MG4 Reduction Gearbox Oil Leak

[loydex]

My car lost 0.15 litre of the 0.9 litres of oil in the reduction gearbox in 3 days, 200 miles. I have no confidence that MG have made any such calculations as you suggest, at the rate of loss I had my gearbox would be half empty in a matter of days. They have a major problem and they need to communicate with owners urgently. Imagine how many drivers are out there who don’t follow forum and are completely unaware they have a problem.

Hi. Apologies for a silly question. Would you mind to suggest how to check the oil level? I am planning to do some investigation in the morning before contacting the dealer.

 

[Deleted member 9692]

Hi. Apologies for a silly question. Would you mind to suggest how to check the oil level? I am planning to do some investigation in the morning before contacting the dealer.

Dealer does that. They drained my oil and saw level was down to 0.75l, manual says it should be 0.9l, dealers have been told to refill to 0.85l as it was thought to be an overfill problem. Some owners had that done and were told all OK but then the leak returned it seems the simple overfill theory looks unlikely now

 

[Lovemyev]

My car lost 0.15 litre of the 0.9 litres of oil in the reduction gearbox in 3 days, 200 miles. I have no confidence that MG have made any such calculations as you suggest, at the rate of loss I had my gearbox would be half empty in a matter of days. They have a major problem and they need to communicate with owners urgently.

As per my post, MG have no idea if these cars are covering 50 miles a week or 500 hundred so that does makes it a urgent issue for higher mileage users.
If the oil capacity figures are correct then it holds roughly ( sorry old school here ) just over 1.5 pints of oil and you lost less than a qtr of a pint if my old man maths are not too rusty ( sorry ).
So, you are okay for a while yet !.
Trust me, I am not trying to play down the seriousness at all !.
But a quick overnight knee jerk reaction is very unlikely.
Some of the Gen1 & Gen2 model ZS EV's owners have experienced faults in their steering columns that required replacing on some cars.
Two owners have had complete steering column UJ failures, this has not resulted in a recall.
Thats all I will say on that subject.

 

[Deleted member 9692]

So, you are okay for a while yet !.

Beg to differ old chap, my car is at the dealer and can’t be driven

 

[Lovemyev]

Beg to differ old chap, my car is at the dealer and can’t be driven

I am really sorry to hear that !.
I CAN feel your pain as my previous MG was recovered to a dealer and spent three weeks DOA with a brake problem.
The supply of any parts required to fix a problem is woefully slow !.

 

[beefyj]

Wondering how much oil will be in mine, it’s done over 1200 miles.

 

[tsedge]

Wondering how much oil will be in mine, it’s done over 1200 miles.

We don’t know that it is a seal leak, so it may not be linear. Some oil may be expelled from the breather and it may decrease the leak as the level drops. Best to get it checked asap.

 

[Les burrows]

”You couldn’t make it update”

My car, which has a definite oil leak, not wax, now has been refilled with oil and a UV dye so they can supposedly see where the leak is coming from. However, it cannot be road tested to see where it is coming from because the latest software update that they did while waiting has bricked the car, it cannot be turned on or driven. They are waiting for a fix for this so they can actually turn on the car and drive it.

In other news, they have 1 showroom car and 1 demo plus another customer car and all 4 have oil leak.

Do you know what Crawfyp, I think this is bloody ridiculous you said earlier somewhere you had got you car I think on the 7th and returned it on the 10 th I think it was with very few miles done in them three days I would think, and it needs a software update what the hell is going on, I find this very off putting why the hell was this so called update not done before you got the car I feel somebody ethier your dealer or MG UK is trying to pull the wool over our eyes here.
Les.

 

[BugEyed]

Just as an aside, check that your undertray is correctly secured.

This was mine at the rear where the undertray is held onto the bottom of the rear bumper cover "diffuser" by a series of 6mm screws. Or perhaps "was" is more accurate, three were loose, one wound out by about 10mm and one off down the road somewhere (sorry if it's now embedded in your tyre and you are reading this waiting for the breakdown services).

 

[beefyj]

Just as an aside, check that your undertray is correctly secured.

View attachment 11861

This was mine at the rear where the undertray is held onto the bottom of the rear bumper cover "diffuser" by a series of 6mm screws. Or perhaps "was" is more accurate, three were loose, one wound out by about 10mm and one off down the road somewhere (sorry if it's now embedded in your tyre and you are reading this waiting for the breakdown services).

***! Mine bad but not that bad.

 

[FiferMG4]

***! Mine bad but not that bad.

This bolt has definitely not been aligned properly.

