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MG MGF Technical - Leaking coolant underneath

Was driving along the motorway yesterday and suddenly saw some steam coming out of the back of my MGF so pulled over straight away and called the AA as the water and coolant seemed to have gone v low. Checked 2 weeks ago but have done a long 200m journey since.
I've only had the car for 1 month - V reg with 36k miles, has had head gasket replaced by and MG delaer around 1yr ago and belts too. AA man said it was hard to tell but didn't hting it was HGF, more a leak. Coolant etc was dripping heavily from the underneath.
Any ideas what this could be??
KC Carballo

No HGF but steam coming out of the rear. I havenīt heard of this before. But leaks can occur at the connection between rubber engine outlet and steel under car coolant pipes. Those leaks are more drops and donīt tend to produce steam or drop the coolant that fast.

There are quite a few hose-pipe connections that can brake. MGR didnīt use premium quality fasteners. These corrode over time and lead to failures. Hard to say where and which one.

Does the car loose liquid when parked overnight? Or only when driving?

Iīd propose to do a "quick" check. Raise the rear of the hood, take out the parcel shelve covers and undo 8 engine cover bolts. All the connections should be well visible. Only the ones to the rear of the engine, below the inlet manifold are not. Those and the under car connections should be checked when having the car on axle stands.

Best of luck!

cheers,



David Peters

There are so many places that this could be coming from - Inlet manifold gasket, under floor pipes corroded, split hose, leaking radiator... It's not alway obvious when the car is standing and often only gets going when the system is working under pressure. If you say you can see water dripping, it must be fairly substantial: Front of car, radiator or hose - Middle of car, underfloor pipes or hose connection - Rear of car, hose or inlet manifold gasket...

Best to take it to a local garage and get them to pressure test the cooling system - It soon becomes obvious!!
Mark Clayton

I had exactly the same, loads of steam, but it was accompanied by a bang that attracted my attention to the rear mirror where I could see loads of steam.

I immediately pulled over and got a two truck home.

When i removed the engine cover under the parcel shelf and could see the engine it was obvious that the rubber pipe had split.

Bought a new one, fitted it, filled and bled the system and its stll going.

Brian
Brian

This thread was discussed between 25/03/2008 and 27/03/2008

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