MG4 Reduction Gearbox Oil Leak

Oberoi said:

I'm afraid i'm with @Hallix73 I feel a more balanced view of the issue would help members. I feel that a small number of people post an overly negative view of the situation.
On balance I don't believe this is a major issue, and as you say many people don't have the benefit of @Hallix73 knowledge and so him giving this point of view is invaluable to members.
As I said earlier it would be far better if when people report this issue a consistent reply was made. Way back soon after the new breather became available MG UK said it's ok to drive until the updated breather is fitted. This causes the least inconvenience to the owners and in my view should be the approach.
By all means put forward your point of view, the issue I have with many of your posts is the way you respond and continue to do so until others with a valid point of view give in,this doesn't help the wider membership.

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I think you'll find in all my posts I have said that it is unknown what the implications of the low oil level would be if any, I also never questioned once Halifax 73 knowledge on the subject.
Although I note Troopercooper has, who also seems to be eminently qualified to comment.

Everything I have commented on is in relation to a 3 month old issue that should be fixed by now, an issue I would have happily put up with as well, as it will be on MG if there were any long-term issues.

In actual fact I was pretty polite throughout, I didn't feel the need to comeback with my employment history and what degrees or qualifications I had because that just comes across as a wee bit patronising.

Again my challenge was on customer service and the rights and wrongs of MG's take on it to which I was told if I wanted to do that for to go to the dealers thread to do it, but hey it's me that's impolite.

It's almost like negative comments aren't allowed, wouldn't be the first time that myself or another member who has criticised has been told to leave the forum or go to another one, he was even provided with a link.

No one knows the answer to everything and unless someone on here is a qualified MG technician people are making their best guess/speculating as has been shown with 2 members with a mechanical/engineering background disagreeing.

I don't own an MG4 and cancelled my order but as I keep saying I would still consider having one if things improve, should I only comment if my circumstances change?

I am sorry that my posts don't help the wider community, however I think most people on here take most of my posts with a pinch of salt and know there is a bit of general leg pulling going on.

The only time that I am negative is in response to all these ongoing stories of crap communications and service, a topic I think you will find the vast majority of members may agree and relate too.

Vic young customers aside

I haven't got my MG4 Trophy yet, but just to counter people saying that this oil leak is not a big issue......

I have just spent the best part of £10,000 on a new driveway and also the car will be used every day to visit 4-5 customers - and if they have a driveway I usually park on it.

Quoting a line from a popular 90's american sitcom from the 90's "just so you know, it's NOT that common, it doesn't happen to every (new car) and it IS A BIG DEAL! (Rachel Green, 1997)

Oberoi said:

I'm afraid i'm with @Hallix73 I feel a more balanced view of the issue would help members. I feel that a small number of people post an overly negative view of the situation.
On balance I don't believe this is a major issue, and as you say many people don't have the benefit of @Hallix73 knowledge and so him giving this point of view is invaluable to members.
As I said earlier it would be far better if when people report this issue a consistent reply was made. Way back soon after the new breather became available MG UK said it's ok to drive until the updated breather is fitted. This causes the least inconvenience to the owners and in my view should be the approach.
By all means put forward your point of view, the issue I have with many of your posts is the way you respond and continue to do so until others with a valid point of view give in,this doesn't help the wider membership.

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We are all entitled to respond and query posts as long as we stay within guidelines.
Challenging and working through members posts is the lifeblood and at the core of how a good forum like this functions.
It’s enviable that some will not be able to support their views and concede (I’ve lost count how many times I have!).
As far as not helping the wider membership, that is not for you or I to judge, we have moderators for that purpose.
Just as you have been able to freely express your views in this post - It makes for an interesting and entertaining forum.
From what I have seen, I have always found Leni16 posts to be well purposed, helpful and balanced and I think that they contribute a lot to the forum discussions. Others may disagree which they are perfectly entitled to do.

Cocijo said:

We are all entitled to respond and query posts as long as we stay within guidelines.
Challenging and working through members posts is the lifeblood and at the core of how a good forum like this functions.
It’s enviable that some will not be able to support their views and concede (I’ve lost count how many times I have!).
As far as not helping the wider membership, that is not for you or I to judge, we have moderators for that purpose.
Just as you have been able to freely express your views in this post - It makes for an interesting and entertaining forum.
From what I have seen, I have always found Leni16 posts to be well purposed, helpful and balanced and I think that they contribute a lot to the forum discussions. Others may disagree which they are perfectly entitled to do.

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Many thanks my friend, hope your daughter enjoys her Megane

Cocijo said:

We are all entitled to respond and query posts as long as we stay within guidelines.
Challenging and working through members posts is the lifeblood and at the core of how a good forum like this functions.
It’s enviable that some will not be able to support their views and concede (I’ve lost count how many times I have!).
As far as not helping the wider membership, that is not for you or I to judge, we have moderators for that purpose.
Just as you have been able to freely express your views in this post - It makes for an interesting and entertaining forum.
From what I have seen, I have always found Leni16 posts to be well purposed, helpful and balanced and I think that they contribute a lot to the forum discussions. Others may disagree which they are perfectly entitled to do.

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Indeed it's is and we are entitled to our options and to respond. I've made my point of view clear.

Cocijo said:

Out of interest, technically speaking does anyone know exactly what this gearbox does?

My understanding is it is a transfer box with standard differential gears.

It has only one fixed ratio and takes the power output from the electric motor transforms the rotational speed and transfers it via the differential to the road wheels.

