HELP !!! 2 problems one big one small

[marcmgf]

Hi guys, i have a V reg mgf, 70 k on the clock.....had it for 2 years.....been absolutley brilliant and i love it to bits but now i have 2 problems......1 small one which is just more of an inconvienience is water leaking through the rubber next to the wing mirrors....any ideas.....the second is much more serious.......summer last year i use to notice a smell of hot coolant.....and the reservoir cap was hissing a little and when full the coolant leaked slightly....no major issues, i was told i had just overfilled it.........about a month ago i drove from liverpool to london and noticed the oil temperature was going into the red after around an hour driving at about 80-85 mph.....however i tapped the gage on the dash and it centralised........2 weeks later i was driving in baking heat and stopped at a red light and the water temp shot up, and steam shot out of the reservoir.....got back to mien about half a mile away and let it cool down.....filled the coolant up and ordered a new pressure cap.......been driving around since and no water has blown out....theres no white in the dipstick or oil cap.......HOWEVER on saturday i noticed a leak (about a sCENSORED - "girl thingy" fool of liquid) but it was under the sort of gear box area of the car....to be honest im not even sure what this is ( excuse my ignorance) and also the engine oil temperature keeps getting very high. could this be a HGF or something else perhaps, im not driving the car at the moment

[marcmgf]

Also if it helps.......the coolant level is going down.......the new cap did stop the hissing though.....and the oil temperature i first noticed the day i topped the oil up. Thanks

[PHLEB]

Marc

It may be a long hard slog working out where water is leaking from - how much water are you loosing?
What are your cooling pipes like?

Where (if you can see it) is the water loss coming from?

How much are you filling the expansion tank?

The window is a minor issue by the sounds of it

Gordon

[marcmgf]

Cheers for getting back to me gordon.......ermmm i saw just a trickle on saturday and thats the first i have ever seen.....it is dripping from some pipe or tube.....theres 2 running parallel from engine bay towards the front bonet...its the offside one and its leakign right on the point where it connects to something else....(level with the back of the front tyre well but just left of centre of the car) expansion tank never really use to loose as much as it is now.....since i put a new cap on and the hissing has stopped it seems to be losing more....the whole engine just seems ever so hot and the water temp is goes up to 1 bar below half way within 2 mins of driving. Fortunatley i have not had any more steam explosions but i dont want to drive it in fear of another or damagin the HG (if i havent alread). cheers again

[andrew]

Marc, My F has been letting in water on both mirrors and I have tried various things over the past four years to no avail, so I keep a cloth close by when it rains and mop it up as I drive.
I think with your overheating I would check your coolant pipes and then also your oil just in case water has mixed with that meaning HGF.

[Rich Stone]

If it helps, my water level guage usually sits between the half way mark and the mark below. Also, mine shoots up there pretty quickly when the car is started in the morning. My head gasket was done with the new multi-shim/layer one a couple of months ago and it made no difference. However, when the car was re-assembled, the whole coolant system was pressure tested and the long pipes that run front to back were found to leak in FIVE places, but not enough to even show a small puddle under the car. They are suprisingly cheap to replace and once done, the system passed the pressure test with flying colours! I would suggest that you change the pipes as a matter of course as they are renowned to fail regularly.

I did recently have one occurance when both the water and oil guages suddenly started to head towards the 'red zone' whilst travelling rapidly up the A43. It was a hot day and the hood was down so I cranked up the heating to maximum and the temperature dropped to the normal levels. I then turned the heater back off and the car was fine for the rest of the journey. After talking to a few people, I've put it down to my radiator not being in perfect condition (not leaking but some of the honeycomb area a bit rough) so not working at it's optimum. It's the next thing on my shopping list!

I've also been following another thread on here discussing fitting a fan override switch. Details when I've done it...

Rich.

[daved]

Marc, as Gordon says it is a process of elimination trying to find a small coolant leak and may be best, for reasons of protecting the engine to get it checked out professionally as Rich suggested by pressure testing.

I also had leaks from the mirror cheaters on both doors and found, by accident, that the screws in the hood fasteners on top of the windscreen were only finger tight and upon tightening them the leak around the driver's mirror stopped.

The leak from the passenger side stopped when I inserted rubber tubing around the door/hood seal.

This link to Rob's we site explains it all brilliantly www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/common_problems/water_leaks/water_dripping.htm

Cheers

Dave

[jonbaker]

Marc, the long pipes are the coolant pipes that connect the engine to the radiator, they do corrode and should be replaced when they start to fail. Where you leak is appears to be the join between one of the pipes and the hose that conencts it to the engine coooling circuit.
The original clips are bit naff and should be replaced by jubilee clips. You need to check your pipes and hoses are in good condition as well checking the clip. It seems you are loosing pressure from the leak and so the coolant is boiling off as less pressure means hotter coolant which makes the coolant cap vent.

[marcmgf]

Thanks Jon that seems to make sence.....i guess the coolant cap was loose so it use to boil over out of there....now the new cap means its having to fire out of the pipe under the car.

Any ideas as to why my oil temp is getting so hot?? I say the first time i noticed it was when i took it on a long drive the day after i put some new oil in it.....it normally sits in the 12 o clock position, but now keeps creeping towards the red.....however if u flick the dial it moves.....is it possible the gague can fail /and / or be getting stuck ?

[helsbymgtf]

hi I have noticed a water leak on my car which looks like it's coming from the a pillar but in fact it is getting in at the top of the window( the curved bit )

[bandit]

Hi Marc,

The oil temperature I'd assume is normal, with either the sensor or the gauge playing up. If tapping the dashboard gets a reaction, then the gauge is the most likely suspect.

The overheating when stationary can be caused by a blown fuse for the radiator fan, or could you hear the fan operating? Radiator fan not to be confused with engine bay fan, which is considerably more audible.

The rapid warm-up time is possibly due to air pockets in the coolant, which should be resolved when you replace the underbody pipes and thoroughly bleed the system.

Definitely worth keeping a very close eye on the coolant level for a while - overheating and overpressuring can affect the seal in the water pump and open up holes in the radiator or cracks in the rubber hoses.