The 75 and ZT Owners Club Forums - New MG ZT 1.8T owner

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New MG ZT 1.8T owner - a few niggles

Hi All

Just picked up my 04 mkI MG ZT 1.8T two weeks ago and must say I'm totally sold. It's the best car I've ever owned. More comfortable than my 08 Volvo V50 2.0 Diesel and much better handling. I even enjoy driving it more than my former Ford Puma 1.7.

Now to the more annoying bits; The car had a new reco cylinder head and HG (ZUA000080 with the improved craddle) before I bought it (I picked it up at the dealer). However there seem to be a few issues either with their work or the car itself;

1. There is a leak just behind the right front wheel. When the car is parked a small pool emerges on the ground just inside of the rearmost part of the righthand side front wheel. The liquid is clear and smells nothing. I beleive its water, and not coolant as the dealer has used some red Xpart coolant. Might this just be a drain hole letting through rain?
There's another leak on the lefthand side of the car, at approx. the same place, but this is not as large as the right hand side leak.

2. There's a strange noise in the interior vents when I engage the aircon, in Econ mode it disappeares.

3. One of the foor bolts holding the turbo to the manifold has been snapped of and the dealer has left the turbo hanging in three bolts.

4. The upper window frame in on the right hand front door sits proud of the rear doors frame - is this common or has my car been in a shunt? The seller and only previous owner says it hasn't been an a shunt. I've forgotten to check the lefthand side.

So if I can get this fixed I'd be in love :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonus (Post 533080)

Hi All
1. There is a leak just behind the right front wheel. When the car is parked a small pool emerges on the ground just inside of the rearmost part of the righthand side front wheel. The liquid is clear and smells nothing. I beleive its water, and not coolant as the dealer has used some red Xpart coolant. Might this just be a drain hole letting through rain?
There's another leak on the lefthand side of the car, at approx. the same place, but this is not as large as the right hand side leak.

Could it be the sunroof drains, if fitted?

Could it be PLENUM drains blocked and leaking slowly, if so you had better move fast. Could cost you lots more NOK.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonus (Post 533080)

3. One of the foor bolts holding the turbo to the manifold has been snapped of and the dealer has left the turbo hanging in three bolts. So if I can get this fixed I'd be in love :D

Not good enough, You pay enough for labour in Norway, so why not take it back to them and tell them to fix it. Poor basic engineering skills from your dealer in my opinion. Just needs manifold removing from car and mounted on workbench for a proper repair, either try welding a bolt onto the broken stud which also applies heat and can help dislodge stud or or grind remainder of stud flush with manifold face and then drill out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonus (Post 533080)

Hi All

Just picked up my 04 mkI MG ZT 1.8T two weeks ago and must say I'm totally sold. It's the best car I've ever owned. More comfortable than my 08 Volvo V50 2.0 Diesel and much better handling. I even enjoy driving it more than my former Ford Puma 1.7.

They are quite nice!

Now to the more annoying bits; The car had a new reco cylinder head and HG (ZUA000080 with the improved craddle) before I bought it (I picked it up at the dealer). However there seem to be a few issues either with their work or the car itself;

1. There is a leak just behind the right front wheel. When the car is parked a small pool emerges on the ground just inside of the rearmost part of the righthand side front wheel. The liquid is clear and smells nothing. I beleive its water, and not coolant as the dealer has used some red Xpart coolant. Might this just be a drain hole letting through rain?
There's another leak on the lefthand side of the car, at approx. the same place, but this is not as large as the right hand side leak.

Could be from the plenum (look it up) or from you air conditioning, which will be on if you use defrost, even if you have not selected it.

2. There's a strange noise in the interior vents when I engage the aircon, in Econ mode it disappeares.

There can be noise from the compressor, and there is a faint whooop once you re-activate your air conditioner

3. One of the foor bolts holding the turbo to the manifold has been snapped of and the dealer has left the turbo hanging in three bolts.

Get it fixed.

4. The upper window frame in on the right hand front door sits proud of the rear doors frame - is this common or has my car been in a shunt? The seller and only previous owner says it hasn't been an a shunt. I've forgotten to check the lefthand side.

No, they should be flush. Maybe the rubber is damaged or the door not aligned properly.

So if I can get this fixed I'd be in love :D

Just for the record. Don't trust the temperature gauge to warn you, it is basically painted on the dash! Be sure to check the level in the expansion tank often (I do it daily) and don't overfill.
If you do daily checks, you have a great car.
As an aside, the water pump should have been replaced when they did the head gasket. They seldom last more than about 100000km.

check radiator filler cap for the leak, the O rings especially

i was under the impression that three nuts are visible on top of the flange and one bolt underneath top left which hold the flange to the exhaust manifold..so only three fixings visible.

check your plenums for the water pool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pab (Post 533107)

Spot on pab. I've changed all mine on both flanges for stainless set screws, allows more room to remove bits should the need come to dismantle.

I picked up my ZT 1.8T at the weekend and noticed the same pool of water under the car (the car was parked facing down a slope).
Having removed the plenum covers to take a look, there was a little water in there, so when it stops raining today I'll be unblocking the lower drain - I eventually found the data sheet on the club website not the forum.

Sonus - sounds like you need to do the same thing!

Sounds like it might be the drains. I need to read up on this and have a look an afternoon soon.

The missing bolt for the turbo is the rearmost left bolt (sitting in the car).
I'm alerting the former owner about this today.

And I'm planning on fitting a HANS-gauge, just need to find the time etc.

I'm also toying with the idea of buying a second engine to tune while I use the car. I've been borrowing a Golf 2.8 V6 with 4 wheel drive that has 204BHP and weighs almost the same as the ZT and I recon 200-220BHP in the ZT would suit it nice. Well I can dream can't I? :p:

Ultimatly I'd want a 260, but I'd have to pay £60000 in taxes ontop of the purchase price just to get norwegian plates on it.:mad: So a bit rich for me at the moment even though my ZT cost me £14000.

presuming your car is right hand drive..on the drivers side reach down at the bottom of the bulkhead and feel for the plenum tube.

stick your finger in the tube and it should release the blockage

We drive one the correct side of the road, so the car's LHD :getmecoat:

So that'll be the passenger side, but is it from inside or in the engine bay I'm tracing this tube?