I was sorry to read your MGB saga. There's nothing more frustrating
than trying to do everything right and still failing. If it's any
consolation, I rebuilt my entire '79 MGB engine to take care of a
burning oil problem, and it didn't go away, either. MGBs are just
perverse, I've decided.
Anyway, one way to check to see if you are leaking coolant is to see
if exhaust gas is coming out of your radiator. (The coolant that
leaks into the cylinder is replaced with gas from the cylinder -
usually exhaust that is forced into the cooling system during the
exhaust cycle.) My MGB has a sealed radiator, so I'm not sure how
well this test would work. But in theory at least you can fill up the
overflow tank and see if you are getting air bubbles coming out of the
radiator. Auto shops have a gadget to do this automatically.
Back when I cracked my head and was leaking coolant into the
cylinders, I was getting lots of white smoke out the exhaust pipe. So
that's another thing you can look for. Also, coolant in the cylinder
will stain your spark plugs. I think the Hayne's manual has a
picture of what it looks like. But that might not show up after just
a quick run around the block.
Let me suggest using a Colortune to try to narrow down your problems.
Colortune will show you how your fuel/air mixture is doing, and you
can apply it to each cylinder in turn to see if you have a problem
with one specific cylinder.
-- Scott Turner (79 MGB)
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