Topic

After what was going to be a 'get organised and get chrimbo shopping done' sort of day, got a lift home in a truck.

Still, the MG looks amazing even though it's nothing more than a paper weight at the moment.

Now do I reach out for the Christmas jumper, or a new head gasket?

LanderMG wrote:

After what was going to be a 'get organised and get chrimbo shopping done' sort of day, got a lift home in a truck.

Still, the MG looks amazing even though it's nothing more than a paper weight at the moment.

Now do I reach out for the Christmas jumper, or a new head gasket?

The ride of shame!

The sad thing was there was no tell tale signs. The heating worked fine, oil pressure was looking good too.
The only thing I can think of was the water pump gave up. I guess the only clue would have been when we noticed the hot air in the cabin was actually blowing cold.

Looked down at the dash and saw the hot water all the way to the max.

Now to decide to get the engine rebuilt and new 'other' bits, eg water level indicator, stainless under floor heater pipes, or to scrap it. Don't really want to do that to be honest.

Once the heater is blowing cold, you have already lost coolant. I would make an educated guess that the problem is more likely to have been caused by a leak than by a failed water pump.

This is why a low coolant alarm warning system is ESSENTIAL for our cars, being a tight arse and not wanting go to the expense of fitting one is a total false economy.
I suggest anyone reading this who hasn’t got one fitted to go and get one immediately if not sooner!

Mine has a self test function which activates on tight left turns taken fast! I am still thinking ot putting a T piece in one of the hoses to put a pressure sensor in as this will give a warning before the water is lost.

I am still offering a discount to members of The-T-Bar for my successful low-coolant alarm kit.



It is easy to fit, with comprehensive fitting instructions, and requires no drilling into the expansion vessel. Contact me via private message.

Bruce.

I don't think it's a matter of being a tight arse. There always seems more pressing things to spend the few pennies we have on the MG, such as replacing sticky brake callipers, or starter motor or new front brake disks, etc.

I know that when I finally get the pounds together to repair the head gasket along with the cause of the HGF, I will include some sort of low coolant warning device.

Has anyone fitted the VW tank with built in alarm? it seems a cost-effective answer but only if it works. I read somewhere the tank is double skinned which means false alarms caused by cornering are reduced so does this mean it does not require a delay circuit?

I don't see how a double skinned tank would do that. My alarm gives a couple of beeps when cornering hard left which I use as a system check so I don't need a delay circuit. (Why delay the warning of a problem that will scrap the engine in a short space of time?) Mischievously, Why not fit a three gallon header tank in the boot and give the engine a bit more self destruct fuse?

Mine virtually never false alarms unless the level has dropped. I have to try hard to make that happen. Of course, if I was really caning it around a race track, that might not be the case

I’ve never gotten a false alarm from hard cornering…….note to self, must try harder!

The delay on the Browns & Gammon unit fitted to my car seems to do it’s job, I say “seems” as it’s never gone off nor has it had reason to do so.

But it does do it’s little self test routine on startup, so I can only assume all is well.