Morris Minor Owners Club

The cylinder head gasket on my 66 Traveller failed after 1,700 miles. When I removed the head I discovered that it had failed between cylinders 3 and 4 and had caused a distinctive groove in the metal of the head. I have been told that this is one of the most common failings in a Morris Minor's head gasket. Has anyone else experienced a similar problem or may have some idea what may have caused this in the first place?

did you re-torque the head after 500 miles?

The car was bought directly from Charles Ware and I assumed that everything had been taken care of as it was in excellent condition with no instruction to tighten down the head nuts. In retrospect, I should have checked these after 500 miles. I have now had the head repaired and after the rebuild , will certainly learn from my mistake!

Since I purchased my Traveller from Charles Ware, I am just coming up to 500 miles with the reconditioned engine.
Should I tighten the nuts now? Thanks

yes

You'd have thought they would have told you. Not everybody on the planet knows this!

Thanks folks, that is one of the benefits of a forum, we all learn from others problems!

Just had a thought, some engines come with specific warnings saying 'do not retorque head' i've seen it on blue riband engines in the past.

you should call CW just to make sure this is not the case. i cant imagine why you shouldn't, it could have just been a blue riband technicality so that they are no longer responsible for other peoples interference. who knows!

Talk to C W , the company 'looked after' another poster on here that had had problems with a cylinder head

If the engine failed for whatever reason after that small mileage then I would expect the vendor to sort out the problem at their expense.

I don't know what "blue riband" is but unless it's a magical device that retorques your cyliner head for you then I suggest you do it immediately. It's best done after the first full heat cycle and rechecked at 500 miles......

"Blue Ribande" is something you get for the fastest transatlantic crossing, more Queen Mary than Morris Minor.

they are infact an engine reconditioning company based in birmingham.

not sure how they get about not retorquing, unless they do it themselves in house on a testbed maybe?

I would assume also, as you say, they probably run the engine on a test bed then re-torque after a full heat cycle on the engine. Sounds like a very professional company...

I wouldn't assume anything, give them a ring and ask, it's hardly a silly question.

If the head was 'grooved' by the gasket blowing......then the engine must have been run for some time in that condition to cause that damage - and I would be amazed if the block itself is not also grooved ? Alternatively - the engine was/is perhaps perfectly ok and was fitted with an 'already grooved' head - in which case the gasket blowing is no surprise....... Yes - heads should be torqued down immediately after the first heat cycle - I would be amazed to think any engine rebuild Co would run up their engines to normal operating temperature and then let them cool down before torquing... the time it would take would add very significantly to the cost. We aren't allowed to say anything negative about Wares on here - but obviously - caveat emptor.... Can you tell us how the head was 'repaired' - and did Wares cover all the costs ??

The cylinder head has been repaired by Northern Rebore Services of Newcastle - upon - Tyne who have carried out a first class job of re - welding the damaged area. This is a firm I have used in the past when rebuilding my Austin 10.
Charles Ware has paid me just over half the cost as well as sending me a very comprehensive gasket set.

" re - welding the damaged area." Hmmm - I'll be surprised if that works!!
Usually - if the 'grooving' is not too bad - the head is simply skimmed till it's flat. If in fact the 'groove' was a crack - the head is scrap. I would have expected Wares to pay for ALL the work - and to replace the head with another............How kind of them to send you a gasket set.......... I assume they are expecting it to blow again then ?

bmcecosse wrote:" I would have expected Wares to pay for ALL the work - and to replace the head with another.....

gillbirm: You say that you purchased the car from the company - you didn't purchase the cylinder head or engine separately. Were the engine and cylinder head stated to be 'new' / reconditioned or under any type of warranty? And how long have you owned the car? The reason I ask is because the cylinder head gasket went on one of my previous Minors a couple of months after I purchased the car but I had no recourse to any sort of repair or replacement from the garage I bought it from as the car was 'sold as seen' and this seems to apply to most second hand car sales these days. And I had a reconditioned engine fitted last year which was warrantied for 12 months / 12,000 miles (whichever happened soonest) but although I have only driven similar mileage to yourself on the 'new' engine if the head gasket blew tomorrow I wouldn't be able to claim for repairs or a refund as the warranty has expired. Interested to see what the actual warranty position was in your case.

My car was sold with a 6 month warranty on all mechanical parts. The gasket failed well over a year from purchase and the mileage was very low. Because of this the company said that they would pay half of the cost of repair. They also said that this is one of the most common gasket failings on a Morris engine. Consensus of opinion seems to be that the head was not torqued down sufficiently in the first place. I have now torqued it to 40 and will tighten it to 45 after its first run . I will then check it after 500 miles.