Hi from Carrum, (Australia)

Hi Everybody,

I’ve owned my MG TF135 for about 6 weeks but to today was special because I got to drive it for the first time!
That’s because after driving and falling in love with a number of MGF’s and TF’s I finally chose to buy one with a blown head gasket, partly because that made it cheap but mainly because I fell further in love with the grenadine interior.

Got it trailered home, pulled the head off and found it must have had the head gasket done fairly recently because everything was in great condition and there was an MLS gasket in there. All great other than the water in the oil, but you can’t have everything. Decided the MLS gasket was the problem as the liners were level with the block, certainly not protruding by the required amount, so decided to go for the Payen original style gasket.

While it was apart I had the head ported a bit and cleaned up nicely, installed a low coolant level alarm, the later style thermostat mounted up the front and fixed a few other things in the car. While I was under the car I noticed that the heater hoses had been disconnected and blocked off. I went to the garage where the previous owner had had some work done and they told me they did this because the heater core was blocked. Oh dear, most heater cores are a pain to replace. However, I thought the heater temperature control didn’t feel right, so had a look at the heater tap. Well, tried to, but it wasn’t there and this end of the hoses were blocked off as well!
Putting 2 and 2 together and probably making 5, I think the heater tap started leaking at some stage so a previous owner took it out and blocked the hoses at the front. Then the garage couldn’t get water to flow through the heater hoses so assumed the heater core was blocked and disconnected the hoses at the rear!

Anyway, I bought a heater tap, reconnected everything, and kept my fingers crossed. All the parts I need for the head, water pump, cam belt, stonger head bolts and oil rail, etc arrived a week or so ago, so have been putting it all back together. Finished it all before lunch today, started it up and ran it through a few heat cycles in the garage. Let it cool down over lunch, and then the big moment come - finally got to drive it!

Well so far the results are all good. drove about 60 kilometres, took it easy but cruised a bit at around 110 Kph.
Oil temp stayed right on 100 and water temp never moved from about the 1/3 mark. Engine and all the rest of the car felt great. Heater worked perfectly! Didn’t use any water or oil.

It’s still early days but fingers crossed that the head gasket will be ok at least for a reasonable period.

By the way, I’m retired and have been driving over 50 years. I've been a car nut all my life, have owned over 100 cars including various competition cars and exotics and have no plans to stop anytime soon. I'm blessed with quite reasonable health and fitness at this stage of my life & as long as I can keep getting in and out of them, interesting cars will always have a place in my garage.

As for MGF's & TF's, my only regret is that I didn't find them years ago. What fantastic, under-rated cars they are. I drove 5 of them before buying one, ranging from a standard 1.8 MGF to a TF160 and loved everyone of them. The engines, steering and handling are great, they look terrific and they are comfortable, very usable sports cars. I've own a Porsche 911 & 924 Turbo, 2 Alpine Renault A310's and a GTA, a mid-engined Renault 5 Turbo 2 and a Toyota MR2 Turbo amongst many others. I wouldn't prefer any of them to the TF I now have!

Finally, thanks to everybody on this forum and some others. Your posts over the years are a wonderful resource that gave me the confidence to go ahead with this, even after a few MG mechanics told me I was mad. It’s a really great forum - thank you all.

Cheers, Alby

:welcome2:

Hi Alby, what a great story. It sounds as though you know your way around a car, no problem. Not many new owners would have dived into so many faults before even driving the car. I hope it gives you many years of joy and trouble free motoring. :drive:

Hi Alby,

welcome aboard!

:welcome: Alby to the best Forum on the net.

Squashman56

Flaming eck...I was gripped to my seat reading this...well done and fingers crossed...hope to see some pictures soon...pictures of the none mg cars welcome aswell.

Hi Alby and :welcome: from John in Yorkshire.

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the welcomes and for the interesting comments.Drove the car another 80 kilometres today - everything great, good temperatures, no water or oil used or leaked, and a wonderful, enjoyable car to drive. Why didn't I do this years ago?!?!

Only issue so far is very minor, an occasional, slightly sticking accelerator. Feels like the cable might be sticking somewhere but nothing obvious. Gives me something to look at on the weekend, but a drive to the hills on Thursday will come first, can't wait.

Presuming they load ok, here's some pics. Cheers

Grenadine interior , lovely . :broon:
John

Hi and welcome aboard,

have a look at the throttle body, the butterfly in mine used to stick occasionally until I cleaned it.

James

:welcome: :welcome: :welcome:

Great story!

"have a look at the throttle body, the butterfly in mine used to stick occasionally until I cleaned it."

hey thanks James, that's an excellent suggestion. It fits the symptoms quite well so its the first thing I'll try.

Cheers, Alby