Morris Minor Owners Club

I made the mistake of letting my 61 MM 1000 sit too long and now fuel is flowing out the air inlet in the float-chamber. The manual suggested (in the MM section) depressing the float-depressing plunger to clear out a possible blockage - I tried this to no avail. Any suggestions as to a next step will be greatly appreciated!

Wayne - Dallas, TX USA

First off - take the wire off the fuel pump and let the level drop by running the engine - then reconnect and see what happens. If this doesn't clear it then indeed you will need to take out the 3 screws and carefully lift the top off the float chamber and inspect the float and the needle valve. The valve will be ridged slightly - you may decide it needs renewing if no obvious debris. Could be the float was just sticking - put it all back and try again. Of course the float could be leaking - and no longer 'floating' - in which case renewal is the answer unless v early carb with metal float which could be repaired by soldering - be beware any petrol inside the float!!!

I had exactly the same problem, it turned out to be a worn valve seat and needle AND the thin metal hinge that float connects to was bent to high. This meant that even when the float chamber was full and the float was at the top it still wasnt turning off the valve.

If you have a Morris Minor repair manual there is normaly a test in there to tell you if the float sits in the correct position, it requires you taking the lid off the float chamber, turning it upside down and putting a certian sized bar inbetween the float and the lid, the valve SHOULD close, if it doesnt then it needs bending downwards!

Bit hard to explain in text but if you get stuck then just email me and i can ring you or send you some photos explaining!

Hello and thanks for the replies - just as an update - I tried the suggestion of disconnecting the fuel pump and cranking the engine (it wouldn't start, the original problem). I reconnected the fuel pump and, lo and behold, it started! A beautiful sound to my ears. I am getting married next week and my fiance had her heart set on driving off in the Morris Minor - I can now oblige!
Thanks again!
Wayne

Y'all take care there! Have a nice day. (I used to live in Houston!)

I'm having a terrible week. I'm only 20 and have had my moggie since I passed my test 2 years ago. Last week it broke down and I had to replace the cylinder head, gasket set and fuel pump. I made it back down to Brighton where I live on Tuesday only to find today it wont start and fuel is pouring out of the top of the float chamber. I cant even manage to undo the 3 screws at the top because they've obviously not been used in a very long time! Aah!

Get a good wide blade scewdriver - hold it on the screw -and smart tap on the top of the driver handle - should get them moving. Why did it need a new head - and a new fuel pump at the same time sems hard to believe. Sometime s asmart tap on the side of the float bowl will stop it overflowing - but it is likely that the needle valve is worn anway - MOSS sell a replacement 'Grose' valve that has a ball bearing instead of the needle and is supposedly much better and longer lasting.

Thanks for the advice. I've got new parts on order. I dont know what caused all the problems. It just kept completely breaking down. I've had so much trouble with it. I bought the car for £4500 2 years ago and I've nearly spent that again on repairs over the last 2 years.

yes thats usually a case of the float needle being stuck,tapping it with a large spanner often works,the same as with the fuel pump.I would be interested to know also why it needed a new head(ive just fitted one myself)

Dan

£4500!!!! jeeezas was it ultra low mileage or something?did you do the work yourself?if not i can see where the money went.

Replacement fuel pumps may also push too hard on the float and overcome the bouyancy, thus allowing the chamber to flood. I spent about £10 on a little regulator that reduces the pressure from the Bosch pump down to 1.5psi and that cured the flooding on mine ('52 sidevalve)

Good grief - the initial cost sounds very high - and as for those repair costs - someone is ripping you off very badly indeed. You could reNEW every moving part on the Minor for much less than that.

if I thought I could get that sort of money for a minor,i'd come out of retirement and start buying and rebuilding Seems an aufull lot of money for a car thats had so many problems.

(have had to change email address as couldnt log in as before)

Right, so I bought my Trafalgar Blue 2 door saloon APN 852B in June 2005 for my 18th birthday for about £4500, the car was in supposedly good condition with 7237 miles on the clock. It came with a new alternator, new ignition coil, distributor cap and lead set (changed to unleaded), new battery, new fuel pump, new foot brake master cylinderservo assisted breaks, cigarette lighter, electronic ignition, halogen headlamps, electric washers, battery cut out and my dads old reversing lights fitted in that price. The chassi was also guaranteed for 3 years.

