Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi team

just took my minor on a tour of northumberland coast- very beautiful! Had her serviced and they put new oil in for the trip. Couple of hundred miles in the engine starts rattling and smoking a little. Called put break down and they tell me it's burnt dry. As you can imagine I'm gutted as I'm usually so diligent! They advise me I need a whole new engine. Am mid getting her towed to Clitheroe as it's nearer than where I live in Scotland and I have family there. Can anyone recommend a good garage I can take her to to take the necessary work done?

Thanks. I appreciate supportive comments!

P.s there is no oil leak so obviously I am taking it up with garage but on the meantime my priority is to get her healthy and back on road!!

Unless you laid a major smoke trail for that couple of hundred miles I'd say the garage has a LOT of explaining to do.
Is the new oil still in a can in the boot?

Yes! Always carry oil but as I'd be assured that she'd be serviced pre triP didn't see need to re fill. Basically I'm looking for the best way forward now the damage has so clearly been done.

You are a lot more philosophical about this than I would be.
I suspect the garage caused the problem by not refilling the sump.
Did you check the oil before you left?
Burning a whole sump full of oil in that short time would make loads of smoke. Easily enough to get you stopped by the police.

If the garage serviced your car and changed the oil then presumably they should have changed the filter.
Undo the filter and check if there is any oil in it, if it is old or new oil and if it is an old or new filter.

Not really feeling philosophical but am trying to be calm and reasonable in order to find a solution. She is my pride and joy and I need to get her back on road!! I'm pretty sure garage is at fault - I think they forgot to refill but told me they had. I was a little worried and so asked the guy at halfords when buying oil who assurred me was fine too!! I'm pretty gutted!

I'll you something extra - when you are a fairly young woman who loves cars and is just eager to learn more you often come across patronizing mechanics who fobb off your questions and make you feell neurotic. I guess this teaches me to trust my instinct more!

Perhaps they asked the apprentice to do the job and he filled it with 5W40 that just got past the pistons.
More likely that the oil filter seal wasn't fitted correctly. something similar happened to me. I serviced the car, ran it round the block and all was well. Next morning it travelled 1/4 mile to the MOT shop and there was a trail of oil all the way.

Do you have an itemised receipt for the work carried out?
Inspection of the filter as I previously suggested should reveal what work was carried out compared to what was claimed to have been carried out.
If you are a member of a motoring organisation you can have the car inspected and maybe start legal proceedings against the garage if you claim that they are at fault

A 'whole new engine' is likely to cost ~ £1000 - are you ready for that ? Someone not a million miles away on this board recently spent £1500 on an engine change !! I would get the car taken home - and then negotiate from there with this 'garage' that 'serviced' your car. It's utterly impossible for it to have gone so badly wrong in 200 miles unless they did something really stupid. Did you feel before this 'servicing' that the engine was in any way on it's last legs? Was the oil pressure warning light ON at any time ? Did it rattle and smoke - because it had lost all the water - or all the oil ?

We lost nearly the entire load of oil (reading was off the end of the dipstick) in a trip of only 10 miles due to a rust pinhole in the oil filter housing - under pressure the stuff really pours out - and in our case it did so without leaving a trace - didn't show 'til I topped it up and saw what was happening with the engine running. It sounds like your engine is still running, and you can't hurt it anymore, so it would be interesting to put some oil in and see if it is visibly escaping somewhere......(you can't really blame a garage for a pinhole like ours, but it would show a poorly fitted oil filter seal, etc)

You should urgently grab the engine for sale - in the 'sales' section! It's condition is a bit unknown - but it must be better than yours!

I have a 1098cc Silver Seal engine that came with Basil. I've now decided that I'm wanting a 948 so if you want it, you can have it. Only catch is that its wrong end of the country.

Apparently its done ~80,000 miles and had oil changes every 3000 but I've not run it, so couldn't give any form of garuntee....

Remain calm. It seems you stopped promptly and called for help. You could be pleasantly surprised that the engine is not a write-off.

When I was a lad I used to pop in to see a couple of mechanics I'd become friendly with. One day, they were starting up a scrap Mini - same engine as a Moggie, basically. They had drained the oil and water, and had it running at high revs to see how long it would last before croaking.

Are you ready?

Twenty nine minutes.

Maybe it had very sloppy pistons which delayed seizure, but it just goes to show how sturdy the A Series engine is.

If they did that - they were certainly not 'mechanics' . Never heard anything so stupid in all my life!

They were both former 'dealer' apprentices. It was a cold winter day, and we were stood around the brazier outside, well away from the Mini. They had no work in......I suppose the time would have been better spent sweeping up, tidying around and the like.
Boys will be boys, I suppose, no matter how old they are. Both were married with children.
Still, I am still grateful for having been able to see what an A Series engine can take. I think, at the time, this kind of old car had little value, there being so many of them in yards.

Agreed! I would have no qualms about doing the same to a Fiesta if I was in that sort of position, but one day there may be people who bemoan the passing of the old Ford rattlebox! Definitely not responsible actions for a mechanic, but so what?

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Peetee wrote:More likely that the oil filter seal wasn't fitted correctly. something similar happened to me. I serviced the car, ran it round the block and all was well. Next morning it travelled 1/4 mile to the MOT shop and there was a trail of oil all the way.

I've had that problem too - the oil filter seal split a few days after replacing it and the engine rapidly pumped all the oil out onto the motorway.

I seem to remember reading once that it's possible to fit a modification using the more modern type of screw-in canister oil filter.
I've never had a problem personally......are these tales of woe possibly due to the over-tightening of the bolt which holds the filter cup to the engine? If so, is there a recommended torque setting for this bolt?

Possibly; I had a problem with the previous seal weeping slightly so I'd done the filter bolt up fairly tight (but not ridiculously so). Since the split seal incident I've been paranoid about only doing the bolt up very lightly, then running the engine and checking carefully for it weeping, nipping it up slightly more if necessary.