Topic

Hello All,

Recently had a repair authorised by the AA to rectify my overheating. Halfords service centre diagnosed water pump as the issue so spoke to the AA claims department. They asked for permission to repair my car with a new water pump, cam belt and cam belt tensioner / fitting kit.

The AA approved the water pump and can belt but didn't authorise the cam belt fitting kit.

I questioned this with Halfords and they were under the same view as me that all three things should be done at the same time.

So next I spoke to the claims assessment person who wasn't having any of it but he tripped himself up a bit.

He said that the cam belt doesn't actually need to be done but as a matter of motor good practice it was authorised with the water pump job.

So I asked him if this good practice also applied to fitting cam belts as for the sake of 35 quid it isn't worth not doing it. He obviously has the best interests of AA so he wouldn't budge and then asked me that if the pretensioner kit was needed to be changed then do they change all the pulleys at the same time too?

Wasting time getting nowhere I just ended the call as quickly and politely as possible.

Anyway Halfords will fit the kit + alternator belt while the job is being done for not a lot of money but I'm going to try and recover the pretensioner kit money back.

So now over to you guys.

Why wouldn't you fit a new tensioner ?
Is not fitting one 'best practice'

Polite replies please as I will probably use this thread in an exchange of communication. I've already checked the MGR maintenance book and it says that a cam belt must be changed when a water pump is swapped.

I used to work for the RACV here in OZ as a breakdown patrolman. The RACV is basically a motoring organisation that does everything from political lobbying though to insurance, travel agents, emergency breakdowns and authuorised repairs. I assume your AA is similar.

Now like all of these large organisations with many tentacles, they are top heavy with all manner of clowns who don't have a clue as to the more practical aspects of the business on the ground.
The likely hood of finding anybody in the organisation who would know anything about proper routine procedures and best practice on what is to them an obscure and obsolete car like a MGF, is slim at best.
I have no doubt the there are people there who do know what they're talking about, when it comes to the MGF but the chances of you getting on to one of them are worse than the lottery.
The bloke in the call center (probably working for a call center contractor in Mumbai or some such) will only be going on what would be at best generic guidelines, as he probably has never even seen a MGF or ever waved a spanner in anger in his entire young life.
He is giving you a "no" answer because he hasn't got the authority to say "yes" , you need to find whoever has the authority to give you a "yes" answer, that's not always gonna be easy and even then they may still say "no".
So I suggest next time you talk to them, and they start with the "no" answer routine, (keeping it nice calm and friendly) say something like "I realise that it's probably out side your guidelines and as such it's not in your power to authourise this procedure but as it's in both of our best interests to follow best practice and do this procudure, could I please talk to someone who can authourise it?

Many years ago I learned never to accept a "no" answer from somebody who wasn't allowed to give a "yes" answer.

Your a brave man using Halfords Service Centres. With all the bad publicity you can read on Halfords I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

In 2003 when we lived up country I had a company car (Passat 1.9TDI) at 70k miles on the clock it went into the main VAG dealers in Manchester for a major service; cam belt, brake fluid change etc.

On the parts used list for the cam belt change it said cam belt service kit, in the kit was the belt, the idler pulley assembly and water pump. Service was done (£530) labour being the biggest part as you have to take the front of the car apart to get to the cam belt.

18k miles and ten months later I was on the M1; temp gauge in the red, lights flashing on the dash, I was coming up to a junction so I pulled off the motorway and into a lay-by; I had a look but all looked fine under the bonnet (but very hot) and decided to call the RAC.

The RAC guy could not find anything visibly obvious, so we re-started the engine and after 5-10 minutes the gauge started to rise again into the overheat situation.

The car was lifted to a local garage (none dealer) where the water pump failure was diagnosed, the job couldn’t be finished that day so I had to book into a travel inn, the job was finished the following afternoon and the guys showed me the pump, the plastic impeller had split and come off the shaft. The job was £385 with labour being the biggest part of it and again on the parts list was the cam belt kit which included belt, idler pulley assembly and water pump (steel impeller type this time) as apparently VAG had a known issue with the plastic impellers failing and had gone back to steel.