 

[Deleted member 9692]

Do you know what Crawfyp, I think this is bloody ridiculous you said earlier somewhere you had got you car I think on the 7th and returned it on the 10 th I think it was with very few miles done in them three days I would think, and it needs a software update what the hell is going on, I find this very off putting why the hell was this so called update not done before you got the car I feel somebody ethier your dealer or MG UK is trying to pull the wool over our eyes here.
Les.

Thing is Les, the software updates I had anticipated. I made a point of requesting to meet the service manager when I collected the car as I knew there would be several software updates to fix bugs and I wanted to know that this process would be straightforward and included in the cost. The oil leak is a whole other thing for me. Yes, stuff happens, but when you have a major issue like this and they MUST already know they have a major issue that is taking new cars off the road then MG should be swinging into action very quickly. All new owners should be contacted immediately and even if they don’t yet know the solution we should know IN DETAIL how they plan to proceed, likely timeline, and how they plan to compensate their customers. I emailed MG customer care last Tuesday and I’ve not even had the courtesy of a reply.

 

[jamesc83]

Just as an aside, check that your undertray is correctly secured.

View attachment 11861

This was mine at the rear where the undertray is held onto the bottom of the rear bumper cover "diffuser" by a series of 6mm screws. Or perhaps "was" is more accurate, three were loose, one wound out by about 10mm and one off down the road somewhere (sorry if it's now embedded in your tyre and you are reading this waiting for the breakdown services).

Anyone with the undertray issue should tell their dealer and contact mg uk as per my other thread MG4 Undertray

 

[Les burrows]

Thing is Les, the software updates I had anticipated. I made a point of requesting to meet the service manager when I collected the car as I knew there would be several software updates to fix bugs and I wanted to know that this process would be straightforward and included in the cost. The oil leak is a whole other thing for me. Yes, stuff happens, but when you have a major issue like this and they MUST already know they have a major issue that is taking new cars off the road then MG should be swinging into action very quickly. All new owners should be contacted immediately and even if they don’t yet know the solution we should know IN DETAIL how they plan to proceed, likely timeline, and how they plan to compensate their customers. I emailed MG customer care last Tuesday and I’ve not even had the courtesy of a reply.

I agree the customer services of MG uk is not what it should be in my working life it was known as Mushroom Management.
I well remember the problems I had getting anything out of them when I ordered my MG5 back in 2020 and discovered you could not use the roof rails on an estate car, I could not get any help at all from them with the issue they just kept fobbing me off if and when they did reply to my letters or emails hoping I would go away.
Which is why I had it take it to the Government dept to address the problem but that was about an issue concerning safety of course, not sure who can help owners with oil leaks other than the dealers of perhaps the AA or RAC I’m not sure.
I’m sure you will but please do keep the forum up to date on any developments in your case.
thanks.
Les.

 

[Deleted member 9692]

A small update from me. You may have seen in post #228 that oil leak diagnosis has been delayed as the latest software update bricked the car and it can't be switched on. Advice from MG to techs is to disconnect the 12v battery, leave it over the weekend and they "hope" it will rise from the dead on Monday. Then, let oil leak UV diagnosis commence! I will keep you all informed of course.

 

[Samoyed]

I agree the customer services of MG uk is not what it should be in my working life it was known as Mushroom Management.
I well remember the problems I had getting anything out of them when I ordered my MG5 back in 2020 and discovered you could not use the roof rails on an estate car, I could not get any help at all from them with the issue they just kept fobbing me off if and when they did reply to my letters or emails hoping I would go away.
Which is why I had it take it to the Government dept to address the problem but that was about an issue concerning safety of course, not sure who can help owners with oil leaks other than the dealers of perhaps the AA or RAC I’m not sure.
I’m sure you will but please do keep the forum up to date on any developments in your case.
thanks.
Les.

Maybe try the BBC show 'Watchdog' (I believe it's now featured during The One Show) I remember they helped when certain models of BMW were bursting into flames due to a faulty EGR valve. This resulted in a worldwide recall and valve replacement.

 

[ARealHuman]

Wow, just read through this thread with interest. Well done to everyone sharing the woes and ideas. I test drove an MG4 recently and put down a reservation deposit. Seriously thinking about cancelling it now!

Good luck to everyone with issues, I do hope they get sorted quickly and properly (although I realise quickly is a word here some wouldn't like me using ).

 

[Taq]

I am now somewhat confused, just been out to check the SE we got back on Thursday having had the oil leak fix, my wife’s done about 60-70 miles in it (more than the I’ve done in the Trophy) and there is no sign of any oil under it - which we are very pleased about but it’s also a tad puzzling.

 

[Alb]

Still a little early to be certain I'd say

 

[Taq]

Completely agree but it’s a bit more promising as the Trophy leak showed up again after only 20-30 miles