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MG MGF Technical - starting

ken/mags, isle of wight, ken.higham@talk21.com
Posted 07 January 2001 at 22:19:19 UK time
ken/mags, isle of wightt, ken.higham@talk21.com
hi all,well rover changed out tthe ecu and the car was fine for 1 day,tryed to start this morning and guess what 1 hour before she started,stared as per manual no gas pedal,then half gas pedal,tthen full gas pedal(leaving time before each attempt)but no so pissed,got a smell of pettrol somthing bad so lefy 10 min's,fire not fire,splutter,the she went,shes fine whwn running,but it's just this cold staring problem,any way took car to rover,left over night will ask them to start it monday(NOT A CHANCE FIRST TIME)att roger parker what do you recomend the leads and plugs??do the vvc as mine is not have a dissy cap and rotor arm???
what have they got then???

please reply

ken & mags
isle of wight


ken/mags

Sorry if this is a little late, but I have been absent.

The main problem with all MGFs is that the plugs do, in my view, have a too long service life and one of the first problem areas that shows up weaknesses is cold starting. Additionally the plug leads are very long (4 of that go from individual plugs to a pair of double output coils) which over time will deteriorate. Time and miles I would quantify as being 20k plus miles and 3 plus years. If the plugs have seen more miles or the leads more time then replace.

Rog
Roger Parker

Are English evening classes available in the Isle Of Wight?.......
Steve

Yes, changing plugs fixed my 34,000 mile F.
Difficult starting now and then. Once or twice ending up with a flat battery.
... also seems to have eliminated noise on the radio when tuned to weak stations....
Guess the plug insulation was failing somewhere.
Jonathan Francis

Yesterday morning I had to phone the AA to start my late 98 F VVC. The AA chap said I had 'flooded the engine' and he would have to remove the fuse for the fuel pump to get it started. As I had tried unsuccessfully to start over a staggered period of one hour the battery started to sound as if it was going flat so thats why I phoned the AA. The AA guy eventually got it going with jump leads without removing the fuse. This is the third time during really bad damp weather this has happened. Should I take it back to the dealers to get 'seen to' for the non starting for the second time? It is still under Network Q warranty. I know if I had left the car for a while it would have started and it should be in the Garage which is full of the usual household Junk. Advice please!!

PS I think Ken has either not used a keyboard before or it is faulty!
Louise Karmazyn

Hi Louise nice to hear from someone from God's own country.

I would suggest you try the BBS black bin liner trick. It should be in the archives under "starting" but I think it involves sticking a bin liner over the engine vent grills at night and removing in the morning.

As for the cure I would print out the "starting" archive thread and go back to the dealer with it.
My starting problem led to instaneous flooding and new spark plugs didn't help.

Jon Baker

ta joe
Louise Karmazyn

Tell network q to change the plug leads and make sure they have fitted the correct plugs whenthe car was serviced
mark the tech

Well i got my mgf back from rover and the cold starting problem has been fixed,well it now starts every morning,I asked rover what they had done they said "we didn't change the plugs or leads but greased the coils to pevent condensation afecting the ignition,they did how ever change the ecu which did nothing,So my be trying what rover did might solve someones problem it worked on mine.it no longer floods and i dont have to touch the pedals.
-
ken
KEN

This thread was discussed between 08/01/2001 and 17/01/2001

MG MGF Technical index

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