Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello Everone

Ive just opened my filler cap to put some oil in "Olive" and there is a yellow scum around the rim, also when I took the dip stick out there was yellow scum in the dip stick hole as well, should I be Alarmed ?

i think that is normal.

What you have to look out for is white bits in the oil, a sign of coolant leak!

Colder weather and short runs, probably quite normal.
However, don't know about on the dipstick tube The "mayonnaise" usually appears in the rocker cover because the front is exposed to the cold air from the fan, but then again so is the whole front of the engine.

I had this on my Rover. White/yellow emulsion in the oil filler tube and on the dipstick. This was last winter, it cleared when the weather got a bit warmer.

Keep a close eye on it, and also check the breathers are working correctly.
The mayonnaise comes when oil gets in the water. When the oils is hot the water turns to steam and condenses back again mixed with the oil to make these deposits.
Cold weather increases this, and irregular servicing doesn't help either.
The breathers act to circulate air through the engine helping to remove the water vapour, so if they aren't working correctly the mayonnaise happens much more quickly.
Water in the oil can also come from the coolant circuit, which is much more serious and if this is the case you will eventually get running problems.

I would have thought this one was obvious.... (wait for it....)



Surely it's "OLIVE OIL"

I would say as other people have said its only water vapour etheir due to the cold weather / you need an oil change. If the car is only being used for short runs in cold weather and not getting warmed the problem can appear worse than it is. As long as your car has not developed a thurst for water I would not worry about it.

I would to be on the safe side check your breather pipes.
Depend when you oil was last changed. carry out an oil change
You could also check / replace you thermostat.
Take the car on a long run.

Carrying out the above suggestion would at least give you piece of mind.

James.

This is a well known feature of many Minors and is not necessarily
an indication of a fault condition, just running too cool. As stated
the warmer weather should put paid to it. You could try blanking
off at least a third of the radiator matrix with cardboard.

Surely it's "OLIVE OIL"

That was awful.
Bye bye cruel world.


BANG!

we used olive oil on our morris minor- worked a treat !

I should post how we used it in the useful tips section one of these days.

oh peetee why shoot yourself over it instead of the person who SAID the awful joke

I he hadn't of said it; I, and mabey a few others, would have!

It had to come from somewhere; thought I'd get it over with quickly!

I looked at my Frieds Fiesta (H reg 1.3) last night. It needs some welding, which might not be worth it... I mean it's not a Minor
There was so much yellowy olive slime in the filler cap / breather that it made me cringe. the breather strainer and breather hose was so clogged with it that is was restricting the air flow.
I know that these Ford engines are more prone to it, but that was grim! In the filler hole it was nealy 10mm thick
You have to be carefiul of the breathers because if they get blocked more serious problems will develop.

It needs some welding, which might not be worth it... I mean it's not a Minor

You should see the amount that I did to my Rover last (and previous to that) MOT. Complete sill corroded away from the floor and only held on by about 1 inch of steel in total!!! I could not afford a new car at the time so I had to fix it but the welding took me 2 days!!

I guessed that it cost me about £10 in materials, but it was probably about £500 worth of welding at a garage as I had to fabricate new sill sections too.

So, although the Fiesta might not be worth repairing by garage price standards, it might be if YOU do it. But then again it depends on if you can be bothered repairing a friend's car! They would have to be a VERY good friend!

They would have to be a VERY good friend!

I'm just too much of a nice guy sometimes. She is broke and job hunting, but will need a car to get a job.
It needs a complete sill on one side, a patch on the other side and the front chassis rail needs a 12" long repair. The front chassis rail was a bit of a surprise as it is hidden behind the wheelarch liner - the MOT man had seen the bottom of it.

Didn't seem sensible to scrap it as brakes / suspension /shocks etc.. all passed. I'm waiting on a price for the sill - that will probably make my mind up.

Would much rather be working on a Minor! And in this weather I'd rather be in the house not the garage

Last time I bought a pattern sill for a fiesta it was £16 from memory. About 5 years ago though....

I use Scotts in Sidcup for panels & paint. Not sure if he does minor panels but his paint match is good.

(Scotts Of Sidcup
1b The Oval
Sidcup 02083027611
Paint Spraying Equipment and Accessories )

The guy who owns it (Keith) used to drink in a pub I worked in...

It was an E plate so maybe an older shape than this one.... Didn't take long to chop the other one out & fit it though; from memory the MOT man asked for a 2" weld with a 1" gap between on the long run or was it the other way around....

The cause in this case was easily seen, it was a special edition with a pop up sunroof & some highly intelligent person thought it would be good to route the drain pipes doen the pillars & let them dangle free in the sill; great when the drain holes block up in bad weather...
The other sill was not far behind it either...

Well this one has a sunroof too, but it is the later model. I'll have a look for drain pipes in the sill.
I was told that they changed the MOT ruling to require full seam welding on sills and structural areas. Back when I was a lad that was reserved for extremists and rally cars!!

It was about 5 years ago... Has MOT criteria changed since then??

I actually drilled some bigger drain holes in the new sill. The MOT man said he couldn't fail it for this as long as the surrounding metal was ok, the ones like the fiesta have where the sill meets the floorpan always seem to block.
I made some large round "minoresque" ones...

oh peetee why shoot yourself over it

Did you like the long pause before I replied? I thought it might make my demise a bit more convincing

the MOT man asked for a 2" weld with a 1" gap between on the long run or was it the other way around....

D'oh!! I thought you always had to seam weld everything structural!!! That's what I have been doing................... ah well, never mind!