The MGF Register Forums

Hello,
I have a 51 plate MGF 1.8, (not VVC), that suddenly died while I was driving. The dash lights all come on, the radio, hazard lights don't work, but the electric windows, horn and indicators seem OK. (Although the indicators stop if the hazard light button is pressed). The remote key fob does not set the alarm and the red alarm light does not come on at all, I had to lock it manually.
My first thought was cam belt, (or ECU?). The car will not start or even turn over and I couldn't bump start it either. I had a quick look for any damage, bits of belt etc. and found none. The fan belt seems OK. I have acquired a DVM and will start to test battery and fuses, but I was wondering if anyone has any idea or things, other than the above that I might check for, (or had experience of similar?), before I have to resort to getting it to a garage.
Thanks in advance.

I would suggest an earth point.

Grab the negative lead on the battery and pull gently, see if it is loose.

I would say... the lead that connects to the gearbox has snapped (did this on my MG ZS a while back with similar symptoms)... Worth a check and easy cheap fix if it is!

Ok, will try this.
Thanks.

A friend had almost the same symptoms yesterday in their TF, turned out to be the battery.
I am probably asking the obvious but have you tried jump (not bump) starting it?

Gary

ZSx wrote:I would say... the lead that connects to the gearbox has snapped (did this on my MG ZS a while back with similar symptoms)... Worth a check and easy cheap fix if it is!

I had similar on my ZS a while ago, the bolt holding the earth to the gearbox (and the clutch slave bracket) was loose, problems were worse when hot.

Quick update....I found a blown 60A fuse (battery) in bonnet compartment and have ordered a couple from Amazon £1.99
each. I'm hoping it may be a fuse just failing rather than a wiring/component I will see when I fit the new one in a few days. It explains the failure of some of the electrics as the positive terminal connects only to parts of the circuits via this fuse.
(I didn't want to jump start the car, Gary, in case it was the cam belt and I did more damage, but thanks for suggestion).
I hope this may help anyone who has or had a similar fault.

Lambypie wrote:(I didn't want to jump start the car, Gary, in case it was the cam belt and I did more damage, but thanks for suggestion).

You would know about it if the cambelt went while driving, there would be a lot of noise..........

Big fuses don't normally blow without reason.

If it starts and runs I would drive it home without touching anything, no blinkers, headlights, windows, nothing.

Then once safely home activate each item one at a time and work out which electrical circuit melts the fuse.
I'm guessing it's the hazard/blinker circuit since blinkers shouldn't stop when hazard switch is on.

talkingcars wrote:

Lambypie wrote:(I didn't want to jump start the car, Gary, in case it was the cam belt and I did more damage, but thanks for suggestion).

You would know about it if the cambelt went while driving, there would be a lot of noise..........

No, you wouldn't. I've had a cambelt go and there was no perceptible noise.

I'd guess it's the alternator which caused the battery to go flat. Don't change the battery without checking the alternator output first.

mowog73 wrote:

talkingcars wrote:

Lambypie wrote:(I didn't want to jump start the car, Gary, in case it was the cam belt and I did more damage, but thanks for suggestion).

You would know about it if the cambelt went while driving, there would be a lot of noise..........

No, you wouldn't. I've had a cambelt go and there was no perceptible noise.

On a K series?

The K series is an interference engine and will make noise (as it damages its internals).

I had the belt go three times on my first Maestro, powered by a 1.6 S series, no noise, no damage.
The third time it went I changed the water pump as well, and all in under a couple of hours.

talkingcars wrote:
On a K series?

The K series is an interference engine and will make noise (as it damages its internals).

I had the belt go three times on my first Maestro, powered by a 1.6 S series, no noise, no damage.
The third time it went I changed the water pump as well, and all in under a couple of hours.

Yes, on a K-series. It happened on my MGF and there was no noise. When I took the head off I found 8 bent valves. Talking with Roger Parker at the time, he commented that normally you don't hear any noise from the engine when the valves hit the pistons.

My only experience of valves and pistons kissing (and resulting in bent valves) was defiantly audible but I was next to the engine
(not my fault, someone else screwed up a belt change.

talkingcars wrote:My only experience of valves and pistons kissing (and resulting in bent valves) was defiantly audible but I was next to the engine
(not my fault, someone else screwed up a belt change.

Care to explain, do you know what went wrong?

So the rest of us don'y repeat the mistake.

Did they try and do it without the proper locking tool ?

There definitely is a noise when the kiss of death happens. I was unlucky enough to have the belt go just short of its due(and already booked) replacement service a couple of years back. Otherwise I would have a completely original engine with well over 200000 miles on it which burns no oil - instead it is 'mostly' original with a guest head!
The noise at low speed is like a dull momentry tuning fork followed by ominous silence from the engine because you push the clutch. I intend getting it back on eventually and will fit all new valves, guides etc Only two got bent due to the very low speed at the time.

RobboMC wrote:

talkingcars wrote:My only experience of valves and pistons kissing (and resulting in bent valves) was defiantly audible but I was next to the engine
(not my fault, someone else screwed up a belt change).

Care to explain, do you know what went wrong?

So the rest of us don'y repeat the mistake.

Did they try and do it without the proper locking tool ?

Yes, they did use the correct tool, all I will say is it does a good job of stopping the engine turning......