BruceTF135

Thanks for the info and the advice, TC. It's interesting that they had no rear grille as standard. I see so many with a rear grille, all shaped around the lashing point, I assumed they were standard.

Nice car! And a super tidy garage - it's tidier than my house!

Sorry, I don't have a picture but I think people will know what I am talking about.

Ever since I've had my TF, the rear grille in the bumper has been missing. The front and side grilles were all black, rusty and generally skanky!

I've been spending a few hours during the nice weather with tin snips and some stainless steel mesh and have so far replaced the front and side grilles and cut pieces for the boot-lid. So far, so good.

Now I'm looking at the rear grille. Instead of seeing my shiny exhaust, I can only see the bottom half of the rear heat shield. My question is:

Can I cut away the bottom part of the heatshield? Undoing the bolts doesn't look like an option. It is filthy and doesn't seem to have any purpose behind the grille. Or does it?...

I just re-read your original message and it seems to imply that you need the whole badge. I would try contacting MGFNTFBITZ who seem to have an enormous stock of new and 2nd hand parts. They may have a decent 2nd hand badge.

My original badge had a good chrome surround but it had seriously delaminated. The paint underneath was peeling away. I just scraped all the loose stuff off, gave it a wipe with meths, and stuck on the insert. If you examine it, it can be seen that it is not the original but you have to look pretty closely.

David Aiketgate wrote: On ebay, you can also get vinyl inserts to fit your original badge. Usually available in many colours.

I bought a badge insert. http://mgmanialtd.com/index.php?id_category=83&controller=categoryMGMania does quite a range . The one I bought looks good.

This is what you can do to a yellowed, fogged plastic window with a little bit of work and some plastic cleaner...

That is terrible! I feel for you.

They charge £695 to replace the engine with what is presumably a 2nd-hand unit. Then charge you an extra £75 for a manifold. Then ask for ANOTHER £75 to fit a 2nd-hand window. And all the while they have lost your keys. I'm with Cobber - where do they keep the horses?

You can clean the rear window yourself; it's not hard. I used Meguires PlastRX but plenty of people recommend Greygate Plastic Polish. Oh and a bit of elbow grease.

Ericmgf wrote: Anyone have any idea what is going on with my car? I have been losing coolant over the past week or two, usually when I have parked the car up overnight in the garage.when I drive my mgf their is no coolant loss, but when I stop the car it appears to empty itself of the coolant expansion bottle.

I have bled the system, bought a replacement cap for the expansion tank and lifted the expansion tank out and checked for hose leaks.

The coolant seems to accumulate on the drivers side rear, and drips down from the chassis rail....could it be a leaky coolant header rail?

I don’t think it’s the head gasket, because I fitted an updated one when I re-built the engine 3 years ago.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated!

I had almost exactly the symptoms you are describing last year. I drove the car about 30 miles - no problem. Parked up and a while later noticed a large puddle under the car.


I topped up, ran the car to duplicate the problem with the engine running for half an hour. Nothing. Then about 10 minutes later coolant started dripping down from the hole towards the rear of the chassis member that runs to the left of the coolant pipes.


Investigation revealed that there was wetness inside the tunnel at the back of the car. Pulling out the box between the seats enabled me to stick an arm in and feel wetness at the back, under the petrol tank, near where the heater pipes pass out into the engine bay.

With advice, it was decided the problem was excess pressure. I replaced the pressure release thermostat (PRT), which is straightforward.

Since then, I have had no further problem.

I would add that I had the cambelt, tensioner and pump replaced about a year previously, so never even considered the water pump.