The garage said it’s their policy to always fit a cam belt kit and not just replace the single component as they give 12 months guarantee on parts and labour and if they had a belt failure it would be a new engine at their cost!

A few days later I went back to the main VAG dealer where I had my service done with the failed pump and the bill for the £385 and presented it to the service manager, he said he could only submit a warranty claim for the pump but he would try to get something back on the labour.

After 3 months of arguing, letter writing to the dealership and even VAG UK we ended up with a cheque for £38 for the water pump. We might have been successful if we had gone to the small claims court but had no more time to waste on the issue.

We never cashed the cheque, we had it framed instead with some well written words and put it up in the service office.

Anyway let’s hope the water pump has solved your problem (make sure you get the old pump as it would be interesting to find out what the failure was)

You’re dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t; it all depends how much time, effort and patience you have to try and get your money back!

Paulontour wrote: wrote:

Your a brave man using Halfords Service Centres. With all the bad publicity you can read on Halfords I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

Just moved so don't know the good garages yet. They warrant a 12 months guarantee so if anything untoward happens I have some comeback, not much of a comeback from the smaller garages except pay again

Ooo are they giving warranties on work carried out on mgfs now? Last I heard they made made up a new rule were if your car has a kseries they can't warranty it....

Hopefully all the work will be carried out well and they'll be no problems. You onlu ever hear the horror stories. They'll be millions of normal stories that just aren't as interesting

Your so right on that last point Criz that we only here the horror stories.

Being a first time owner of the TF, it's such a shame that is has such a bad reputation. I was at the annual MG gathering in Pateley Bridge in Yorkshire last week with a mate, incidentally he has a Suzuki Jimny and head gasket failed on the way back but that's a different story. I was looking at some of the show TF,s and overheard two blokes saying that they have owned several MG,s in their time but would never buy a TF because of the head problems. It's only F/TF,s that ever have head problems is it.... I think not!

The K series is a K series whatever it's fitted into and has the same HGF across the range which are not always related to an overheat situation; the problem with F/TF is it's exacerbated by the fact that most of the cooling system ancillaries are not visible from the engine slot so when you do your checks before a run if you had any hose, clip, or slight leak issue it does not become apparent until it gives way, so a slight leak which would have normally been nipped in the bud can end up causing a catastrophic failure.

The other issue is; if you have to get the head gasket replaced the labour content is very high due to the difficulty of access and lack of space "it's like trying to walpaper the hall, stairs and landing through the letter box"

I also think the cooling system is stretched close to the limit with the length of pipe and hose runs and the reduced air flow around the engine and ancillaries where latent heat builds.

However I think the K series if a fantastic engine with a lot of torque and good power to weight ratios and was "and still is" quite an advanced engine. There are not many long bolt block engines out there with the same qualities and with the exception of the HGF it's a very reliable engine.

The car itself is well balanced and great to drive and the TF was the first car in it's class to get a 4 star Euro NCAP safety award, so it's very safe and hopefully survivable if you are unfortunate enough to be involved in a hard impact RTA.

There is a great write up from Rob Bell about the body construction and torsional stiffness:

http://mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/body/

All in all a great little sports convertible and made in Britain.

Well said Badger!

A lot of the F knockers that I've spoken to know very little about cars and are only repeating what they've been told have read in the biased press. Basically I ignore them because like you I think the mgf/TF is a great little car.

Work done and they found the leak spot too. They ate bleeding it up so can collect tomorrow

I would work on the assumption that if the manufacturer would fit one than that would be best practice.

Badger wrote: wrote:

The other issue is; if you have to get the head gasket replaced the labour content is very high due to the difficulty of access and lack of space "it's like trying to walpaper the hall, stairs and landing through the letter box"

?

There is a removable panel under the rear shelf, gives more room around the engine than on any of my other K and KV6 series cars!