Bonjour from rainy France.

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Tasng4
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2019 3:35 pm
MGF Register Region: Europe

Bonjour from rainy France.

Post by Tasng4 » Fri Nov 22, 2019 9:16 am

Bonjour a tous,
Nous avons achete.......that's enough of that!
We live in France, about 50kms south of Grenoble and have been here for 12 years. I've been into old/classic cars for quite a while and during our last trip to England decided it was time we had an MGF.....I mean they're just so cheap and the value can only go up....although that's not the reason we buy them. We searched around on Ebay for a good 'un and decided £850 was a fair price for a 2000 MGF with 93k miles. It had a couple of problems, the passenger window doesn't open, the high level brake light doesn't work and there are a few stone chips but it has MOT until March 2020.

Money changed hands and it was ours and what a lovely piece of kit it ia, was and hopefully is again. The problem was on the way home to France, we'd already driven about 500 miles, there was an overheating problem, a radiator hose had split in a spectacular fashion - a 2" gash. When it went the car exploded in a cloud of steam but we we rolled into a service station. The fix was simple, I cut off the split portion of the hose and re-attached it, refilled with anti-freeze and off we went. We managed about another 200kms and then.........nothing, no power. Again we rolled into an emergency lay-by and got the tools out. The cambelt had snapped.........or had it. The car was recoved to a garage and we comtinued on our way in our Rover 75, a few days later the 'F' was delivered home and the investigation started.

It turns out the cam belt hadn't snapped, the over heating had caused the plastic cam belt covers to melt and sag onto the cam belt tensioer, the plastic 'tyre' on the bearing had separated losing cam belt tension and the belt jumped a few teeth. Long story short, new tensioner and restart the car....noooo no such luck. IT ran but not at all well. So head off to reveal bent valves but no piston damage, recon head fitted, inlet cam pully fitted 180 degrees out - didn't start, refitted correctly and after a bit of coaxing it spluttered back into life.

I've bought a new hose, distributor cap, oil filers, plug leads etc ready for a service. I even managed to find replacement cam belt cowling.

An interesting initiation into MGF ownership. But all in all I think it was just one of those things that could've hapenned to anyone at any time. The only issue I have with the 'F', and all modern cars, is the sheer number of hoses and they're expensive. The one hose I bought was £50 and I'm now concerned that others may go.
Last edited by Tasng4 on Fri Nov 22, 2019 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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colintf
Committee Member & Regional Rep
Posts: 12492
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:49 pm
MGF Register Region: Devon & Cornwall
Model of Car: MG PA TF160 ZTV8
Location: Bristol / Cornwall (back home!)
Contact:

Re: Bonjour from rainy France.

Post by colintf » Fri Nov 22, 2019 9:41 am

Bonjour and welcome. Good luck with your F :thumbsu:

Colin Murrell
MGF Register International Liaison Rep
MGF Register Regional Rep for Devon & Cornwall and Cotswold Regions
MGCC Z and V8 Registers Reps for V8 ZT'/ZTTs




http://www.two-sixties.com/main.htm http://www.triple-mracing.com/

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talkingcars
Posts: 5775
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:44 pm
MGF Register Region: South East
Model of Car: mk1 VVC
Location: West Sussex
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Re: Bonjour from rainy France.

Post by talkingcars » Fri Nov 22, 2019 6:10 pm

Hi and welcome to the forum, and to the joys of ownership.

Once you have it sorted you will get great pleasure from it.

James
Home to black Alfa 159 3.2 V6 Q4, blue MGZR160, green MGF VVC and grey MGF 1.8i, and red MG Maestro T16.

MGF chatting on the Register and at http://www.the-t-bar.com

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nigelandjo
Committee Member & Regional Rep
Posts: 4971
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:44 pm
MGF Register Region: Somerset & Dorset
Model of Car: TF85th,TF135,Trophy
Location: Berrow
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Re: Bonjour from rainy France.

Post by nigelandjo » Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:41 pm

Hello and welcome.
Nigel May
Somerset & Dorset Regional Rep, Membership Secretary, Registrar & Archivist
Email: somerset.dorset@mgfregister.org
members@mgfregister.org

MGCC Members register here: https://mgfregister.org/?page_id=319

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Charless
Posts: 2375
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:52 pm
MGF Register Region: South Coast
Model of Car: 96 Mpi, 99 VVC
Location: Chilbolton

Re: Bonjour from rainy France.

Post by Charless » Sun Nov 24, 2019 8:46 pm

Don't fret too much about the hoses:-
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=25265

Tasng4
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2019 3:35 pm
MGF Register Region: Europe

Re: Bonjour from rainy France.

Post by Tasng4 » Mon Nov 25, 2019 7:30 am

Nigel - I've tried to register but the 'capcha does seem to be working. I get the following

The reCAPTCHA wasn't entered correctly. Go back and try it again.(reCAPTCHA said: incorrect-captcha-sol)

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