head gasket failure?

dean_ham · 2 Dec 2006 at 11:18

Yes you guessed it

its a rover engine lol

Bought a 4 year old MG TF in the summer for cheap with 20k miles on the clock. Thought i better get a warrenty with warrenty direct due to the repatation of these cars...

Had a big service in august cam belt changed no probs, oil changed etc.

MOT last month no probs....

Checked my oil maybe 2-3 weeks ago no probs...

Checked my oil yesterday and its basically on minimum now with slight mayo on the dip stick, not a large amount but there is some on there.
Checked my coolant water and its looks all yellowy and thick, i had to drive 50miles home from my girlfriends uni and topped up the coolant water and when i checked the coolant water this morning it has dropped a good 5cm since i put it in yesterday so it looks like its loosing coolant water aswell!

Does this sound like a Head gasket failure?

Just phoned the claims dept for warrenty direct but its closed untill monday now and i need my car for work! Do i get the work done asap and then phone them first?

Cheers guys

ZG002 · 2 Dec 2006 at 11:21

Unfortantly.. id say it does look like HGF mate.

moss · 2 Dec 2006 at 11:35

Yep, does sound like the HG is gone.

ajgoodfellow · 2 Dec 2006 at 11:37

Yeah, it does sound like HGF

It's rather unfortunate to have it fail so early - the earlier owners must have thrashed the car from cold

As for driving it - as far as I know you can cause further damage to the car if you keep driving it with HGF unfortunately as the head can become porous

ci_newman · 2 Dec 2006 at 11:40

BUT the work is all covered by the warranty is it not?

So any resulting damage would also be covered by the warranty?

ajgoodfellow · 2 Dec 2006 at 11:46

Warranty Direct do cover consequential damage. That is, if your cambelt snaps prematurely they'll cover the cost of a new engine and not just a cambelt

Maybe they will? If they don't skim the head though then it's likely to go again

tom_nieto · 2 Dec 2006 at 11:50

Skimming the head depends on whether it's warped due to temperature. Were you looking at the oil and coolant temp gauges at all? It's all well and good just replacing the head gasket, but you need to try to get to the root of the problem and get the coolant bled and checked for leaks.

Dave85 · 2 Dec 2006 at 12:30

im interested in how this will be handled by warranty as I just bought a policy at 30 quid a month for situations like this.

bad news about the car though but keep us updated

Sime · 2 Dec 2006 at 12:40

Same thing happend to me, bought my rover 214 and the next day after buying it, looked inside the coolant bay and there was a nice layer of oil on the top. Went down to our family mechanic and straight away he said "head gasket is in early signs of going". Went down to where I bought the car and they sorted it out in afew hours...Lucky for me I had a look around the car and nothing too serious happened. All sorted now and the car has been brilliant for the last 4 months. Hope you get it all sorted mate...

M0T · 2 Dec 2006 at 12:53

dean_ham said:
Does this sound like a Head gasket failure?

Just phoned the claims dept for warrenty direct but its closed untill monday now and i need my car for work! Do i get the work done asap and then phone them first?

Cheers guys

Sounds exactly like HGF.

You may have to speak to them first as they may have an approved garage scheme going on, and you don't want to pay for the work and then not have them pay up.

If you drive the car then you are risking terminal engine failure, as you can imagine oily coolant doesn't flow well around enignes and the K series has narrow coolant pathways. Mayo tends to block them so you get areas of localised heating and in these areas the block can crack. The only driving it should be doing is to the mechanic.

Edit: If the coolant is dropping then its leaking back into the oilway so you can expect more mayo to form on the dipstick and under the coolant cap. Which is also bad news because oily coolant slush doesn't lubricate engines particularly well so its dangerous to run like that either.

cymatty · 2 Dec 2006 at 13:23

This puts me of getting an elise.

ajgoodfellow · 2 Dec 2006 at 13:26

cymatty said:
This puts me of getting an elise.

This is rather early for one to go. You just have to let the engine warm up gently - don't rev it about 3000 rpm until both the oil and water are warm - and to continually check the fluids and cooling pipes. Unfortunately, a lot of sports cars are driven hard from cold which causes premature HGF in a K-Series engine

@ dean_ham - just reading a post about someone with HGF on the MG-Rover forums and someone there suggested using K seal as a temporary repair until you can fix the head gasket

http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=161441

Nozzer · 2 Dec 2006 at 13:28

cymatty said:
This puts me of getting an elise.

Why?

It's peanuts to fix and new K-Series engines are only slightly more expensive if it's a 'bad' HGF.

edit: My HG went at 43,000.

cymatty · 2 Dec 2006 at 13:29

Nozzer said:
Why?

It's peanuts to fix and new K-Series engines are only slightly more expensive.

edit: My HG went at 43,000.

I want a semi reliable car not one that dispenses free mayo.

Nozzer · 2 Dec 2006 at 13:34

So buy another car to drive when you need reliability

I've never not expected my Elise to start, or run, and regularly do ~200 mile trips in it.

dean_ham · 5 Dec 2006 at 19:39

update :

drained all the oil yesterday and there doesnt look like there was any water in with the oil and no mayo of any sort in the oil.

Put 4.5 litres new oil back in and wiped the dipstick.

Ran the car now for another 30-40 miles and there is slight white/yellow substance on the dip stick again.... not much but its visible on the whole length of the dip stick....

Ive filled the coolent spot on maximum so will keep a close eye every day on the water level....

If it doesnt move over a month say would you say its just some sort of condensation accumilating on the dip stick?????

Any suggestions guys?

Cheers

TaKeN · 5 Dec 2006 at 20:05

If the water level doesn't go down then i would say its ok.

But there still shouldn't be very much mayo on that stick,

Guigsy · 5 Dec 2006 at 21:44

The old Freelander had the same 1.8 K series engine... so suffers from the same HGF problems. Of course Ford now own Land Rover, so they inherited all the 1.8 HGF problems. I heard that a few months ago they released a new head gasket kit for their 1.8's to improve the situation... and it'll fit a the MGF. Don't know if it's actually any good though.

My mate asked for advise, he said he wanted a reliable two seater soft top. We said MX5/MR2, he said those are hair-dressers cars and bought an old MGF after we told him all the horror stories about HGF...

He phoned me a few days after he got it saying it'd just died on the motorway. Turns out it was the cambelt. :rolleyes:

In the last 3 months it's cost him £2000 for a car he paid £3000 for and it's only been on the road for a couple of weeks. Now the ABS light is stuck on and the gearbox is stiff as hell and something is whining...

tom_nieto · 5 Dec 2006 at 21:52

Guigsy said:
He phoned me a few days after he got it saying it'd just died on the motorway. Turns out it was the cambelt. In the last 3 months it's cost him £2000 for a car he paid £3000 for and it's only been on the road for a couple of weeks. Now the ABS light is stuck on and the gearbox is stiff as hell and something is whining...

His fault entirely for buying a lemon. Cambelts don't snap unless the car is in need of a service generally.

ajgoodfellow · 6 Dec 2006 at 00:25

I really wouldn't drive with it at all

The fact that it looks like it's HGF from the earlier symptons and that you're getting new mayo on the dip stick really does point to HGF

If you drive with HGF you'll risk serious permanent damage to the engine. At worst the liners will drop and you'll need a new engine

As you've got a warranty it just isn't worth the risk - get it sorted

RE the MGF: Yep, just sounds like he's got a lemon. As said, cambelts don't generally snap unless the car has been neglected and the change intervals ignored. They're not usually that unreliable. Just keep the car well maintained, watch the coolant levels and the pipes running to the radiator and don't rev it above 3000rpm until it's fully warmed up