If this is the case then it is not subject to the same amount of wear and tear as say a 5 speed conventional gearbox as it does very little in relative terms.

More like an axle than a gearbox.

I’m not entirely sure how this adds any value other than interest factor and a fuller understanding of how technical or complex the transfer box might be.
One of the engineering challenges with any gearbox is heat expansion which can cause oil loss if not vented correctly - this is possibly the issue here as speculated before.

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It is essentially a differential which is necessary on all vehicles and it also reduces the speed of the motor to a suitable roadwheel speed. It actually does have to transmit high levels of torque and close to 200 bhp so it does come under quite a bit of stress so good lubrication is of course paramount. Modern oils are very resilient and a slight reduction in oil volume will have a minimal effect , however if this leak were to continue to a point where the volume of oil is significantly low then this can only be bad for the long term reliability of the unit. Hopefully this will not happen with this issue.

AndyL61 said:

It is essential a differential which is necessary on all vehicles and it also reduces the speed of the motor to a suitable roadwheel speed. It actually does have to transmit high levels of torque and close to 200 bhp so it does come under quite a bit of stress so good lubrication is of course paramount. Modern oils are very resilient and a slight reduction in oil volume will have a minimal effect , however if this leak were to continue to a point where the volume of oil is significantly low then this can only be bad for the long term reliability of the unit. Hopefully this will not happen with this issue.

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I think it will be telling if we can find out how much they drain out of siteguru's car, circumstances have led to him having the leak for a good few weeks now. If it comes out the amount he has lost is negligible then that's good news as it would mean the fault is more of an inconvenience than anything else.

For those that are struggling with the negativity around here, remember that there is also an MG4 positive thread. See if you can make it more popular than this one!

Alb said:

For those that are struggling with the negativity around here, remember that there is also an MG4 positive thread. See if you can make it more popular than this one!

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the first 3 posts on that thread are depressing!

Leni16 said:

I think it will be telling if we can find out how much they drain out of siteguru's car, circumstances have led to him having the leak for a good few weeks now. If it comes out the amount he has lost is negligible then that's good news as it would mean the fault is more of an inconvenience than anything else.

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Just a thought but they may not necessarily drain it. The breather can be replaced without draining, so they might just change the breather and top up the oil . Most gearbox's have a filling plug which means you put oil into it until it runs back out thus ensuring the correct amount of oil. I'm not saying they won't drain , merely saying they may not.

AndyL61 said:

Just a thought but they may not necessarily drain it. The breather can be replaced without draining, so they might just change the breather and top up the oil . Most gearbox's have a filling plug which means you put oil into it until it runs back out thus ensuring the correct amount of oil. I'm not saying they won't drain , merely saying they may not.

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Cheers for that, fingers crossed they do, has the potential to put a few people's mind at rest

Good point. I don’t see why they would with the breather situated at the top? I think that I’ve seen others post that theirs has been drained but not sure. We’ll see.

Leni16 said:

Cheers for that, fingers crossed they do, has the potential to put a few people's mind at rest

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I would like my mind put at rest on this issue too . I don't have my MG4 yet , but I am expecting to probably have this issue. I am a tad disappointed that after 3 months we are still seeing this occurring but it ain't gonna change any time soon by the look of things. So I'm still looking forward to getting my car but with eyes wide open to all the possible issues thanks mainly to this forum and everyone sharing their experiences both positive and negative. It's the only way we learn.

In all fairness, I don’t know for sure that my oil is from the reduction gearbox but I’ll be surprised if it’s not. The oil dripping is concentrated around the passenger side rear wheel area, but is coming from above the under-tray as far as I can tell. It could be brake fluid or anything.

My biggest concern is that is could be getting onto the brake disc and pads which would, I think, warrant the disc and pads to be replaced. All MG’s problem of course.

Hallix73 said:

I give in ...... you win.

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Please keep bickering. We're almost at two thousand posts.

Sadly many of the comments on this thread are not useful to anyone. We all know the issues. It would now be helpful to focus on facts, statistics and updates.

AndyL61 said:

Just a thought but they may not necessarily drain it. The breather can be replaced without draining, so they might just change the breather and top up the oil . Most gearbox's have a filling plug which means you put oil into it until it runs back out thus ensuring the correct amount of oil. I'm not saying they won't drain , merely saying they may not.

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But how will they know how much to top it up by? (AFAIK there's no sight glass by which the level can be determined).

siteguru said:

But how will they know how much to top it up by? (AFAIK there's no sight glass by which the level can be determined).

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Depending on where the filler point is, they'll fill until it just starts to run out, that's what they did on my xtrail as the filler point was on the side of the gearbox

Leni16 said:

I think it will be telling if we can find out how much they drain out of siteguru's car, circumstances have led to him having the leak for a good few weeks now. If it comes out the amount he has lost is negligible then that's good news as it would mean the fault is more of an inconvenience than anything else.

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They lowered the level on my car to 750ml back in November, when the “overfill“ theory was in fashion. Did not fix the problem, it carried on leaking and was at around 650ml when my modified breather was eventually fitted. We know what the problem is, we know what the fix is, modified breather. I don’t subscribe to the view that it’s an ”insignificant issue” as some suggest. It may not be that serious in safety or longevity terms but it is causing a lot of inconvenience and stress for many new owners.

siteguru said:

But how will they know how much to top it up by? (AFAIK there's no sight glass by which the level can be determined).

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I think they fill it up until it reaches where they are filling it from?