[fran]

Well it had to happen, I was having a good month and looking forward to summer approaching but it wasn't to be. The dreaded HGF failure has happened, and at 52,000 miles im gutted! :sad3: I thought if anything it would catch up with me later not now! (Not that you can put a time span on these things!)

The cars been running fine with no warning signs of it starting to go it was so strange. Driving back from work tonight (only a 10 - 15 minute drive) and I noticed the water temp rising very quickly. It ended up just below the red as I pulled up to my house, so I jumped out to check the engine bay expecting steam and water everywhere but nothing apart from there was no water left in my coolant! At this point I thought it may of leaked at some point, so I topped it up and ran the car for 5 mins around the block.

It ran very lumpy and I knew straight away there was a engine problem. After inpecting the coolant again, the water I topped up with now had oil patches in it spelling out my worst fear. Luckily I didn't let the car overheat so at least the head shouldn't need replacing, but im so gutted! Luckily my best friend works at a garage so I can get the head skimmed and the put in again at near trade cost hopefully but im still gonna be so skint, and carless for the next 2 weeks! Anyway don't mean to scare anyone with all this negativity, I just hope I can afford to keep my car going if anything else goes wrong on it!

Its ironic, I replied to a poll about everyones cars and the trouble they'd had and mine had been fine and I replied saying that. I really thought I'd be lucky in avoiding this issue where MG obviously failed to compensate for in there gasket design department, it just shows it can really happen to anyone. :sad2:

 

[Stu]

Do remember to look for the cause of the HG going.

Check the water pump, inlet manifold, rad, under car pipes, coolant bottle cap etc etc.

Something had to have caused it.

 

[N1CK]

Sorry to hear that :sad3: must be gutting, it makes me worry even more..... Im thinking of upgrading my head gsket to a heavy duty lotus one before i suffer from hgf.

I know it might never happen but its for peice of mind more than anything

 

[Phil_B]

Sorry to hear this mate. Really gutted for you. At least you have your contacts so shouldn't sting you for too much money.

 

[DarrenB]

Know how you must be feeling Fran mine went around the mileage and then went pop again a year later :twak2:

make sure you replace the dowls for metal ones and take as many precautions as you can to prevent it happening again.

Still on the brighter side - at least you can take advantage of the fact the head needs work and maybe have it uprated :bgrin: I went for an MS Stage 2 head the 2nd time mine went and havent looked back since..

A certain so called MG specialist in south London did my HGF the first time it went not MS just for the record - looking back i should have used Mike first time round but we all make mistakes eh

D

 

[fran]

Thanks for the sympathy people, yeah it is gutting can't believe it really! Not sure I can can afford to wait the time it'll take to have the head polished as tempting as it is, plus cant afford the funds really and I really would be in the minus figures still tempting though!

Thanks Stu, yeah something must have but I've had my car checked over at MG and all seems to of been perfectly fine. I've inspected my pipes and they seem ok, not corroding or anything. I should inspect my rad, I think the main cause is the fact that the standard one is so week and yes im investing in some uparated ones from Mike Satur to help it preventing happening again. If it does happen again, heaven forbid I really will have to sell the car sadly as I cant afford to keep throwing time and money at it if it does

 

[Broon]

Just stole this from another post

"So at least weekly, visually check all coolant hoses, their fastenings and their external condition. Don't forget the expansion bottle. You're looking for any tell tale signs of coolant loss and if you find some, even little ones, investigate and rectify."

Can anyone briefly point out where the relevant hoses/fastenings are so we can all check them?

 

[N1CK]

where can i get a cap for the water bottle? mine isnt sealing very well:yikes:

 

[Sprinter]

where can i get a cap for the water bottle? mine isnt sealing very well:yikes:

Halfords in Stevenage, so probably one near you. Or any Motor factor worth the name; try yell.com, your pcode, 'motor spares' or 'motor factor' should find several. Depends on Wales of course.

 

[mgtf nut]

Whoaaa! Aaaaaghhh :irked: :irked: :irked:

"Depends on Wales of course"

"Know I lot of older guys who in "their time of life" have enough disposable income now to buy the TF"

Come on, Wales has just won at RUGBY, and does sell car parts. I might be perceived as "older", but got a lot of miles left (hopefully), and looking forward to HGF!!!! what's age got to do with anything.
PS: I got mine 2nd hand from central London.

