MG Rovers, Head Haskets & Warranties

memark

Hello everyone,
I've just bought an MG TF, 3.5 years old with 8,600 miles (yes, really :j ) on the clock for £7,850. I just couldn't resist it at that price - it was nearly £21k brand new!

Anyway, the one thing that's bothering me is it's now out of warranty and MG's are not the most reliable cars in the world. In particular, they all seem to need new head gaskets sooner or later (unfortunately, usually sooner), which would have been covered under warranty.

The question I've got is do I now buy a warranty? I've seen www.warrantydirect.co.uk to cover this worry particularly, as well as others of course?

Let's face it, if the head hasket goes, we're looking at a £600 bill or thereabouts. So, if the warranty covers the head, and it's less than that, I'm on a winner and the one major worry about owning an MG is removed.

Thanks,

Mark

AlanCollier

There's a good (but long) article on the k-series engine here.

http://www.sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/thecar/engine/kingk.html

A head gasket failure (HGF) is almost inevitable at some point but instead of worrying about it, enjoy the car.

You could always put £800 away in premium bonds!

--Alan

blue_haddock

Check the fine print of the warranty before buying it - they often say they will cover the cost of the part that failed but not any parts that get damaged as consequential failure.

So they would pay for the replacement head gasket but any other damage you would have to pay for.

Paul_the_Painter

Have to disagree with Alan, after reading the article thoughouly, and having a bit of experiance with K-series engines in Caterhams, head gasket is NOT inevitable at all. You have a Rover standard engine (i.e. it has not been messed about with by anyone else) The problms seem to come with tuned engines by third parties including Lotus amonst others not really understanding the engine. The only potential modification you should think about is moving the thermostat to the output from the engine instead of the input side, but this in unlikely to be of much benefit if you do not subject the car to heavy power unil it is warmed up. The other issue is coolant loss which should be monitered on at least a weekly basis, as the coolant capacity is quit low, and any loss needs to be immediatly rectified.

I've been involved with 3 seasons of caterham racing with the same engine and state of tune, and of a field of 25 cars each year not one blew a gasket, and they were used a lot harder than you will use yours

jjames_3

The 1.8 engine in the TF is very susceptible to HG failure (look at all the 1.4 Rovers which have this problem; the 1.8 is in the same boat).

As I understand it, the 1.8s in Lotuses etc are actually far less likely to fail than the stock unit. I'm not sure why but that's the way it seems to pan out. Speaking to my dealer who sold MGs until they went under along with Hyundais, Mazdas etc he did say that he's seen at least half of the TFs he's sold come back with engine problems, mostly HG.

Regardless, PaulThePainter is absolutely right about keeping an eye on the coolant; this is essential on any car but particularly the K-series due to its history.

edamage

My advice is read the small print very carefully. As I got a warranty with London General Holdings (part of the Anon warranty group), Tried to claim to get my gearbox fixed because it developed an oil leak. And was told I was not covered.(I'm fighting this because I believe their wrong) But the onus is on me to get it fixed because if I don't my cover will be void. In MY opinion it's not worth the paper it's printed on.

tomstickland

I'd just keep an eye on the coolant level, renew it if necessary, warm the engine up properly and get on with driving it. Make sure you strap the hair care products down properly first though.

nej

My father-in-law has a Freelander with this engine in it, and the head gasket blew, requiring a new engine. Eventually he got the cost back from Rover for it but it took some time. He only got the engine cost (£1500), not the labour which was about the same amount.
I also knew someone who sold an MG-TF and a couple of days later had a call from a very irate buyer saying it had blown...

That said, the majority don't blow, but read any warranty carefully. They may not cover what they consider to be inherent defects.

Louisa_Jane_2

My husband has a 1.8 MGTF and he says that to give yourself the best chance of avoiding HGF, always make sure you keep to below 3000rpm when the engine is cold. In addition, you must make sure that the engine oil temp. has reached 60 degrees before exceeding 3000rpm.

golddustmedia

Not a solution but a point of view:
You note what a bargain the car was, well the cheap prices of MG's and Rovers at present is in part due to the lack of warranties etc from the dealer. Perhaps you should accept that you got the car cheap and spend a little on a warranty.

That said, my previous experience with a warranty on a Ford was a bad one. I "chose" to take the car in when I realised it was in trouble but the warranty would only cover "failure" of a part. The dealer actually told me I'd have been covered if I kept the car on the road and drove until catastrophic failure resulting in a huge bill for them, rather than bringing it in for replacement parts resulting in a bill for me since the parts hadn't actually failed but were instead "heavily worn". Daft eh?

tomstickland

I'djust put the money into a savings account, change the coolant, not drive it hard until warmed up and take the chance.