £1100 on it this might be the end of the love affair !!
rj hardwick

Bearing in mind the number of hose connections that have to be undone & re-made in the process, it's fairly likely that the leak will be from one of those. A tiny drop of mayo on the dipstick isn't necessarily cause for concern, even with an oil change after oil/coolant mix type gasket failure the residues can hang around for a while - oil will sit on top of water droplets, so the evaporation process can be slow.
bandit

Also there may be air still shifting around the circuit - which will eventually find its way back to the expansion tank, which inevitably will lead to an apparent fall in water level. It can take a short while for the system to find its steady state.

Certainly cause for caution, but not necessarily panic at this stage IMO.
Rob Bell

Had this scenario too after the HGF repair on the wife's VVC (Bandit may remember). Regularly checked the dipstick and found mayo every time. As previously stated the garage that carried out the HGF repair said they warrantied the job and it finally went back last week for the 500 mile check. By this time it had also lost fluid and was below the minimum level. Now it has to be said that the wife only does short journeys (at low speeds) plus it's been bloody cold and when asked, the garage said it could be sweating - so to try prove it one way or the other I took it out for a good blast the weekend before I took it back in. After the blast (about 70 miles on a sunny day) there clearly was a lot less mayo evident but this is when I noticed the low coolant level. Asked them to check it out and they have said there is no problem, so could be Rob theory on air working its way out - lets hope so.

The MOT was also due - and guess what it failed on head lights and emissions - Ker-ching!! So 2 headlights and a Cat later, I'm starting to realise that F ownership aint going to be cheap.

One more thing - since we've had it back the loud tappet noise which I'd mentioned to said garage (and was told that is normal for a VVC), seems to have disappeared. Any thoughts?

Chris.
Chris Bond

Chris.
Tappet Noise common cause is wrong or old oil.
Geoff F
Geoff Farthing

This thread was discussed between 18/03/2010 and 24/03/2010

MG MGF Technical index

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