It was MOT'd in July 2006 by a local garage in Henley who failed it because of a problem with the trunion, replaced and repaired it. I got from Reading to Leicester before the part came off, the wheel went flying and damaged the wheel arch. They not only charged me for both MOT's, the new part, towing it back to their garage BUT ALSO for the repairs made by their previously BODGED job!! I then had to pay someone else to take a look to check the second lot of work was ok (for my own piece of mind). I don't have the exact figure of what it cost but it was HUGE.

In January it was involved in a crash (some idiot rear ended me) so I got a new back bumper (paid for by the other parties insurance costing them £771) and I replaced the left rear wing at the same time (because I'd been an idiot and dented it). East Sussex Minors also serviced it at the same time and replaced a spark plug, oil filter element, air filter element. The total for the service etc was £199. They also gave me a quote for £267 worth of work they felt needed doing (my dad decided they were taking the michael so we chose not to).

Last year there was a problem with the dashboard electrics, I blew 2 fuses and burnt through 2 flasher units before the garage realised it was the flasher unit (I payed for all the parts!)

May this year I replaced a tyre for £35
My MOT this year (July) cost £92

So, we reach when I posted my first message last week. The car broke down a month ago on my way to Devon as the fuel pump had died (supposedly new when I got the car?!), he cleaned up the points and said it should be ok. 2 weeks ago the fuel pump went again so we replaced it and it still wouldnt go (£50 to tow it to the garage) £300 for a new cylinder head and gasket head and labour. Last week it stopped again. It turned out to be the float chamber flooding, £35 for a new lid and float which I fitted myself.

Now she is going ok but seems to lurch and chug a bit in the lower gears.

What a life for my poor Norris the Morris!

Sounds like you've had a lot of bad luck. How come you wound up paying the garage that bodged the trunnion replacement? I normally don't make a fuss myself but in a case like that I'd be insisting on a full refund, given that the accident could have been much worse. That kind of mistake is why garages need professional indemnity insurance.

What was wrong with the cylinder head? It's pretty rare to need to replace them unless you want to upgrade to an unleaded one.

Re. the lurching: check there is enough oil in the carb dashpot. Unscrew the black plastic thing on top of the aluminium dome next to the air filter and use an oil can to squirt a few pumps of engine oil in.

PS. best not to name any of the companies involved, as negative criticism is against the T&Cs.

You are being well ripped off by that 'local garage' - if they failed to fit the new trunnion correctly (sound like they tried to get away with a used secnd-hand part) then they should have covered ALL the costs to put that right. You should not have needed another new head - why did you not take it back to the original supplier ? Heads are about £25 - and 'unleaded' is a big waste of manoey anyway UNLESS you are going to be doing huge mileage each day. Accident costs are covered by Insurance - so that's ok - and why a new float d valve ? You only (maybe) needed a new valve - very much cheaper. Fuel pumps last for years and years - and the odd cleaning of the points does help from time to time. At worst - a new set of points would have fixed it. And that 'service' at ESM - also a rip-off - you could easily do all that yourself in a couple of hours (less than 1 hour once you know what's what) with £20 for the parts.
Anyway - don't despair - lots of help on here and lots of cheap second hand parts too. If you can't do the work yourself - find a garage who CAN - and NOT that local garage!!
As for your car 'lurching' - can you explain any better ? Could be many things - but more detailed description would help us diagnose the problem.
Also - if you put in your location in your avatar - there may be someone v near you willing to pop round and have a look.

indeed,to be honest if you cant service a Minor yourself(plugs,filters,oil etc)you shouldnt really be driving one.
seems youve been ripped off by the garages as they have worked out that you dont know any better and that they can ge a away with it.
ive just changed a cyl head myself,never having done one before,and it costy less than £200,and that was including all the studs,gaskets and other bits i wanted.It took me 2 days to do,but only because i took my time,the actual assembling of the head took about an hour and a half.Get a Manual,get some tools,dont take it to a garage!!!!

Only costs me £4 to change cylinder head - cost of Mini 998 gasket at local Autoparts. Of course i do have a large pile of alternative heads - but they can be picked up for £10/20 depending on what you want.

yes i should note that i did replace with new,as an easier route for myself,with a bit of searching you can do it "on the cheap"

Hey,

Sorry I had not realised I'd named anyone - my mistake. Not sure what went wrong with the cylinder head. I do seem to have awful luck. Thanks for the advice