Morris Minor Owners Club

Whenever I go for awhile at fast speeds - on the freeway - the speedometer cable sucks oil from the bottom all the way up and THROUGH the speedo. It gets coated and starts leaking on my leg. Then the speedo stops working until I take it all apart, dry it off and put it back together. Quite a pesty thing! Any ideas on how to stop it? Is there a missing filter at the engine connection? Thanks for any help! Sue

Sue,

I'm sure you know (or will do soon!) - the speedo cable is screwed into the gearbox, not the engine.
There is no way oil can leak from the engine to the gearbox (there's the clutch housing in the way)

So.... there's no filter/seal (AFIK) but I would suspect that the gearbox has too much oil.
Do you do the oil changes yourself? The gearbox should be filled until the oil just comes out of the filler - mind you I don't see how to over-fill it?

How fast is fast? my 1966 1098cc Mog does fast runs along the A roads - about 60-70 but not for extended periods (like 10-15 minutes).
Also, what variety of Minor do you have? I don't think the basics changed much (but the rest of the team will soon tell me I'm wrong)

Luck,

Colin

Is your cable spiraled? Maybe it is an after market replacement or in upside down etc.

The only way off hand I can think is that if the cable is spiraled it may be working as an auger and drawing the oil up. This would be less at slow speeds as the oil would have time to run down but the faster it gets the more effective it would be!

No help but an idea any way

Hi this is a new one to me as the normal problem is with the cable drying out I have not heard of this before, are you sure that its leaking from the speedo as this is in the middle of the dash, where is your leg at the time.

Just an idea, but have you got an oil pressure gauge line running anywhere near, this could be leaking at the higher pressures encountered (over longer periods) and dripping / squirting into / near the speedo??

Just a thought!

Ithink that 'Fweddy' has probably hit the nail on the head....withdraw
the whole inner cable and inspect it for any section which is an 'open'
spiral i.e. where the strands of the wire have a gap between them. If
you have this condition then it is feasible that this open area is acting
as a pump (called an Archimedes Screw) and sucking up the oil. Then
again, looking at the Workshop Manual there IS an oil seal in the
speedometer drive assembly where it is fitted into the gearbox. In fact
the earliest cars suffered oiled up speedometers and the drive assemblies
were quickly modified. I have never seen a speedo drive oil seal
advertised.......try the gearbox specialists.....p.cavanagh on
0161427 5800

Sorry not to give all the facts - Emmy's a '54 but with a 1275 Spriget engine. I can go 65-70 mph for periods - scary as she rattles a bit, but usually it's okay for 10-15 minutes or so. The problem happens when I go longer, like a half hour. The speedo is right in front of me, not in the middle as in the later models. The oil gauge is totally separate (DID have that line BLOW out - what a horrible mess!!!, but that's another story). The oil that is drawn up through the cable is cleaner looking than on the dipstick. There's a square wire in the middle of the cable that fits into the connections and screw holders to bring each end tight. Hope this helps - and MUCH thanks for all the suggestions!!

Like ColinP mentioned the oil in the gear box will be seperate from that in the engine. It will (should be) be cleaner which explains the difference to your dipstick stuff.

Get under and take the speedo cable from the gearbox end and see if there is any oil in the connection - if there is heaps it may indicate a seal or such likes is letting the oil from the gearbox out (I don't really know this part of the car).

Also try disconnecting the other end (behind the speedo and see if there is much oil there - you might have to try straight after running if for a while.

If there is oil both places try leaving the cable disconnected where you can see it and go blatting down the road (tell the cops you don't know how fast you were going 'cause the speedo's not connected) and see if it starts pumping the oil up? (might pay to wear goggles! ) *is this a good idea?*

Sue,

Looks like the experts have the good ideas (as usual).

A couple of thoughts from my drive home last night...

1) You are using standard (20/50 or 15/40) engine oil in the gearbox (not hypoid oil)?
2) this isn't synthetic (see the post in "Other" about gearbox oil)
3) If the gearbox oil heats up it will expand and take up more room - is there a breather vent anywhere? - I suspect that CA is warmer than this bit of the UK!

Best of luck

Colin

thanks again for the suggestions. I'll ask my mechanic what oil he used. I will check the cable out this weekend and see what's up down there. I'll let you all know what I find. You're the best!

tell the cops you don't know how fast you were going 'cause the speedo's not connected

Speeding in a faulty car?! Yikes! Will we get to see a copy of the speeding ticket / citation afterwards?!

Although ostensibly a 1954 car, haivng the speedo in front of the driver could be a give-away...

In fact the earliest cars suffered oiled up speedometers and the drive assemblies were quickly modified.

Could this be the problem?

The 1275 engine is irrelevant if you are still using the '54 gearbox?
(surely not)

I'm sorry to say, I don't really know. from the top it doesn't look much different - besides the double carbs that is! I'll put a call into my mechanic, but first I'll check that cable this weekend. Can/should I drain a bit of oil out of the gearbox? And how? You are right, it is warmer here in California. Thanks again for all the time you guys have spent! Sue

Try this - get your car on a level piece of ground, and remove the filler plug from the gearbox - it'll be somewhere near the top, on one side... If you get covered in oil, then there's too much in there. Move out of the way, and wait until the excess drains off...

That should keep you going!

I would suggest that your mechanic only has to disconnect the
complete speedo cable from the gearbox end at which point
he will see if any oil is dripping out. It seems that the later speedo
drive assemblies were fitted with nylon bushes and had a small
hole for oil to seep through and lubricate the parts. Re the gearbox
itself.....early ones had a smooth outer casing, the last (stronger)
boxes had a ribbed outer casing.