coolent temp will be up quicker than the oil, the oil temp can take quite a long time depending on how hard you push the engine.

 

To be honest i haven't really pushed her, reason being before i bought her i was looking for an awful long time so was on here reading posts how to care for a mgf, i read others posts saying until its warm don't push the car so since the guages have never shown any really noticable warming i haven't dared! I figured i'm better waiting until a garage thoroughly checks the engine as i have no knowledge ( must admit i'm learning loads on here and attempting things i'd never even thought i could do )

I wasnt sure if the air vents were taking in the cold air thus delaying the warm up - when i sat in the car park i was parked between cars so wondered if the fact there was no major air circulation was the reason the temperature actually raised. :dunno:

Lise

 

Megs heaters warm up really quick so I am not sure if yours should take so long..... what does everyone else think?

 

Coolant temp up to normal within 3-4 mins ,oil takes a little longer

 

normal being.....?

lol mine doesn't move from the bottom ( off the scale ) until at least 20-25 mins drive so any ideas on why that would be?


Lise

 

Our F VVC warms up pretty quick (within 5 min) and will stay just under the half way line for the rest of the journey

 

with out driving the car (putting load on it) the temp wont move too much, although after 20mins i'd expect it to rise to half way.

 

keeping the reves at around 2000 revs,2 miles and the heaters blowing hot and affter 6 miles the oil tep is at the 90 mark, but as it gets colder im sure it will take longer hope this helps

 

Thanks guys, figure i must have a problem, when i say my guages rise i mean by at most 2 little dashes from the bottom off the scale barely registering at all, its NEVER gone no where near halfway round the guage. The engine temp raised to quarter of the way when i sat in the car park but that was the highest

Lise

 

It could just be a simple/silly problem, I'm pretty sure a reputable garage will be able to find out the problem for you
I hope it is something silly like a sensor which are reasonably cheap to replace but it could also be the thermostat

 

I would agree with Nando- does sound like a thermostat problem.

Do you get hot air from the heater?

My F is up to engine temperature (1 mark below half) within 2 -3 miles or about 5 mins of driving - takes much longer though if just idling. Oil temp takes about 15 mins to get up to around 70º at this time of year.

 

Yeah the fans do blow hot but after a while ( long while ) what would it mean if it was thermostat cause now i'm worried if it makes nando swear just saying it :lol:

Lise

 

Not an end of the world scenario if it is the case, but it is, however, an annoying one.

To cut to the basics, the thermostat prevents the cooling system from circulating fully whilst the engine is allowed to warm up to temperature. In effect, the idea is that it locks the coolant circulation to within the engine so it warms up quicker and ensures you're oil gets hotter quicker and makes fuels economy and engine wear more favourable. Once up to temperature, the thermostat gently opens to allow coolant to flow through the whole system and normal operation can begin.

If the thermostat were to fail open, or get lodged open by some obstacle that has found its way into the thermostat housing yikes, it means that the whole cooling system of 10 litres or so has to warm up rather than just the coolant that is confined to the engine. This results in the symptoms you are describing because it takes FOREVER for the system to warm up when it is constantly pumping the coolant through the radiator from startup.

The :***: was because the thermostat is a ******* to access on the MGF and if you take it all apart just to find that there is nothing wrong with it, you've wasted a good half a day DIY or a good amount of £'s in the garage.

 

Definitely doesnt sound right with the temperature. Pingu registers something after as little as half mile and within 5 or 6 minutes, the temp gauge is at its peak (just under half way). The oil temp does take longer, but rarely goes over 90. unless on a longer/harder run.
Your oil temp doesnt seem far out, but water temp (agreeing with some other comments here) definitely sounds as though it needs checking

 

Definitely doesnt sound right with the temperature. Pingu registers something after as little as half mile and within 5 or 6 minutes, the temp gauge is at its peak (just under half way). The oil temp does take longer, but rarely goes over 90. unless on a longer/harder run.
Your oil temp doesnt seem far out, but water temp (agreeing with some other comments here) definitely sounds as though it needs checking

I'll have to grit my teeth and pay up to get it checked out. Was trying to hold off until after christmas but think maybe i'd better take it into a garage to be on the safe side. Suppose i should have known i'd have to fork out on her since she was a good deal, just hoped it would be more cosmetic than engine wise.:sad3:

Lise

 

Yep, agree with failed thermostat, IMO.

Our MGF warms up very quickly. I would say that the water temp. gauge reaches its normal position ( 1 segment below half way) within 3-4 miles of normal driving, the heater starts blowing warm before that! Oil temp takes longer to move. Once the oil temp is 60 or above, the heater is great, you could almost toast bread on it.LOL.

A failed thermostat gives all the symptoms you have, plus because the engine doesn't reach working temp. you use more fuel, and get less performance.
I don't think it would cause any damage, but it needs sorting ASAP.

David

 

oh dear have you ever wished you'd just happily "unintentionally" ignored the dials and never asked the ? :ziplip:

 

i drive 3 miles to work, always below 3000 revs. Never moves the temp dial!

I need to do 5 miles then the coolant temp gets to just below half and stays there (hopefully)!!

Oil temp takes a good while to get moving , like 12-15 mins, and at hottest sits on 120C. I hope I never see it go past the vertical..

 

My wee 115 gets to the appropriate water guage reading after about 3 miles (ie just below middle), the oil temp one rarely moves unless stuck in traffic. it is a useless guage I thought, My megane one is oil pressure which seems more useful as can spot a big oopps quixkly

 

The oil temp gives a far better idea of overall engine temperature and is the one to watch. The coolant temp gauge just tells you the temperature of the coolant. My water temp takes 3-4 mins to reach normal. The water temp gauge is useful when starting from a cold engine but won't always tell you that somethings gone wrong after that. eg. If you loose all your coolant, there isn't anything to measure the temp of, and the gauge will read around normal.

The oil temperature will vary according to engine load. Mine takes about 4 miles to get to 60 around town and reaches around 80-90 on light driving. Normal motorway speeds will see it around 110 and on track it can go over 150 before I decide to ease off a bit. (Those TFs which have an oil cooler will react differently)

The MG oil gauge isn't the most precise device known to man and varies from car to car, but it is consistent. Once you know how your oil gauge reacts then it becomes a useful tool to spot the unexpected.

 

When I had an F the oil temp never seemed to register at all, so I posted a question on the MGOC site and their Technical guy gave a lengthy response that said there are several different iterations of the oil temp gauge. they all behave differently and early ones in particular do not seem to move much at all. The advice was to watch the water temperature gauge and only to bother if the oil temp started doing something different to what it normally does. The other advice was to be aware of the different behavior of the gauges and not to assume that what your gauge does should be the same as anyone elses. As long as the readings are consistent for your car then assume that this is normal and only get worried if it does something unusual.
Seems like bad advice, but all I can say is that even after a 3 hour run at motorway speeds my oil gauge hardly registered any temp rise at all and I never had any problems with it. On the same 3 hour run the water temp would be somewhere around the halfway mark most of the time.