MG4 Reduction Gearbox Oil Leak

[wiz043]

Hello All,

UPDATE:
As per agreed compromise, i.e. I was not allowed to be present due to insurances, 2 min underside inspection video received yesterday of my Red Trophy - a little unclear in places due to workshop lighting but overall seems OK no sign of any oil or bulge (for sure car will just have delivery miles). So with the check list sent by a forum member in hand I'm trading in my MG5 LR and collecting my MG4 this Saturday morning

Pity, of course it's a nice/happy (call it what you will) time to collect a new car but it is being tinged with some trepidation
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Of course there will be trepidation.
It's not going to show oil leaks if it hasn't been driven yet. No doubt you will be keeping a close eye on it and keep us up to date.

 

[Les burrows]

Yep
So much for the PDI process !
And I just read that someone has newer software on their SE too that fixes the android auto message, which mine still has too.
Annoyed is an understatement

Terrible, and absolutely bloody ridiculous that they are still releasing cars without fixing this issue, this is not the dealers who are at fault IMHO it’s MG motors, they should be saying to the dealers stop all hand overs of this car until we get this sorted I can believe it, it will come back to bite them nothing more certain.
Les

 

[LeeEv]

Of course there will be trepidation.
It's not going to show oil leaks if it hasn't been driven yet. No doubt you will be keeping a close eye on it and keep us up to date.

Of course, very very low expectation of seeing anything; wouldn't send me a video with a huge oil smear / stain. This a case of course of demonstrating and communicating to the dealer "I'm on their case" with this on the back of my previous email conversations over the past 2-3 weeks about the oil leak issue.

As for keeping a close eye; Hell yeah, will I be

 

[Macadoodle]

Pity, of course it's a nice/happy (call it what you will) time to collect a new car but it is being tinged with some trepidation
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That's my feeling too, paying for a new car but having the worries of buying second hand, feels like anyway !

 

[Fogey]

That's my feeling too, paying for a new car but having the worries of buying second hand, feels like anyway !

Yep - you can be resigned to the odd software bug as an early adopter (as long as it's not dangerous), but not something as fundamental as this (especially when the manufacturer appears strangely indifferent).

 

[Jester27]

Terrible, and absolutely bloody ridiculous that they are still releasing cars without fixing this issue, this is not the dealers who are at fault IMHO it’s MG motors, they should be saying to the dealers stop all hand overs of this car until we get this sorted I can believe it, it will come back to bite them nothing more certain.
Les

I agree MG should be holding on to cars until the breather arrives too.
But I also blame the dealer as I supplied a comprehensive list of things to check and amend before collection.
They knew I'd already rejected one car and still did nothing.
Their answer to my email was just take it to your local MG dealer and they'll sort it out for you.
As they know it was a 150 mile round trip to pick it up.
Which they probably will but that's not the point, they could have followed the bulletin which they will have and drained the oil to the correct level.
I definitely know now that they didn't do any updates to the system either as the new infotainment update was also available before collection.
I get the impression they did nothing knowing full well that I probably wouldn't be making the trip back to them again after collection.

 

[Les burrows]

I agree MG should be holding on to cars until the breather arrives too.
But I also blame the dealer as I supplied a comprehensive list of things to check and amend before collection.
They knew I'd already rejected one car and still did nothing.
Their answer to my email was just take it to your local MG dealer and they'll sort it out for you.
As they know it was a 150 mile round trip to pick it up.
Which they probably will but that's not the point, they could have followed the bulletin which they will have and drained the oil to the correct level.
I definitely know now that they didn't do any updates to the system either as the new infotainment update was also available before collection.
I get the impression they did nothing knowing full well that I probably wouldn't be making the trip back to them again after collection.

Yeh I agree with you for sure but I’m still not convinced that this oil level reduction is a cure, and concerned what damage it might cause long term in doing that, as we know there are some on here have had that done and it still leaks, as for this breather mod I don’t think they have got the parts yet here still on it’s way as far as I know.
So to me it would have made more sense to hold the cars back until some of them have had this fitted to see if it does cure the problem or not as for yourself as you say 150 mile trip now to drain some oil which might not work and them maybe next week another 150 trip to fit a new type breather when they get one they are having a laugh.
Les.

 

[Fogey]

Yeh I agree with you for sure but I’m still not convinced that this oil level reduction is a cure, and concerned what damage it might cause long term in doing that, as we know there are some on here have had that done and it still leaks, as for this breather mod I don’t think they have got the parts yet here still on it’s way as far as I know.
So to me it would have made more sense to hold the cars back until some of them have had this fitted to see if it does cure the problem or not as for yourself as you say 150 mile trip now to drain some oil which might not work and them maybe next week another 150 trip to fit a new type breather when they get one they are having a laugh.
Les.

And are we confident the reduced fill is actually safe? Probably is, but we see no actual evidence, or even credible assurance.

 

[spence7788]

Went and washed the car before and shock, oil on the driveway & clearly from the back of the car!

Awaiting a call back from service which was promised an hour ago, from anyone in the know, what's the actual process from MG now? Is it a reduced fill and see if that cures it?

Or await a breather kit, is there any word if these are on route yet, was supposed to start using it tomorrow for 250 miles a day.

