Well I was warned - failed head gasket.

I just think it's a pretty good car for the money. I wouldn't have a 4 pot K series as my daily, and now I've got something with a BMW lump I can appreciate how unrefined it is - but with 160PS the TF can really shift.

Surely you are not calling the engine in your 75 refined!? It's a bit of a boat anchor and a very early variant. It's not even a common rail diesel. I would imagine the K series is more refined than that.
 
Believe it or not, the K series is not an air cooled engine. The flow of air around the engine does not influence gasket life, but the flow of coolant around the engine, and temperature gradients within do.

Dude you are absolutely correct... I now need to try and remember the reason I was giving for the gaskets in the f and tf failing so readily. Could it have been something to do with the location of the thermostat? tbh I can’t remember, but do remember my mechanic having a fairly in depth conversation about the flaws of the mgf/tf cooling system.
 
I just think it's a pretty good car for the money. I wouldn't have a 4 pot K series as my daily, and now I've got something with a BMW lump I can appreciate how unrefined it is - but with 160PS the TF can really shift.

That statement combined with your sig just meant all your credibility on the subject, which wasn't a lot to begin with, just went out the window.

The TF is rubbish on its own, never mind comparing it with a good sports car.
 
That statement combined with your sig just meant all your credibility on the subject, which wasn't a lot to begin with, just went out the window.

The TF is rubbish on its own, never mind comparing it with a good sports car.

IMO that statement puts your credibility way below Matt's.

The TF is a great little sports car, check out pretty much any period review and you will find performance and dynamics were excellent, the main negatives being a hard ride and the cost, which at the time was higher than the MR2.
 
Dude you are absolutely correct... I now need to try and remember the reason I was giving for the gaskets in the f and tf failing so readily. Could it have been something to do with the location of the thermostat? tbh I can’t remember, but do remember my mechanic having a fairly in depth conversation about the flaws of the mgf/tf cooling system.

The thermostat was located at the coolant pump inlet rather than the more traditional location of on the cylinder head where the hot coolant exits to the radiator. This allowed the engine to warm up more quickly, improving fuel economy and emissions, but could also allow some cycling of the coolant temperature, especially in the MGF/TF with a long coolant path. It could also cause problems if the engine was put under load from cold, since the coolant flow was very low through the engine this could cause the engine temperature to suddenly rise - mainly a problem in Freelanders as they were quite heavy for a 1.8L engine.

This was fixed through a new design of thermostat that opened under pressure as well as temperature, and other manufacturers use a similar configuration now for the same advantages.
 
Dude you are absolutely correct... I now need to try and remember the reason I was giving for the gaskets in the f and tf failing so readily. Could it have been something to do with the location of the thermostat? tbh I can’t remember, but do remember my mechanic having a fairly in depth conversation about the flaws of the mgf/tf cooling system.

It's sweet FA to do with the cooling system, its the cylinder liners that drop down into the block over time due to a crap design.
That weakens the clamping force between the cylinder head and block and viola.. one HGF is served.
 
No it's not - I can do them in about 3 hrs total.

If you've been quoted 8 hrs labour someones bent you over.



3 hours on a MGF?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


ha.. sorry.

A 3 year bump just to fail utterly. sorry.

Been doing them for well over 10 years now, a 8v on a 200 can be done in 3 hours but thats at a push and with questionable methods. Bleeding and testing alone should take an hour. You can easily get a head off a 200/400 in 30 mins but thats only a fraction of the job. It takes the best part of that just to get the MGF's engine.

If you are really doing them in 3 hours you are not doing the job properly and taking dangerous shortcuts.
 
[TW]Fox;20067679 said:
You honestly thought it was worth bumping a 3 year old thread to tell somebody he was wrong? Really?

Hmm, didn't realise I#'d bumped an old thread - maybe I had a search open and didn't realise it.
 
To be honest I'd take dalin80's opinion over a "3hr job" statement with no justification.

Dalin in the past has demonstrated that he is knows what he is talking about and has even described the process with justification and itemised the costs on the previous page.

Being a mechanic that doesn't cut corners, its a shame that there isn't more like him.
 
When I had my TF I was quoted about £600 for 4hrs to do the Head Gasket but I didn't need it as it was done previously, just had a few other things done which to be honest I would want done on the car already by a previous owner before buying one like the coolant pipes, etc....

Great car just poor materials used and monkeys paid to design the cooling system....
 
To be honest I'd take dalin80's opinion over a "3hr job" statement with no justification.

Dalin in the past has demonstrated that he is knows what he is talking about and has even described the process with justification and itemised the costs on the previous page.

Being a mechanic that doesn't cut corners, its a shame that there isn't more like him.


Yes, and I know nothing:-

gasket.jpg



If you work from above the engine then yes, it's probably 10 hrs work due to the restricted access but even then only if you are doing the skimming of the head youself and including that in the labour total.

The proper (and quick way) to do a headgasket on an MGF is to drop the engine and subframe then lift the rear of the car over the subframe. I said three hrs but that obviously assumes you don't have to start freeing up seized bolts etc.
 
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