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MG4 Reduction Gearbox Oil Leak

I guess an update on mine is in order. I dropped the car off on Monday with AA’s assistance. It wasn’t due to be looked at until this coming Tuesday but they looked at it last Tuesday and told me “there’s a tube on the gearbox that is leaking oil because it’s too short. They will fit a longer tube but they need to order one in and it could take some time.”

Meanwhile the AA arranged a hire car which I was able to pick up from a location 10 miles from where I live. Great I thought. However the hire car was only booked for 48 hours so I phoned the garage the following morning to ask about them either providing a different courtesy car or paying to extend the hire. They said that because MG think it safe to drive the MG4 they wouldn’t do anything.

I told them they were inconveniencing me because I don’t want to drive the car with an unknown amount of oil in the gearbox, I don’t want oil spilling out all over everything around the gearbox and I don’t want gearbox oil on my drive where my cats hang out and potential get it in their fur. They seemed adamant that they wouldn’t be able to do anything and that I should take it up with MG directly. I told them to stop being ridiculous and instead to treat me like a valued customer as they had just received £26k from
me 2 weeks before.

The following morning the hire car is due back by the end of the day. I get a call from the dealer/garage who says he’s going to escalate it to MG for me and he needed my driving licence check code which I gave him. Supposedly they’re going to request MG pay for the hire car while I wait. He said they’ve got one other customer with the same issue who’s been waiting 2 weeks so far for the part to come in which MG refuse to provide them in advance of finding the issue and sending in photos and vehicle details.

It’s been 2 more days since that call and I’ve heard nothing. I have no use of any car at the moment which I would be furious about except I tested positive for COVID on Wednesday evening so I wasn’t able to take the hire car back. The hire car company said they’ll collect the car when they can. It’s sat on my drive ever since because they’re short of drivers and I don’t have insurance on it any more to drive it myself.

What a mess! I love the MG4 when I get to drive it, but I don’t feel like someone who spent £26k with a company.
 
I would just take the car back and drive it, they have told you it's safe to drive (as have all other owners with the leak) any issues long term from that is on MG, as has been discussed many a time. Put something under the car to catch the oil, save the drive.

I know it's not ideal but numerous members have been driving the car with the leak.
I would imagine as MG have taken the stance that it's safe to drive you wont get a hire car paid for by them. It's a case of getting the use of your car why you wait or the serious inconvenience of no car
 
Yes, I agree I’m afraid.
Very poor situation - but if you need a car then I would use it as suggested. The alternative is to hire at your cost and then pursue MG for the cost - which could be a tricky and costly adventure.
 
I have come to a similar conclusion except for two short term reasons why not yet. Firstly the COVID means I don’t need a car as I have nowhere to go. Second, I had just about conceded to the garage that I will have to take the car back, but he was quite insistent that he wanted to put a claim through for me so I’m waiting on the outcome of that.

I think the dealer has been put in a difficult position by MG UK and they’re the one putting up with my annoyance when they aren’t in a position to authorise the hire car. I still believe they should face some of the burden of the car being faulty because they sold it to me, but most of the money goes to MG so the dealer doesn’t ride on a huge wealth of profit here.
 
I have had my SE LR for 2 weeks and on the first day did a 300 mile round trip. I drove at a sedate
pace and had no evidence of an oil leak. Subsequently, I have driven it more enthusiastically and now have the leak.

So it appears that if driven carefully it should not lose too much oil if any. I have mine booked in for the new breather in 2 weeks time so will continue to drive it.

I asked if a courtesy car was available while the car was in to be repaired and was asked to pay £12 for the insurance, but this was waived when I questioned this as it is a known fault with the car.
 
I have had my SE LR for 2 weeks and on the first day did a 300 mile round trip. I drove at a sedate
pace and had no evidence of an oil leak. Subsequently, I have driven it more enthusiastically and now have the leak.

So it appears that if driven carefully it should not lose too much oil if any. I have mine booked in for the new breather in 2 weeks time so will continue to drive it.

I asked if a courtesy car was available while the car was in to be repaired and was asked to pay £12 for the insurance, but this was waived when I questioned this as it is a known fault with the car.
That's really interesting, I always thought the design was the problem and because of that then in theory they should all leak. I now know that some have had the breather mod fitted at the docks so they should be fine. And it looks like the speed / length of drives will also influence whether the leak manifests itself or not , I also think there are lots that are leaking but not so much that it has been spotted. Still think they should just "fix" all cars and put this to bed.
 
It’s been said before but this seems like heat build up causing expansion that then ejects some oil due to a design fault. Local sort range slow work might not generate enough change to push any (or minimal) oil out.
 
In a earlier post I was asking if anyone knew the part number of the breather because my car had a build date in June and a breather with a date of September!
 
In an earlier post I was asking if anyone knew the part number of the breather because my car had a build date in June and a breather with a date of September!
I don’t know what you mean. Can you explain?
 
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I was wondering if I'd had the new breather fitted at some stage after the car was built. The dealer couldn't tell me and I was interested to know.

That was a before I noticed the leak.
 
I was wondering if I'd had the new breather fitted at some stage after the car was built. The dealer couldn't tell me and I was interested to know.

That was a before I noticed the leak.
If it was built in June and breather in September it must have had it after the car was built mustn’t it? Is it still leaking? I’m confused? Which is easy to do! 🤪
 
I was wondering if I'd had the new breather fitted at some stage after the car was built. The dealer couldn't tell me and I was interested to know.

That was a before I noticed the leak.
One possibility is the breathers weren't available for the initial build so they didn't fit one and just stored the cars ready to fit the breather when they arrived. But the ships were booked and they had to hurriedly fit a breather from stock because the correct ones still hadn't arrived so they didn't have an expensive ship waiting.
That would also explain why some cars built before the problem was discovered have the modified breather already fitted.
 
One possibility is the breathers weren't available for the initial build so they didn't fit one and just stored the cars ready to fit the breather when they arrived. But the ships were booked and they had to hurriedly fit a breather from stock because the correct ones still hadn't arrived so they didn't have an expensive ship waiting.
That would also explain why some cars built before the problem was discovered have the modified breather already fitted.
And it’s still leaking?
 

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