Morris Minor Owners Club

ok the pimp my ride moggy was taken out of hibernation last weekend and after the usual checks and servicing to make sure every thing was fine i took her for a spin round the block, however i made it as far as half way up the first hill until i lost drive completly.

No bangs clunks, knocks or generally uh oh kind of noises, just the engine revving happily (or idling happily) and no movement regardless of whether your in gear or not!

so far i've thought of checking prop / driveshaft connections / rear diff, clutch (could it have stuck in the disengaged postion?) etc.

it doesn't matter if the clutch is in or out, or what gear you are in, there are no funny noises and the engine just merrily idles!

Anyone had this issue before? Any advice on what to check and how to check it?

Cheers
John

Sounds like you have a broken half shaft as these can break without much of a sound, when one breaks you loose all drive.

It does indeed. AFAIK, the clutch can't stick in the disengaged position, BTW. Replacing the half shafts is relatively simple too

hmmm had feared that but hoped it might have made lots of noise (i snapped one on a beetle once and that made quite a bang

Anyhow, not having been under the back end of a moggy for a while are they enclosed (ie inside a casing like beetles ) or exposed like imp / triumph herald? I assume it'll be fairly obvious if one is broken?

They're inside the axle casing and need pulling out.

bigginger wrote:They're inside the axle casing and need pulling out.

thanks,

any way of testing to see if they are broken without stripping it all down? (i've got limited diagnosis time this weekend before i collect the necessary parts and go back to fix it!)

start the engine, put it in gear, let the clutch out, and get someone to look at the underneath of the car (preferebly not by lieing underneath it

if the propshaft is going round but the car goes nowhere, then it is diff related, probably half shaft.

if the prop shaf isn't turning, suspect the gearbox, (lay shaft??). Someone else may have to comment on that, as I am allergic to gearboxes since I dropped my last Land Rover one and swore (repeatedly) never to touch one again.

Andrew

No need to lie under - just look at the speedo - if it's reading then the gearbox is turning. I would also expect all manner of nasty rumblings if the half-shaft had gone. If it is that - you ned to strip out the diff assembly - and work the broken end out - and clean everything very carefully because it will be full of metal shards!! I lost drive once when the centre tore out of the clutch plate - it was noiseless - just suddenly no GO ! My money is on the clutch plate.

thanks guys, seems a bit of investigation is in order. I'll go armed with tool kit and haynes and see what i can come up with! lets hope it's relatively simple or its magically cured itself over the last week or so

Sorry to hear you have a problem

As mentioned already you can easily differentiate between an axle or gearbox problem by looking if the propshaft is turning.

Broken halfshaft - it may be easy to change one that isn't broken however a broken one is not as easy! Normally you'll need to remove the diff to get to the other end of the shaft. You will also need to spend time to make sure any debris is out of the axle otherwise it can ruin the diff bearings etc...

If it's lost drive at the gearbox end, it may be something simple like the clutch disk, but if it is inside the gearbox itself then unless you're pretty mechanically minded it is best to replace than repair. The clutch itself can fail 'open' but thats less likely than a fault in the gearbox.

Would be nice to hear what the cause is.
Ray.

I would also expect all manner of nasty rumblings if the half-shaft had gone.

Last time I had one go it didnt make any noise apart from a click when I went to pull away.
Just one other thing were there any signs of revs increasing when you started going up the hill before all drive went as that could point to the clutch as previously mentioned.

def wasn't a slipping clutch thats for sure.

Anyhow - went and had a good nosey at the moggy at the weekend, started on the button (which is nice) and merrily idled for me. had a look under whilst in gear (with my lovely assistant in the drivers seat just in case) and low and behold the propshaft is spinning happily but there is quite rumbling and discontented sounds from the halfshaft / diff area.

So rather than stripping down and replacing the broken bit / bits and cleaning the rest, i'm going to opt for a complete unit as i dont have the time or space to do the former.

which leads me to go an post another question!

Do not run the prop shaft for longer than is necessary to identify the broken
half shaft as the 'rumbling ' noise is the broken shaft end grinding away the inner ring of the diff bearing.

Willie wrote:Do not run the prop shaft for longer than is necessary to identify the broken
half shaft as the 'rumbling ' noise is the broken shaft end grinding away the inner ring of the diff bearing.

doesn't sound healthy! not to worry it was only for a few seconds, just enough to see the prop spinning away!

Told you it would be rumbling!
Is it definitely still the original Morris axle ?
Did the Pimpers not give a warranty with the car ?

bmcecosse wrote:Told you it would be rumbling!
Is it definitely still the original Morris axle ?
Did the Pimpers not give a warranty with the car ?

to be fair it was only audiable once i got close - its hard to hear much over the exhaust

the pimpers did give the car a full rac check to make sure everything was dandy and their work did have a warrenty, but it's well over a year now since it was done! def the original axle, only change was to re drill the flanges and the drums to a different pcd to fit the alloys.

Told you it would be rumbling!

That you did

My money is on the clutch plate.

And that as well

I hate to say it, but do you think they put the Half shafts back on the wrong sides after they were drilled? I understand that makes them prone to snapping.

Yes, it would make them more liable to sheer but,unless they are labelled
carefully when being removed you have no way of knowing which side they
came from.

I'm glad you said that, Willie! I was just about to say that running the car with a broken Half Shaft is not good...

Don't move it either. Just let her be and get some new half-shafts