Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi

it looks like i am burning oil at an alarming rate ... 1 pint + over 250 miles. so the engines not going to be running properly there must be something very worn somewhere. ive had a few problems setting the carb to run smoothly on tick over, but its not too bad now.

last week i started having trouble with it running on and getting hot. when i switched it off one day i had a cloud of exhaust come out of the air filter, i thought it was on fire !! ... so i thought ill check the timing. i had filled it up the week before with ordinary four star, but ive been using that castrol valve master with an octane booster so i thought it should be ok. but i couldnt get it to run cool either adjusting the timing or boosting the mixture so i went and filled it with optimax ready to go to stoke, still using the octane boosting valvemaster. which instantly made a difference.

when i got back i remembered someone saying on here or somewhere else i read, one way of doing the timing is to check the static timing then to advance it until it starts pinking then back it off ... so i did that and found i could advance the micrometer all the way which has made it run cooler. is there any disadvantage to running the engine overadvanced ? it feels very nippy and it stops dead when i switch it off, i maybe able to advance it even more if i loosened the distributor, but i dont fancy going too far until i get myself a timing light (oh yes how are you sposed to see the timing marks? you couldnt see them like in the manual unless you took the radiator off !! i keep getting my head stuck under the numberplate )

in vizards book on the a series he says if its burning oil it reduces the apparent octane rating of the fuel by a lot. which i presume means it makes it more likely to preignition and overheating, and i presume advancing the timing increases the compression on the fuel before the spark ?

so basically im compensating for the lack of power which the engine is suffering from due to oil contamination by giving it higher octane fuel and advancing the timing ... is that sensible ?

ps the sparkplugs look lovely, very slightly white but overall pretty clean.

cheers
grainger

To see the timing marks...jack up one side until you can get
your head under!!! Put white paint or Tippex on the timing
marks. It is true,the static timing is only a starting point,from
there you use the micrometer adjuster to set just below where
you experience pinking(eleven clicks equals one degree). This
of course varies with which type of fuel you use and other
details which is why each engine has its own optimum setting.
The plugs should be a light tan colour in the centre,white would
indicate a weak mixture. If you were running retarded then
that would increase the running temperature of the engine.
assuming it was originally running ok you would need to find
out why it suddenly retarded itself,distributor loose??

thanks willie, i think it was a combination of using low octane petrol and oil consumption that made it seem like it was retarded, if that makes sense. so it was overheating because the petrol contaminated with oil ignites earlier

i dont want to mess with it further until i have a timing light to check how far out it all is. ive had my timing set twice by real mechanics this year, but they may have just turned the micrometer, instead of centering it and turning the distributor, so ive just run out of adjustment.

even if you jack it up youd still have to look at the back of them (compared to the manual) wouldnt you ? i thought it may have been possible to see them through the starter handle hole !

cheers
grainger