MG4 Reduction Gearbox Oil Leak

[memo]

With ALL incentives (except that additional small village -€500) the Standard MG4 = €20480

My 20 year old Saxo diesel wouldn't get €1k on 2nd hand market so probably worth reviving it for such a hefty discount, no?
View attachment 16962View attachment 16964

Yep, if worth less than 2500€ definately worth having it crushed. and as I said if your taking their finance, as you are indicating in the image above then they will discount the government subsidy, until it gets paid, but not if you pay cash like me.

 

[paulgailey]

What waiting time are you expecting in Valencia @memo ? They're quoting 6 months in Murcia although occasionally they get a delivery (wg next week) of different colours/models that might fit your order.

 

[memo]

What waiting time are you expecting in Valencia @memo ? They're quoting 6 months in Murcia although occasionally they get a delivery (wg next week) of different colours/models that might fit your order.

Well as you see from our signature we ordered ours 31/10/2022 nearly 6 months ago was told then between 4 to 6 months, then early march was told he expects end of march begining April as he was receiving orders from early in october. Now yesterday he told my better half that as its a fizzy orange with the 2 tone interior it will probable be the end of the year. Yet he has a grey one with the 2 tone interior to sell, but nobody ordered it. It just turned up he says. So your guess is as good as mine. He says their computers doesn't give them any info on the orders and they have no idea what is or isn't coming. Yet dealers in UK and Germany I know can see the data so I cannot believe Spain is any different. Still there are a few other cars coming to spain in the next month I believe. guess what we shall be looking at them

 

[MG4London]

Fast approaching 7 months since the first report on here, incredible that it's still not fixed!

The cynic in me thinks that gearboxes are all running with low levels of oil in them.

What will be the consequences of low oil levels? Will it be noticeable to start with or will it not be noticed and just seize up?

 

[bowfer]

What will be the consequences of low oil levels? Will it be noticeable to start with or will it not be noticed and just seize up?

I’d expect a noticeable increase in noise and vibration long before it actually locked up.

 

[MG4London]

Silly question I’m sure it’s been asked already but how can you check the oil level we are talking about here?

Im not sure if a substantial amount has benn lost compared to how much was in there originally

All I know is that there is oil on the ground where I park

 

[Ian Key]

Silly question I’m sure it’s been asked already but how can you check the oil level we are talking about here?

I'm not sure if a substantial amount has been lost compared to how much was in there originally

All I know is that there is oil on the ground where I park

The only way to check the amount of oil is to drain it and see how much comes out.

How long have you had your car? Is it one of the first batch built pre December 2022?

 

[Ayoull]

Photo of MG refilling mg4 oil

 

[MG4London]

The only way to check the amount of oil is to drain it and see how much comes out.

How long have you had your car? Is it one of the first batch built pre December 2022?

Yes pre December 2022

 

[tsedge]

The only way to check the amount of oil is to drain it and see how much comes out.

How long have you had your car? Is it one of the first batch built pre December 2022?

There were several batches prior to December that came over in a series of deliveries. I think fixes to the oil leak were applied sometime prior to late November, when my car was built (no sign yet after 1500 miles).

 

[Deleted member 10041]

Silly question I’m sure it’s been asked already but how can you check the oil level we are talking about here?

Im not sure if a substantial amount has benn lost compared to how much was in there originally

All I know is that there is oil on the ground where I park

The oil level was stated as 900mls, we pretty much know from members experiences that it appears to stop about 600- 700mls, so potentially a third could be lost

 

[MG4London]

Maybe 600mil left is still ok?

 

[Deleted member 9692]

Maybe 600mil left is still ok?

The original factory spec was 900ml - perhaps 1/3 less is OK. Clarity from MG would be most welcome but no one is holding their breath

 

[Deleted member 10041]

Maybe 600mil left is still ok?