 

[Sprinter]

Whoaaa! Aaaaaghhh :irked: :irked: :irked:

"Depends on Wales of course"

"Know I lot of older guys who in "their time of life" have enough disposable income now to buy the TF"

Come on, Wales has just won at RUGBY, and does sell car parts. I might be perceived as "older", but got a lot of miles left (hopefully), and looking forward to HGF!!!! what's age got to do with anything.
PS: I got mine 2nd hand from central London.

Mine's 14.5 hands thank you very much, how high is yours?

I visit Wales quite often and I am aware that a search on yell for Motor Factors near my post code will get many more hits than most post codes in Wales. Depends excatly where N1CK lives and how far he is prepared to travel.

Where the hell did you dredge up the ageist rants from? Certainly not from posts entered by me :guns4: I shall be 60 at the end of August and make no secret of it. I still feel younger than my biological age, especially when out slapping my motorbike through a series of fast flowing bends. I even feel a bit young when out in my aging roadster.

 

[Sprinter]

BTW is the Little Chef near Penrhyndeudraeth still open or is it going the way of those not in Wales?

 

[mgtf nut]

Not living round there, can't tell for certain, but Autoroute 2004 still has it listed.

Ooh-er, if that was a rant, apologies. Can't be too careful after Anne Robinson's remarks!!
Might see you on the 3rd?
I'll go and iron my bus pass now.

 

[fran]

Interestingly, my coolant just dissapeared straight into the oil in the space of 10- 15 minutes, thus why my water temp gauge shot up as there was none in there and I had no leaks of coolant prior.

 

[Sprinter]

Not living round there, can't tell for certain, but Autoroute 2004 still has it listed.

Ooh-er, if that was a rant, apologies. Can't be too careful after Anne Robinson's remarks!!
Might see you on the 3rd?
I'll go and iron my bus pass now.

I shall be meeting up at the lunch stop on the 3rd and 'doing' the afternoon session. If we Southern Softies can get up in time we hope to see some of the morning session as well. If all goes to plan I should have my new X-Power exhaust installed when the car is serviced on the 2nd.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

First up, commiserations Fran mate. :grouphug:

Next, do i need to comment on here? (Did you read the mega posting on HGF i did the other week? If not, here is a link:

>> http://www.forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?p=741312#post741312 << )

Interestingly, my coolant just dissapeared straight into the oil in the space of 10- 15 minutes, thus why my water temp gauge shot up as there was none in there and I had no leaks of coolant prior.

Sounds liek a typical HGF to me, by the time the temperature guage started to rise all the coolant was gone - driving it (even for a very short while) only made things worse. Hopefully it's just the gasket that has gone mate (and whatever the cause was).

Given the age of the car, #1 on the 'hit list' should be the radiator, closely followed by the underbody coolant pipes. I would also check the rad fan fuse (fuse box under the bonnet, box says it should be 15amps (red), i say it should be more like 20amps (yellow) ). Simply because the weather has been cold for a long time and thus the rad fan will not have had much use. First time it is called upon it may well have been partially siezed and this will blow the fuse.

Anyway, read the link and keep us posted of developments OK?

 

[fran]

Yeah sure cheers Scarlet. I all ready changed the fuse to 20 amps 4 months ago, and checked all the rad fuses (inside and outside fuse boxes)....

I'll certainly check for a cause but surely it could boil down to the fact that the standard plastic gasket is so weak?

 

[mgtf nut]

Just nipped out to check my TF, heh, it's got 20 amp fuses already!! MG-R must have taken your advice!! Pity you can't easily spin the blades by hand as a quick check. Is it only on TFs then?

 

[Scarlet Fever]

I'll certainly check for a cause but surely it could boil down to the fact that the standard plastic gasket is so weak?

All 1.8K4 head gaskets are steel mate. Are you talking about the dowels?

Just nipped out to check my TF, heh, it's got 20 amp fuses already!! MG-R must have taken your advice!! Pity you can't easily spin the blades by hand as a quick check. Is it only on TFs then?

Nice to know MGR have sorted the issue. I wonder when they changed them?

 

[fran]

Sorry yes it was the dowels I was reffering to Andy my mistake.