MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - temp sender stuck

I am changing the head gasket on a friend's car. The water temp sender is stuck solid in the head, nothing so far has had any luck on loosening the retaining nut. The head I think will also need a decoke, so I do have to get the sender out.

Has anyone got any tips for getting this sender out -it's really stuck fast, and not a single spanner in my box fits the nut on this one.

Thanks
Dominic
dominic clancy

Dominic:

You need a US 5/8" (16mm) flare wrench. This is a six point wrench with a slot to allow a tube to pass though. They are commonly used on brake and fuel lines. If the flats are rounded and damaged as sometimes happens when using an open-ended wrench, you can use a small pumber's pipe wrench.

Steve
Steve Brandt

Or in extreme circumstances, VICE GRIPS. These really tear up the nut, but usually do the job.
Dennis

Dominic
When you loosen the nut, whatever you do, do not let the bulb and copper pipe rotate or its a complete new gauge! You will probably find after loosening and sliding the nut back, that the bulb is still stuck. I found a continuous light sideways tapping and easing it back and forth as it started to come got it out eventually.
Pete
Pete Tipping

Hi Dominic. Sometimes heat makes a big difference with regard to removing seized parts. You might want to try heating the nut with a propane torch several times, letting the nut cool between heatings. Then heat it again, put a snug fitting wrench on the nut, and give a firm turn. THe nut should come loose. If not, I would heat the nut with an oxy acetelene or oxy propane torch. Cheers, Glenn. PS, it might be a good idea to leave coolant in the head while heating the nut. The coolant will protect the coolant bulb from overheating.
Glenn

You can get vise grips with jaws that grip three flats on a hex head. I think I bought mine just for that nut.
Take your time with it--heat and PB BLaster and the right tool will eventually work.
John Vallely
John Vallely

http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/tools/flare_nut_wrench.htm
Barney Gaylord

You might be careful about appling heat to the nut. I think if you overheat the bulb so as to send the gague past its hi temp limit you risk damaging the gague.
J.H. Hall

Hand grenade?

Mole grips or stilsons ( is that how you spell it? )You'll probably wreck the nut

Happy days

Terry

P.S. This what happens when you do work for friends !
Terry Drinkwater

Stilson didn't have enough of an arc to bite.
Barney, I have some of those wrenches too, but not the right size for this.

In the end I used a flat jawed mole grip, a 4lb lump hammer, and an electric heat gun. I heated it up with the air gun (and softened about 6 layers of paint), and applied the mole wrench. Three taps of the lump hammer on the mole wrench, and all was moving like a hot knife in butter (I had put some penetrating oil on the threads from inside the thermostat area last night).

The engine (which was running on horribly) has the original Mowog pistons in it, and had about 2 mm of carbon on the inside of the combustion chambers and valves. It took more than an hour of work with the drill wire brush to remove it all. Some was so hard I had to use a conical stone in the drill to remove it.

I suspect that the compression will now be more in the range it is supposed to be, and with no carbon, I hope the running on will reduce too.

I also installed new Carb spindles on the carbs of this car tonight. The old ones had a lot of slop, but the new ones are really poorly made. There is almot 0.5mm difference in the diameters of the two new spindles, and both needed finishing with a file to allow fitment of the choke operating levers. Another example of poor quality parts not made within correct tolerances or being checked to make sure that they are corrrectly finished. Retailer was Moss, no idea who the manufacturer is. One also was 0.3mm thicker at one end than at the other, which took a lot of polishing to get a good fit in the carb.

dominic clancy

dominic do you want to know who makes the spindle ! contact me if so off line. and no it is not me you can ask marcus. i still have those twin cam parts and possibly a engine your side of the water? regards steve
s curtis

This thread was discussed between 22/04/2006 and 26/04/2006

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.