Morris Minor Owners Club

Well, my 1,000 mile trip started fine, car running well. However, after travelling around 160 miles the car started to miss badly and would not start again easily after stalling. I checked everything I could think of but could not isolate the problem so in the end took her to a Auto Electrician in a country town.

He pulled the plugs and found them very black. He then checked the distributor with a multimeter. His meter read something around 30 and he said it should be closer to 60. After adjusting and getting it up to 55 the car started beautifully and now runs really well. Idle speed is much higher (will need to be wound back) and top speed has increased to 55 mph.

Question is - what was he referring to? Is it the dwell angle (or cam angle)?? I am not sure what this is or how to adjust it. As I say car is running great now but would be keen to know exactly what he did.

Here are a couple of pics of the trip anyway


Before disaster struck



Uh Oh!...

It was the dwell angle - which is basically the points gap. By adjusting the points he will also have moved the timing slightly. Black plugs indicate rich running - so have a look a again and perhaps decide to weaken it off.

But the black plugs would also be caused by too weak a spark correct? If the dwell angle was too low spark would not be strong enough, so would have same effect as too much petrol in the mix?

Not really! Just look at the plugs again after a bit of running - and see what's what!

Well, it appears the mechanic I took her to was right - he said the plugs were oiling up due to the spark being so weak because points too wide. He said the plugs would clean themselves up as I drove.

Have now done a further 250 miles, during which she has run brilliantly and on pulling the plugs here's what I found



Yesterday the contact and the tip were oily black.

Another 250 miles tomorrow. To infinity and beyond!

the sooty plugs are likely to be from the missfire - rather like flooding a cold engine, the unburnt fuel wets up the surfaces and when it does fire there is too much fuel around.
A sooty plug is only really relevant to mixture if the engine is running - not when it's missfiring.

Certainly look fine now!

onward and upward woody from buzz your friend

Still going well. Had a knocking noise from the back this afternoon. At first thought it was something in the boot banging around but on closer inspection found the LH rear damper was slightly loose - one bolt had come a little loose. Not surprising given the rough condition of some of the roads. All tightened up and good now

So - how many miles is that now ??

On the homeward stretch now with just under 600 miles covered. Total mileage will be around 850-900.

Couple of observations/issues:

She has used just on a litre of oil. Is this OK for 600 miles, bearing in mind most of the driving has been at the top of the rev range with the engine constantly running at high revs?

I have a couple of leaks around the windscreen which I discovered last night during a fierce storm!

I definitely need to fit sound deadening back to the passenger side of the firewall and refit the parcel shelf in order to cut down on road noise.

Othr than that she is running fine. A little lumpy on idle but I'm sure a tune up when I get home will put that right.