Now home: Stranded

[RSR92]

My mgf broke down yesterday, massive coolant loss but no overheating - I think I have a ruptured coolant pipe

I'm currently in longleat/Warminster and need either a tow home to Gloucestershire, Tewkesbury or someone who can possibly help out with a local yard I can get the car to while I fix it or who can help with the fix, all being well the head gasket hasn't suffered and I can just change the pipe, rebleed and get going.

The engine still turns over and idles with no issue etc so does this look hopeful in terms of not being HGF?

[Helsbyman]

Hi,That sounds like bad luck hope all is well now. Was it a split hose?

[Rob Bell]

My folks live in Warminster - there is parking near them. How are you doing? Could be a hose failure, or even a catastrophic water pump seal failure, but probably hose splitting is more likely...

[nigelandjo]

I know of a chap who's local to Burnham who recently transported a car for me from Burnham on Sea to Wickwar for £60. Look up Terry Heuze on Facebook and drop him a message.

[RSR92]

Hi everyone thanks for the help...we pulled a bit of a fast one and as we were down until Friday (today) we got some AA cover Wednesday night and got a tow home - it has been returned to the mechanic to assess the situation and once I've had a look in the engine bay I'll let you guys know how bad it's looking

Rob and Nigel thanks for the kind offers, thankfully I am home now - water pump and split hose are best case scenarios, I'm praying for a good result regarding any head gasket issues

[RSR92]

Photos of suspect hose

[Tipper]

Did you remove the heat shield around the exhaust manifold or was it already missing?

It's there to protect that hose from excess heat!

[RSR92]

Hi Tipper - in this instance I removed it, however the car was supplied without one so I'd support the thesis that the original damage was done due to a lack of one thankfully I noticed within a week or two of having the car but alas the damage has already been done over the years

I'm just waiting on mechanic to swap out the broken hose but I'm dying to have the car back as she was in getting the inlet manifold done last week so once she's back I'm looking forward to a proper drive!

[Steffi]

Make sure to wrap the new hose with some heatresisting tape. I had a simular problem with the same hose and my TF always had a heat shield.

[RSR92]

Thanks for the advice Steffi, I shall do, I may also see how easy it would be to wrap the exhaust manifold in situ to further aid service life of the hose (and to perhaps reduce the engine bay temp a little)

[flyingbanana]

Thanks for the advice Steffi, I shall do, I may also see how easy it would be to wrap the exhaust manifold in situ to further aid service life of the hose (and to perhaps reduce the engine bay temp a little)

Don't wrap the mild steel manifold, the heat leeches the carbon out of the steel and makes it brittle. You should only wrap stainless, and that is now controversial as the heat has to go somewhere and the head is aluminium...

[RSR92]

Thanks for the advice Steffi, I shall do, I may also see how easy it would be to wrap the exhaust manifold in situ to further aid service life of the hose (and to perhaps reduce the engine bay temp a little)

Don't wrap the mild steel manifold, the heat leeches the carbon out of the steel and makes it brittle. You should only wrap stainless, and that is now controversial as the heat has to go somewhere and the head is aluminium...

Fantastic advice haha thanks very much, not something I had considered

[Plezier]

Glad to see you are no longer stranded. People seem to forget that these cars are getting on in years now and so are the coolant hoses! Have had two fail on the MGF's now the one from the coolant rail with the return hose tot eh tank on the VVC went on the way home from Burleigh House MG meeting and Blues starting weeping down near Gatwick in january 2015.

[RSR92]

Thank you and yeah, replacement of every coolant carrying passageway is on my list, 16 year old hoses that have heat cycled countless times are none too reliable! They may hold but the question is for how long!

These things are okay so long as you catch them before any major damage is done