Not happy but it's clean on top

For reference my Trophy was built on 24/08/22, & doesn't have the driver alert sensor, also made them well aware before I was getting it I was concerned about this although I appreciate the chances of seeing it on PDI are very low of it hasn't been driven.

 

[Lovemyev]

So to me it would have made more sense to hold the cars back until some of them have had this fitted to see if it does cure the problem or not

Hi Les - Although both you and me would think this be the sensible thing to do, purely on the face of it.
I am afraid the cash flow of the dealers, would dictate a different approach.
A lot of dealers where expecting a big uplift on their through put of actual sales at the back end of 2021 and again at the start of 2022 ( Given the volume of orders they had already received ).
However, due to the unpredicted huge lack of availability of actual cars, their predicted income for this periods, has under achieved massively to target sales.
They did receive a life line when MG released the MG4 only a few months ago and promised delivery of around 2,000 cars before the end of 2021.
Reviews of the car have been very positive and this has also increased the demand for the car.
Some LONG suffering customers of the ZS EV ( Gen 2 ) have given up and either ditched their orders completely, or switched across to the MG4 as well.
Therefore, as soon as ANY new car ( sometimes unexpectedly ) arrives at the dealership, they want it into the workshop and out of the door ASAP - so they can receive some type of revenue.
They are VERY unlikely to have enough storage space, to accommodate storing all of the MG4's awaiting the modified breathers to be honest.
Stored cars don't pay the bills unfortunately.
It's really not in their interest to find problems on the PDI checks. if you get my meaning.
Get them delivered and THEN deal with each complaint, completely on a "one by one" basis.
Installing of the modified breathers will be dealt with on a similar premise I guess.
Adopting a similar mind set, that surrounded the ZS EV ( Gen 1 ).
Cars with know "buggy" software applied, that was causing huge range and power issues.
They dealt with this problem in the same way, purely on "one by one" scenario.
Customers who presented with the issues, had their cars updated, those who did not report any problems, never received the update or got contacted personally.
Hopefully getting picked up at the time of service - maybe ?.
I bit of a "Don't ask, Don't get" type of situation .
I was actually told this fact by my local dealer.

 

[Deleted member 9692]

Dealer just contacted me to say the breather kits have arrived. Car booked in next Wednesday for fitting.

 

[AdamskiEM]

Dealer has phoned me today saying that my car will be ready to collect on Monday. I asked about the oil leak, and he said they are only replacing the breather on cars that display the leak during their initial checks.

I did tell him that seemed unlikely, since people seem to have indicated that the problem only shows up after a decent number of miles have been driven, alongside some slightly faster speeds. I also asked him to have a look for the under-tray bulge while they were at it.

They said that their service guys were surprised that I was even aware of the issue in the first place!.. I advised him that there's a nice 60 page thread on here with more than 1 or 2 people reporting the issue...

We shall see what they see.. Chances are the answer will be "nothing is wrong"

 

[Jester27]

Grimsby MG pretty much told me they've not had ANY with oil leaks.
Oh the irony of mine being the first one then.

Though it showed nothing on collecting it, as I checked.
But there were Oil runs underneath after the 70 mile drive home..
Dealers will be hard pushed to find anything on a PDI.
Doesn't mean it won't leak.
I am guessing IF my dealer looked, that it didn't show anything so was left as is, with nothing to report

 

[4ND]

Grimsby MG pretty much told me they've not had ANY with oil leaks.

I wonder if they phoned every person who they sold an MG4 to and asked them to go outside and check under their car and see
Me thinks not and the reason they've not had any with oil leaks is because you are probably the only one who's checked and the only one of their customers who posts on here.

 

[4ND]

Dealer has phoned me today saying that my car will be ready to collect on Monday. I asked about the oil leak, and he said they are only replacing the breather on cars that display the leak during their initial checks.

I did tell him that seemed unlikely, since people seem to have indicated that the problem only shows up after a decent number of miles have been driven, alongside some slightly faster speeds. I also asked him to have a look for the under-tray bulge while they were at it.

They said that their service guys were surprised that I was even aware of the issue in the first place!.. I advised him that there's a nice 60 page thread on here with more than 1 or 2 people reporting the issue...

We shall see what they see.. Chances are the answer will be "nothing is wrong"

I'm surprised they didn't add 'don't believe all that you read on internet'. That's usually a good eject button one.

 

[Steve Chope]

Received this information from MG UK

‘MG's that are yet to be built at the factory in China will have the issue with the breather pipe rectified before they are placed on a ship.’

That being the case then we can insist that the new breather pipe is fitted as a matter of course, regardless of whether the car shows a leak. Mine is coming in February. Am hoping it will be sorted by then

 

[Deleted member 9692]

Received this information from MG UK

‘MG's that are yet to be built at the factory in China will have the issue with the breather pipe rectified before they are placed on a ship.’

Was this from Gary “Smart”?

 

[Steve Chope]

No Ella! I have edited my comment and added a bit. You may like to have a look.

 

[Deleted member 9692]

No Ella! I have edited my comment and added a bit. You may like to have a look.

Who are you talking to and which comment have you edited?

 

[AndyL61]

Who are you talking to and which comment have you edited?

Is it Ella Clever ?