Topic

Well, with 5 months of 2005 TF ownership, I think I have a lemon.
The seal on the air inlet needed to be made water tight which also meant the carpet had to come out. It will go back this weekend.
Not fully solved door sealing yet but will take a look over the holiday. Using a cap cover on rainy days.

The horn is not working and have yet to have the time to get out there when it has not been raining.

The coolant light came on and I thought it was the connector on the reservoir but it has turned out to be the level of the coolant. And to add to the situation, I have mayonaise on the dipstick.

This would not be so bad if I had not bought it from a well-known dealer who replaces head gaskets on new cars sold.

It will go to Summit Motors in the New Year and we will see what they say.

My questions:
- has anyone had the head gasket problem and now has a dream car?
- what is the going rate to sort out a new head gasket (I will hear it from Summit but would like to hear from more experienced owners and reduce the shock)?
- how am I going to open the discussion with Mrs GD?

Happy Christmas.....

Mr G_D, best of luck with that conversation, certainly no advice from me there

very tricky problem

Mat

My TF had the head gasket changed some time ago. It runs very sweet and I've never needed to top up the coolant.

I think you are looking at £600+ for the job doing properly.

Hi GD. Well dont despair as this is certainly fixable.

There are 2 types of replacement head gasket depending on the height of the cylinder liners so its possible the dealer who sold it to you fitted the wrong type. Have you spoken to the dealer about them changing it again, either free, parts only or at a reduced labour rate. A discrete comment about being a member of an owners' forum and the power of social media could help you during such a conversation

A head gasket change can be done at home with average DIY mechanic skills. Dozens of people on this and the other forums have done this job so there is a wealth of information. No reason to pay anyone else to do it- the only part that it could be worth getting someone to do would be to get an engineering shop to check the cylinder head for any minor warpage and then skim it if required. The rest is all DIY, A reconditioned 135 cylinder head is £ 325 if there turns out to be a serious problem with the head (not that i would expect that to be the case) and good, checked 2nd hand ones would be a lot less than that.
It would be ideal to get the car under cover whilst you are working on it if you can. if you dont have a garage or car port it's time to ask neighbours and nearby friends if they can help with getting it under cover so you can work on it for a couple of days.

Isn't there several companies that will come to your house and change the head gasket for you?

John and Claire Norris of Rough Luck Racing will come out and sort it . They are well known for their work on F and TF's .

John

Neilpinleeds, very good to know. There is hope after all.

Nota, thanks too. I have a B and had to swap a head for Peter Burgess one. But a B and a TF are very different animals.
The TF was supposed to be my daily driver.
Your confidence building enthusiasm is much appreciated but I do want it to be fit and forget and I dont have the time to spend on it at this time of year.
Summit mentioned exactly the same as you when I called them this morning. The liner height is something they will be considering and a rubber gasket as opposed to ML type. I am not sure I would be able to decide as I have no experience of them.

To be honest, I have lost faith in the dealer despite the number of Fs and TFs they sell per month. If they got that wrong, I do not trust them to get it right.
And I would expect them to put up a fight as it is out of 3 month warranty. Their business is bigger than anyone else selling these cars and after all is said, they are just secondhand dealers. If I want to keep the car, it has got to be done with confidence.

John, thanks for the reminder about Rough Luck. No personal experience of them. I have committed to Summit.
Fortunately, we have RAC At Home and I will give them a call when everything opens again in the New Year. They can take it to Summit and I will report back.

The horn will be a relay change by Technozen but after the engine is back in service.

At least the car is dry inside now.
If only the head gasket was as leakproof as our joint account - Mrs GD has been out on the Christmas spend. That might be to my advantage........

Great forum. I look forward to posting some good news about the car nest year.

You must remember that MG stands for '' MONEY GRABBER' - If you are sending the BCU to Paul at Technozen for one relay, he only charges £50 for a full replacement of superior relays, unit returned in two days (just done one on a LE500 for a friend. Headgasket - The liner heights must be 4 thou above the block and all equal to use the MLS gasket, otherwise use a polymer one. so the correct gasket cannot be decided until the head is off and the block/liners are measured. Graham Underwood sells a Stainless Steel snorkel brace to apply even pressure around the edges of the snorkel. £25 I have bought one, but not yet fitted, I changed my air box to a Snorkel in 2012 and its not leaking, but his brace is ''Belt & Braces''- Enjoy your car, they are very addictive

The head gasket was replaced, along with the undercar coolant pipes, in my 2004 TF 135 9 years ago at about 100,000 miles. It's now done 113,000 miles. It's not a lot of miles since it was done but, with regular servicing, the car runs very well indeed. It uses very little coolant; I top it up about once a year.

Head gasket replacement isn't such a big deal. I've never done it on the TF but on my MG Midget I used to have the head off once a year to sort out the exhaust valves and I reckoned on an afternoon to do the job. But I was young then; now I'd probably get it done. The mobile MG guys seem very reasonable. They come to you but it will reduce travelling costs if they are closer, so here are a few well-known people and their locations. Some even have prices for the job on their website.

https://mgroversolutions.com/ - Sussex
http://www.mg-rovermobilemechanics.com/ - Derby
https://www.roughluckracing.com/mobile-head-gasket-failure-hgf-repair/ - York
http://www.mjsautoandmarine.co.uk/prices/ - Sussex south coast

Hope this helps.

Thanks very much Bryan.
All very helpful and supportive.
Searched for Graham Underwood MG brace with no results. Any link available please? A bit new to F/TF world.
I think I solved the incontinence problem but the brace is a good idea.

Generous Dad, your experience is exactly why I wouldn't buy a MGF/TF at any of those high priced outlets, its true that they have been selected for being in pristine condition, but you can purchase an equally good one for half the cost (or less) privately. You then have cash in hand for these repairs that come subsequently to light. I recently bought a TF with a non working starter motor on Ebay for £467 , since I only wanted it for the engine I wasn't worried about it's general condition. When I collected it the interior was pristine, the hood is in excellent condition and the whole underneath and subframes had been waxoiled. A TT7 exhaust had recently been fitted as was a lot of stainless steel bling under the bonnet. It came with a fairly complete service history and a head gasket change about ten years ago. It does however have a few rust bubbles in usual places on the sills but in the worst case scenario a £1000- 1250 will make that equally good.

Needing a coolant top up once a year might mean that it is not a head gasket issue, it might be leaking from somewhere else; there's lots of other places to leak from.

For instance, after I replaced the underfloor coolant pipes with SS pipes, I discovered a few drips at one hose connection, the jubilee clip needing tightening. SS expands more than mild steel, which can work a jubilee clip a bit loose. Check the for a drip and try tightening the jubilee clips.

I would suggest adding coolant dye, drive the car and then look at every hose connection with a black light, looking for glowing coolant drips. Also check around the inlet manifold and the engine coolant rail pipe.