Morris Minor Owners Club

It's been getting louder and then suddenly the other day got really loud. There's a little loss in power, but not much really. And it only happens under acceleration. I played with the timing, this helped a little, but of course made the engine run worse. It seems to idle well bar the dreaded clanking...... would this be a crank shaft thing? It's also losing oil fairly generously.

any ideas?

rh.

Hi and welcome to the message board...
What kind of clank??
Funny noises can be hard to diagnose, so the more description the better!
Many times, funny noises turn out to be other things. Not knowing your level of experience I don't want to patronise.. Exhaust clonks are common - (especially as the engine top steady bracket can break off the body).
Does it clank at all engine speeds, does it only happen when you put your foot down or is it just worse when you do that etc..

Oh dear, although there are obviously several possibilities the fact
that it occurs only on acceleration would point towards a
'big end ' bearing. A new set of bearing shells can be fitted
without removing the engine but, if the crankshaft is scored,
that would be a waste of time. You need someone knowledgeable
to have a listen. The fact that you improved it slightly by
retarding the ignition (advancing the ignition would have made
it worse) again points to a 'big end'.

yeah, thats what mine was like. Low oil pressure, leaking lots, clanking under acceleration, and retarding the timing cures it, but ruins performance.

Main bearing wear does cause a bad knock, but usually not at idle.

It's possible that the crankshaft has broken if it's making the noise at idle. I had a failure behind the first main bearing & besides the noise, the car drove perfectly. 6 months later, it eventaully broke again, this time near the centre bearing - but I still managed to drive it home.

Try to move the front pulley up/down to see if there's any excess movement.

It's also possible (although unlikely) that the flywheel has come loose.

Hmm. I had been reading about your problem winger300, and it sounds very similar.

The clanking/clattering doesn't happen on idle until you rev it.

Thanks all, will get someone to have a listen, then find a nice dry, warm spot to get to work...

Cheers

rh.

One (admittedly optimistic) possibility is that it could be just a blocked oil filter.

mine lasted another 1500 miles with knocking, and it hadn't got any worse by the time i got around the changing the engine.

rachelholmshaw,
There are a lot of cars scrapped due to rust with good engines, so bear in mind that a second hand engine is usually a whole lot cheaper than having one rebuilt. If the engine has something nasty, then it's worth considering second hand but you have to avoid engines if the seller doesn't promise a money back guarantee as you don't want another bad one.
If you are planning to keep the car for ever, then it gives more peace of mind to have a full rebuild, but it depends if you have the time + money for that.

newagetraveller,
Is that optimistic?? I had that on a Midget 1275 engine so it now needs a rebuild

Yours sounds just like mine with knocking bigends but with no major oil leaks, what helped to finish mine of (although its still running but not used much until I put another engine in ) was the fact that when I brought the car it had just been garage serviced so I ran it for 6 months, when the knocking started I thought lets give it an oil change to help things, and a friend said using the Mini style filter can add a bit of life to a tired engine (dont know if its true) and lo and behold on removing the old filter both the spring and washer were missing from the assembly so the filter was sitting to low and not doing its job properly, and when taking the mounting of the block the inside had quite a few nice metal particles which had continued to circulate in the engine instead off the filter catching them, so remember if the spring and washer are missing replace them before more damage is caused
If the noise is getting really loud you are on borrowed time

Kevin,
my 1275 engine that got wrecked was also not filtering - so I fitted the spring and washer. Unfortunately when the engine got hot (timing wrongly set due to miss positioned dizzy drive), all kinds of slime and crud got into circulation and blocked the filter.
I only found out after a few months when it started knocking.

Well certainly confirms why the mini filter setup is better no spring and washer to lose