Topic

Hi,

My MGF failed it's MOT this morning with the big items being a rusty sill and emissions (high CO 0.6 - 0.7% across fast and idle).

Before embarking on chasing the emissions problem I was wondering how much the sill repairs are likely to cost and whether anyone knows a good ( and reasonably priced) garage/welders around Truro in Cornwall.
With the best part of 130k on the clock I don't want to be spending loads of money but it would be a shame to scrap it.

I replaced the cat and the lambda last year for the MOT and have just put a new air filter in so not sure where to start on emissions this year. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers

Dave

Can't comment on the sill repair as it's all down to what kind of job you want.

As fo the emissions, try a service, plugs, oil and filters and get it nice and hot, ideally take it for an Italian tune up then have them put it straight on the tester.

I purposely took mine took mine to my old works which was 17 miles away even though there's a garage less than a quarter of a mile away from home!!

Good luck.

Also check the tiny plastic vacuum pipe that goes the length of the rear of the bulkhead. It crosses the oil filler bracket, wears and lets air in. Bit of tape will solve it. Happened on Meg few years back and i changed loads of bits till it was found!

Nice and hot, does it all the time, first time round mine failed on emissions, second time when oil was up over 100c, no problem.
Sills, again depends on how good a job you want; get it through the MoT and spend more time and money later?

If you're pretty good at DIY you could cut off the old sill area and get a cut from a scrap car with a good sill. Get it to match and then only pay for the actual welding. Saves you a fortune.

I did it with Meg and it cost me a third of what it would have done otherwise.

See HERE

Alternatively if you can get hold of a Mig welder give it a go yourself - even I managed it once after not welding for 10 years or more! HERE

Thanks for your responses.
Done all the small bits this morning (track rod ends brake light switch etc) and now got the engine cover off looking for clues. Checked the spark plugs and they look a pretty good colour, certainly not black and oily. Probably 18 months old now so I will change them and see if it helps.

No obvious damage to vacuum hoses or lambda wiring.

I did buy a cheap cat last year which must have been good enough to get it through last year could it fail within 12 months?

Unfortunately that why they are cheap. Not much actual catalysing material inside. And also why you need to get them red hot to start working efficiently enough to pass the emission test.

Yeah, the cheap cats don't last, I tried new ones on 2 consecutive MOT's before spending a bit and getting a decent one.

The cars got a bit of a lumpy idle so I was going to put new plugs, leads, dis cap and rotor arm followed by a bottle of cataclean. Then see if the emissions improve.

If I've definitely got to change the cat what's the best value one to buy?

DMC77 wrote: wrote:

The cars got a bit of a lumpy idle so I was going to put new plugs, leads, dis cap and rotor arm followed by a bottle of cataclean. Then see if the emissions improve.

If I've definitely got to change the cat what's the best value one to buy?

The lumpy running at idle needs to be looked at first as this will give high readings anyway and if all the fuel is not being burnt properly then the cat will get saturated and only burn off and vaporise when it's very hot.

The position of the cat is also quite poor due to lack of space under the car, it's a long way from the engine so the exhaust gasses start to cool plus the cat is mounted sideways with the largest external surface area being cooled by the air flow under the car. I know we can't do anything about this but but it just exacerbates the issue.

Brian.

Not sure about welders in the Truro area but Tim Kelly in St Agnes restores classic MG's and may be your man. There is an MG main dealer in Penzance and Dales the Renault dealers used to be MG dealers.
Hope this helps.

Cheers for that.

I did phone Tim Kelly's earlier but I don't think my budget can stretch to a specialist job at the moment.

I've tracked down a mig welder I can borrow and a colleague in work said he will help with the welding if I get stuck so I'm going to chance my arm at the weekend.
It probably won't be pretty but I need the MOT first and i can worry about making it look good next month.