Combined brains of T-Bar needed!

.. but stop turning the engine over until Russell has been, it may be that damage is already done but fingers crossed...

David - don't worry. :nonod: Lee used the possible "bent V" word too many times already for my liking!! :whistle:

Battery is out and keeping warm in my kitchen, and won't be going back in until January 31st! :beer:

John

Hi John,

At least this didn't happen with the engine at 6000 RPM....just imagine the pistons going up and down and some valves stuck open - perhaps your TF was trying to tell you something before it got really expensive. I've heard that the tensioner bolt can shear....Mr Satur makes a stronger one because of this.

I've had a slightly better day in a way with the MG F. The state of the driver's side headlight convinced me that it wasn't really worth refurbishing - 2 of the spring clips were missing, the seal had more or less gone, the glass had a small crack which had been bodged (clearly this light has been out before) and some of the lugs were dodgy. Given that reslivering costs around £100 once you've paid for P & P and I'd still need some donor parts, buying 2 new units for £212 including P&P seemed a better solution and a lot more straightforward - there is plenty to go wrong during reassembly as well!

Richard

Thanks Richard. That was the scenario that has played through my head too. I just hope that turning her over on the starter motor hasn't done expensive damage too. Russell will need to take the head off to check, but I trust in his skill and experience :broon:

Sorry to hear your tale of woe, but at least having given it a shot, you are clear what the best thing is to do.

Best Wishes,

John

Son of Saint Russell came to visit earlier this week, rearranged because of snow difficulites elsewhere in the country :whistle:

Ostensibly this was just going to be "assessing the damage and report back to Russell" visit, but James got stuck in and after 1.5 hours had dismantled the engine, identified the fault and was off back to the workshop to deal with 6 bent valves!!! :sick:



All in bitter cold weather outside!



The bent valves meant that the camshaft would't turn,and so James also had to remove the cam carrier to free the head from the block :rant:





We discovered the problem after we had removed the Cambelt :omg:



The lower plastic casing that goes behind the Crank pulley had broken and a piece of plastic had wedged itself in the mechanism. Hence engine would't turn at first. Getting the starter motor to turn the engine had stripped the belt of some of it's teeth - and bent a few valves (which of course were not moving) in the process :nonod:

True to his word James was back a couple of hours later with a cleaned up head with 6 new ground in valves :woohoo:



He proceeded to put everything back together

Another 1.5 hours later, the engine was back together with new cambelt, head gasket, water pump and tensioner :woohoo:



After this open heart surgery, I was amazed when we connected the battery and it fired up on the first turn of the key :bust:

However James was not happy, and so came back the next morning to finish the job :broon:

Throughout all of this, and a very cold day to boot - James was always ready to answer my inane questions and allow me to take photos when I am sure he just wanted to get on. What a gentleman!

I've been a bit busy at work, so today was the first day I could really take her out to enjoy a drive and ensure that everything had settled in correctly. She runs like a dream again! :woohoo: Massive respect to MG Rover Solutions :broon:

Wow, all because of a broken bit of plastic....:nonod:

Glad all is well again. :broon:

Hi John,

H had spotted on facebook that you were out and about again so she's fired off a question about the fix but your post answers all of the questions (except how much it cost!). Anyway, a great result in so many ways - a few bent valves is so much better than a piston with a hole in it...you've now got all the usual suspects (headgasket, cambelt, water pump) all sorted plus new gaskets too so that should last a while and give some peace of mind (which is almost priceless)!

Richard

PS what do you call the son of a saint?

This thread is amazing big thumbs up.to st Russell and family and gives everyone a customer perspective of how things should be done.

Well done and glad things are working

nothing to add except :broon:

oh, and did you get a new expansion tank cap? if not, do it soon mate, that other one was boogered

see you soon out and about

Lee

groovylee wrote: nothing to add except :broon:

oh, and did you get a new expansion tank cap? if not, do it soon mate, that other one was boogered

see you soon out and about

Lee

Lee, I sure did! Thanks for noticing it, and remembering to remind me!!

See you at FRL?? :woohoo:

John

Indeed you will mate :woohoo: