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 TD TF 1500 - Over heating problem

This is a post for a friend
He has a 52 TD
He says that he can go about 20 miles then she over heats. This is I think just in town travel.
He does say that it will cool down rapidly and he is good to go again but it does the same 20 miles then over heats again.
Any helpful hints would be great.
(Maybe add a oil cooler or a cooling fan)
Thanks
Jason Gross
1971 MG midget
Jason Gross

Jason - What does your friend mean when he says the car is overheating? Is the coolant boiling when he driving the car, is the gauge registering high temperature, does the car start missing? If the coolant is not boiling and the car is not missing while he is driving, then the car is not overheating. If the temp gauge is reading a high temp, try putting a candy thermometer in the radiator to see if the gauge is reading correctly. If the car is in fact overheating, an oil cooler or additional fan is not going to fix the problem. The thermostat needs to be checked to insure that it is opening at the correct temperature. The other more common causes of overheating are clogged radiator, clogged cooling passages in the block, timing set wrong, brakes dragging, etc.
Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

If you confirm the engine is actually overheating check the timing FIRST. This sounds like someone timed the engine with a timing light instead of static timing.

If you must use a timing light, set the timing to 7 to 10 degrees ADVANCE at idle (1000 RPM or so) instead of the specification 0 degrees.

If this does not cure it or is not wrong, check that the thermostat is in place. If it is not, make sure the by pass back to the engine from the water pump is plugged with something. A good thing is a copper pipe end cap that can be fitted into the hose.

If none of that is wrong, go have a cold beer.

Bill
Bill

Another thing to check, is the fan, If I remember correctly, you can put the blades on back to front and it will push air and not pull it through the rad.
Tatty

Jason,
I am sure Bill meant to say "Go have a warm Beer"!
The consumption of "cold beer" in close proxcimity to Lucas electrics is just asking for trouble!
Seriously..check the archives for "TF operating Temp" and "Vapor-Lock". I had this problem a few years back and got a lot of good advise from the good folks on the BBS here. There was quite a long thread on the subject. The thing is ..I went the "ok...I will try them all" approach...so not really sure just what cured my problem...but it is gone now! Perhaps your friend can try them one at a time....and I do agree with Bill on "check the TIMMING FIRST"...that does not cost anything!
Best of Luck,
David #A1 55 TF1500
David Sheward

<<<snip>>>
it will push air and not pull it through the rad
<<<snip>>>
Not so. The fan is less efficient, but it doesn't "push" instead of pull. For that to happen, the fan has to turn in the opposite direction.

The fan is curved like an airfoil (airplane wing) to increase the effectiveness. If the blades were flat it wouldn't make any diffenece which way they were mounted.

BTW, airplanes still fly forward when they are upside down.
Blake J.

?
do helicopters still stay up if they turn over, do hamsters get more exercise if they run in reverse!
Tatty

Hi Jason, every time I have had a serious overheating problem in any car it has ended up being a blown head gasket or cracked head. The first is simple to fix, tell your mate to hope that it is not a cracked head.
Definitely check the items posted above as well and if it is not one of those pull the head off and replace the gasket.
One way of checking the head gasket is to undo the radiator cap with the engine hot and idling and look for bubbles in the radiator, but this does not always work. Water in the oil is another symptom, but not always.
Anyway good luck.

Paul.
Paul van Gool

Tatty M, G@

Put it this way. What is done to an outboard motor's propellor to make the boat back up instead of go forward? Is the prop turned over, or does it rotate in the opposite direction? Air is a gasseous fluid and reacts the same way to "propellors" as water.

Fisherman in the US backtroll to reduce the effectiveness of the propellor on large engines. They don't take the propellor off and turn it over!

<<<snip>>>
do helicopters still stay up if they turn over
<<<snip>>>
No, AFAIK no helicopter can fly inverted except when it maintains at least -1 G as in loop the loop. And very few helicopters can do that!
Blake J.

Back to the copters, they change pitch to increase or decrease lift, therefore if they were to turn the blades through 90 deg, it would mean they are causing up draft, so if the blades on a fan were put on wrong, I think they would be out of pitch and would push instead of pulling air, am I right.
Tatty

Tatty:

No. The blades will still have the same dihedral. By installing it backwards, you would be putting the rear edge of the blade going forward. The air will still move in the same direction, but at a different rate of flow. Boats reverse by either turning the engine around (small outboards) or by reversing the direction of rotation with a gearbox.

Try reversing the fan on your car or with an electric fan sometime. It is easier to see it in real life.

John Masters

I have a 1955 TF. The previous owner installed a 5 core radiator. The problem is that when the car is warmed up and operating at 180 degrees coolant starts to weep/leak out of the radiator cap. It's a 7 pound cap. Why does it do that? What can I do to get it to stop? Thanks, James


James Rodriguez

This thread was discussed between 22/05/2002 and 18/06/2002

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.