It is the big unknown, it will certainly be working harder

 

[tsedge]

The original factory spec was 900ml - perhaps 1/3 less is OK. Clarity from MG would be most welcome but no one is holding their breath

MG did clarify that the level could be reduced and with the manufacturer of the gearbox, that's where the lower level initially came from - 750ml IIRC. 600ml is lower than this but not enormously different and we don't know the tolerance, so could be fine or a problem.

The lack of a recall suggests that MG are not overly concerned. Though I am sure some will put this down to MG not caring or ignoring the problem, we don't know that is true.

 

[wiz043]

MG did clarify that the level could be reduced and with the manufacturer of the gearbox, that's where the lower level initially came from - 750ml IIRC. 600ml is lower than this but not enormously different and we don't know the tolerance, so could be fine or a problem.

The lack of a recall suggests that MG are not overly concerned. Though I am sure some will put this down to MG not caring or ignoring the problem, we don't know that is true.

Yep...and that's where the situation gets murky in my view ....the gearbox manufacturer designed it to hold 900ml obviously for a reason but now they are telling MG "oh, it's ok to reduce the oil by 200 to 300ml if that stops the leak".
We do not really know if MG had that conversation with the manufacturer anyway if previous info coming from Dealers and MG is any indication.
I would like to see written clarification from the gearbox manufacturer confirming what MG are saying and advising why 900ml was put there in the first place if it leaked when tested but I doubt that will happen as too many questions would be asked about their ability to design reduction gear boxes.

 

[AndyL61]

It is the big unknown, it will certainly be working harder

That is why I plan to change my oil at 20k, then I will know how much was in it and that at least with new oil it will stand a chance of lasting a bit longer.

 

[tsedge]

Yep...and that's where the situation gets murky in my view ....the gearbox manufacturer designed it to hold 900ml obviously for a reason but now they are telling MG "oh, it's ok to reduce the oil by 200 to 300ml if that stops the leak".
We do not really know if MG had that conversation with the manufacturer anyway. I would like to see written clarification from the gearbox manufacturer but I doubt that will happen as too many questions would be asked about their ability to design reduction gear boxes.

Yes we do, it was covered on the podcast by Miles from MG and I think mentioned in at least one technical bulletin.

 

[wiz043]

Yes we do, it was covered on the podcast by Miles from MG and I think mentioned in at least one technical bulletin.

That doesn't answer the question as to why the gearbox was designed by manufacturers for 900ml capacity in the first place when apparently it will still work fine with that reduced by one third.
It appears that they too are now taking the view of reducing the oil capacity to stop leaks which hasn't worked in every case based on some past reports here.
In saying that apparently they know what they are talking about otherwise they are risking many large warranty claims for damaged gear boxes down the track.
I would imagine that many feel this manufacturer's reputation is shot over this whole gear box issue and their failure to get a handle on it since the inception of the MG4 last June.

 

[tsedge]

That doesn't answer the question as to why the gearbox was designed by manufacturers for 900ml capacity when apparently it will still work fine with that reduced by one third.
It appears they too are now taking the view of reducing the oil capacity to stop leaks which hasn't worked in every case based on some past reports here.
In saying that apparently they know what they are talking about otherwise they are risking many large warranty claims for damaged gear boxes down the track.

Well if you don't believe in the reduction then there's not much left to say.

I understand the communication has been terrible but they have taken quite a lot of action rapidly, which speaks louder to me than words.

When this blew up in October, we learned rapidly about their investigations with the manufacturer, it seems they made changes to production by November that eliminated the problem.

They recommended a lower level within a couple of weeks and the first breather fix was available very rapidly, unfortunately they've had several revisions to it since then so probably they responded too rapidly - and quite possibly they made internal changes to the gearbox that are not easy to retrofit.

Like everyone else I'd prefer clear proactive communication direct from MG on this but with the Chinese culture and their preference to put that on dealers, I don't think that's likely to change any time soon.

They do need a definitive fix for people with early cars for whom the latest breather fix does not work.