Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi

My partner has a 1968 2-door saloon blue-grey colour which has been standing (in a garage) for 5+ years and she is keen to get him back on the road. Someone said to be careful restarting after so long. Not being a mechanic, I will to start with only be doing the following:

- replacing the battery
- re-filling the radiator
- checking the oil (which looks fine to my untrained eye - it appears clear, without any smudge in it and well up on oil stick)
- checking tyre pressures

Just wondered if after above I can go ahead and turn the key or turn him over or can I wreck engine or gearbox or valves without doing other things first ? Can parts of engine / valves / gearbox / carb etc just sieze over this time ?

I've been scouring other posts for poor starting problems in anticipation of him not waking up straightaway after all this time and we even have a Haynes manual to scratch heads over.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Cheers

engine parts can sieze, the main concern is around piston rings in the bores.

before trying to start it with the starter motor i would turn it over by hand..
this is what i recall no doubt someone will be along soon to correct me..

remove the spark plugs
put a small amount down each bore and leave it to soak in over night
use the starting handle to turn the engine over by hand

once the engine is turning, put plugs back in and use the starter motor

That's it, you need to put some oil down the bores and turn it over. If it won't turn then the rings have stuck to the bores. DO NOT force it. You will need to let the oil do it's work, and adding some diesel fuel down the bores may help. When it turns, the next move is to get oil pressure up, and you do this by cranking the engine on the starter (still with the plugs out) until the oil light goes out, and then keep going for another 5 seconds. Only then do you clean and refit the plugs, and turn your attention to the fuel pump which is likely not 'ticking' due to oxidised points. Remove the cap and clean the points. You may then be lucky to get it started, if the distributor points are not oxidised. Once you have it running, it's likely the clutch will have seized up, and almost certainly the brakes will be seized on too. But you can come back once you have the engine started. Good luck

Use fresh fuel too, if there is fuel left in the tank it will no longer be suitable.

Whilst you are waiting for the oil to do its job, you can release the handbrake if it was left on and try pushing the car. Chances are that the back brakes will have seized on, so after the engine is running you can look forward to that job.

Hi

Thanks for replies - much appreciated. We don't have a starting handle though so I tried turning the fan. It was awkward but things moved anyway. Have also towed car out - but that was just to tidy around it It was easier to push back in once there was air in one of the back tyres

Anyway will proceed as suggested and post back.

Thanks again.

where in the country do you live?

if you are anywhere near me (aldershot) you are more than welcome to pop over and borrow a starting handle..

Hi

Thanks for the offer charlie_morris_minor but having towed Donald (the car) out of the garage I discovered a starting handle and so was able to turn the engine - which it did. Harder to turn at some points in the cycle but guess this is due to
where pistons are positioned ??? Otherwise, crank turns fine.

I have a back tyre which deflates slowly and he was hard work pushing back into the garage - is that brakes binding ?

So on we go. Will post a photo of him at some point. We are in North Wales by the way so would be a fair way to pop to

Cheers

Almost certainly.