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 MGF Technical - 60k service

Dear All

Anyone had the 60k service done yet and how much did they pay ???

I have a 1995 N with 26,000 mile on the clock. FMGSH too.

Kindest Regards

Sunil
Sunil

I am about to put my 96 N in for a service too - wouldn't mind knowing what they cost. Cheers.
Andrew Hay

Hmm... this could be a very popular topic, as a lot of he cars approach 5 years. Fortunately I've got 'til October to save up.

Someone posted a list, or there was one on a site, that compared costs for the various services: I seem to remember the 5 year/60k being around £550. <Gulp>

E

PS. Hope my memory is as bad as usual.
Ed Clarke

Jesus Ed, I hope you are wrong. The service manual doesn't differentiate between the 60 month/60K service and all the others. There's no major cambelt changes or anything like that as I remember. As far as I know it's just oil change and other fluids (Touch wood).
Andrew Hay

Sounds about right because it does include a cam-belt change which is expensive work.

Ted
Ted Newman

I think 60K service is exspensive due to Cam belt and Spark plug change plus all the other normal things.

I will findout later this year as am currently on 54K.

Due to the fact services are carried out every year or 12000 miles what ever comes first, even low mileage cars like Sunil's will still have the same basic cost.

Tom
Tom Randell

Mines only got 38K on the clock, but it will be a 60 month service. As far as I can see in the service book, it is 92k when the cambelt is changed, it may just be that is checked at 60k. I know 92K seems alot for a cambelt, but that is what is in my manual. Even with a cambelt change, unless they drop the engine out, £500 is a little excessive. (I've changed cambelts in the past (not on MGF's) and they only charged £90 for a twin cam.
Andrew Hay

As I understand it the cam belt is changed at 5 years even if the car has only got 5 miles on the speedo as the material is deemed to be past its 'use by date'.

The 90k miles is for a belt on a car that does very high annual mileage and even that I understand has now been recommended to be reduced to 60k miles.

The job on the *F* is fairly time consuming due to the fact that engine does have to be lowered to allow the belt to be changed, you do not actually have to remove the engine but you do have to release one (or more?) of the engine mounts.

Add this time to the other parts of the service and you are up around th £500.00 mark which sounds a lot but work out the hours involved and how much an hour it costs and you will see that it does not take much to get there and if you think they are making excessive charges just ask your boss what he/she has to charge out to cover your costs - you might just be surprised.

BTW to save loads of dosh DIY.

Ted
Ted Newman

As a post script.

See how much it costs to replace an engine damaged by a belt that has broken!

Ted
Ted Newman

I can understand the reasons for being prudent about changing a cambelt, and would not fancy the DIY job myself, (not on a twin cam in the middle of the car!), but it is just that my manual states a 96,000 mile change (it does not talk about months), and cambelt condition check every 48,000 miles. I would have thought a check is sufficient, although you may be right about the material degrading irrespective of miles. However, I would not think that they will stick a new belt in at 38K, maybe when I've done 50k next year (fingers crossed). New plugs and filter will have to be fitted after 60k miles, things I usually change/upgrade on any car I buy (and will fit myself, along with some performance HT leads. Obviously I'll check with the garage about the rest, but a cold sweat is breaking out at the thought of loosing a monkey in my first month of ownership!
Andrew Hay

I have a '96 F with 35,000, so have been asking around about this. The standard price is coming in at around £500 (and that is if there is nothing wrong with it!). This does seem to be because they have to drop the engine for cam belt replacement (might be a good idea getting a reinforced head gasket fitted at the same time??).

I asked Mike Satur, and he quoted around £460 for a 5 year service.

Expensive stuff this F'ing......


Dave
Dave

The list of servicnig costs can be found on my website - only as a guide though...

http://www.dotcomoff.demon.co.uk
Paul Lathwell

Knew I'd seen it somewhere.

Ted - ha, I charge for my own time thanks. And 500 quid? That's, ooh... about two days :-)

Do some of those bozo's the dealers employ really cost that much you think? Anyway, whole new kettle of worms there...

E
Ed Clarke

I just got a quote - £580 (ARGHHHH). Like you say Ed, that's a bit steep for a bunch of YTS who'll probably cause more problems than they solve. I spent £50 once for a motorsport garage (with Rally Cosworths lining the drive), to let some more air into my engine to solve a splutter (Took him half a day to do that - didn't work though), when in fact I worked out later in the day that it needed a new petrol filter. £50 to turn a screw about 30 degrees. Don't get me started on mechanics...... My brother has had numerous problems with BMW garages "fixing" his M3. I'll stop now before I get angry.
Andrew Hay

I agree that the price per hour is high when looked at against the amount one earns per hour - unfortunately it is not that simple!

Your dealer needs premises, equipment, spares, back-up staff and all that before he does one minutes productive work then he needs staff to do the work who expect to be paid a reasonable sum of money, plus the government then expects your dealer to pay them for the privilige of employing him.

Just as a guide line the work my junior staff does costs the company £60.00 per hour when costed out on an annual basis so I am sure that a fully skilled mechanic is going to cost at least that.

But there are alternatives:-

Find a garage with lower overheads such as your local 'railway-arch' man.

OR as I do 'do-it-yourself'.

OR get your company to supply you with a car and let them pay for it as I used to.

OR Go for a fully inclusive lease arrangement.


Ted - motoring aint cheap!!
Ted Newman

Is geographic location a factor in the cost of a service? Is it cheaper in the west country than London?
Tim

Tim

Almost certainly cheaper out of London and as far as I can see there is not a National MG scale of charges.

Ted
Ted Newman

Tim, I always get my car serviced out side London. As far as I can see, the dealerships in London are far too busy to do a good job anyway, and charge the earth when they've done it :o(

Rob
Rob Bell

the 100,000km (or 60,000km) service includes a cam belt change as this is the recomended period before change. I understand the life of the belt was originaly set at something like 95,000 miles but turned out to be a little optimistic. The engine has to be dropped on it's mountings to allow full access to the cam belt. This work takes a lot of time so the costs are high.

Anyway 20,000km to go before then....

Normal garage labour is nearly always cheaper per hour than me, so it is more cost effective for them to spend the time on it than me.
Tony Smith

This thread was discussed between 01/02/2001 and 07/02/2001

MG MGF Technical index

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