Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi everyone,

The mog has been leaking lightly for some time now and after visiting a local garage has suddenly become a lot worse. The oil is literally pouring out now and this is after all of the seals have apparently been replaced! Some local lads suggest it might possibly be something to do with the rear crankshaft seal and that there may be a bent crank in addition to a poor sealing surface on the crankshaft exit from the engine. Can anyone give me any more details and more importantly suggest some fixes? It was meant to be used as a wedding car in only a few weeks from now and it looks like that won't happen any more...
Think my options now are to have the engine rebored along the crankshaft seal and the crankshaft reground - or buy new parts - or buy a s/h engine - or buy a whole car and swap engines over. The car's not concours and not worth spending a fortune - what would you do?

Thanks!

iy is more likelyh the engine breating system

make sure all breather pipes are clear

where exactly is it leaking from

can you post a pic of the engine so we can tell you the correct breathing system

Most likely piston rings shot and crankcase is being pressurised forcing oil past the rear crank seal. If you can improve the breathing (temporarily) you might manage the wedding but the engine will need a rebuild soon....

Have to ask - what did the local 'garage' do ?? If they had the sump off - possibly they have put it back on incorrectly. Is the oil coming from the little split pin (jiggle pin) in the base of the gearbox bell-housing -or is it running down the back (or front) of the engine sump ?? To check for overall engine condition - hot engine idling - take the oil filler cap off and rev up. Is there a plume of smoke/fume?

It sounds as though your local garage is not entirely familiar with Minor engines. What did they attempt to do? A sudden increase in oil leakage is likely to be a broken or poorly fitted gasket or oil seal.

Many thanks to all of you who have taken the time to reply to my post. All the breather pipes seem to be fine and my husband has checked out everything else that he can, so today we have taken Betsy to a local mechanic who seems to have good knowledge of the Minor set-up and he is going to fit an external modification to the crankshaft (available from the Morris Minor Centre and recommended by them) The previous garage actually thought the leak was from the gearbox and had replaced all the seals etc, but as its now obvious the leak's from the engine, they may have displaced something or cleaned so vigourously that its made the leak worse.It appears from what you all say, that this is a really common problem, but hope this new fitting will make it last til my sons wedding at least. Once again, many thanks and I will post the result when she comes home!

The crankshaft tail seal modification does not have a good reputation for success, and in any case it won't fix the underlying cause of the leak. A problem with the breathers, sump gasket failure, or badly worn piston rings and/or crankshaft are likely causes.

A number of different suppliers offer the "improved" seal. In my experience the seal is a waste of time and money. It is mechanically unsound, and on some engines it simply cannot work. I urge you to not spend any more on this, you can buy an awful lot of oil and absorbent granules for what the seal will cost . You also need to get money back from the garage that made the mistake on gearbox - anyone on here would have been able to pinpoint the real source of the leak!

As suggested by others, a picture of the engine would help - the breathers can be very varied. A compression test would confirm the state of the piston rings. A bad leak from the rear could indicate work crankshaft and/or or bearings. How bad is the leak? Whilst engine's I've bought from BM really do run for 1000's of miles with no oil consumption, even the best of most engines could use a pint every 300 miles, and leave drips on the ground. Perhaps a photo of the ground after the car has been standing for a day would be useful.

I agree - most of the reports suggest this 'seal' is a complete waste of time and money. Don't let them do it! Fix the problem - not the symptom! You need a good system to suck the fumes out of the crankcase - into the engine. However - if the engine is worn - nothing will stop pressure building up and blowing oil out of every gasket on the engine.

thanks for all your help and information but after having the car round to a reccomended mechanic he stripped out the engine and removed the cranckshaft to reveal the archimedes type screw seal none existant no chance of repair so locate a decent secondhand engine hopefully with no leaks my prayers where answerd and martin the magic mechanic fitted in the same day had it up and running without any oil leaks grrrreattt now to get on with the petrol leak hope we make the wedding on saturday thanks again to all

Never known the scroll to wear away - how did that happen ??

if the engine was "played with" / rebuilt at some stage and they simply did not put the piece back in.. and given that part was missing how bad was the rest of the work done? this could explain the problems you were having with no power on hills.

As so many of you, as well as the mechanic thought the extra piece on the engine would be rubbish, we sent it back and sourced a replacement used engine which looked to be in decent order. He has fitted it, replacing bits with stuff from the original and it seems to be running fine with no major problems other than Betsys dislike of climbing any incline. Incidentally we had a total rebuild of the engine done around 200 miles ago and although she has been stored for many years since then, the mechanic reckoned that the man who did it ripped us off, as it was in a shocking state. He has since checked the timing which was way out, so has been corrected with a strobe light. He also cleaned the carburettor/changed the condenser and fiddled with a few other things. The battery isnt holding a charge too well now, so my husbands decided to fit an alternator to improve things, so any advice on type/size and process for fitting would be much appreciated. Many thanks to all of you who have tried to get us going, and if anyone lived nearby (Westerhope in Newcastle) we would really appreciate a visit from you. I think anyone who drives a Morris regularly would know in an instant what the problem was if he drove a couple of miles and she played up! As for the wedding on Saturday I really dont have a lot of confidence that she will be sufficiently reliable to drive her 20 miles to the church. Its going to be a huge disappointment after all the time and effort spent, not to mention hard cash!

Battery not holding charge = new battery required. There is no need for an alternator - the dynamo will be fine - tighten the belt if it's a bit slack. Does the red light go out when you rev up ? If the new engine is running fine - I don't see why it won't climb hills! They are not the most powerful of cars - but can get up most hills if needs be in a lower gear. Can only suggest all the usual checks - advance timing till it pinks then retard slightly, adjust mixture till the plugs are light beige colour. Check valve gaps are correct - ultimately a compression check will tell all - but you need a gauge for that. Not sure what 'compressor' he changed - it doesn't have one........

Condenser?