Morris Minor Owners Club

whilst driving back from lincoln today, the car suffered a major problem symptoms below:
-lack of power
-excessive vibration through gear stick and entire car
-sound of something being loose, seems to be down by the gearbox/rear of crank shaft area, which increases under acceleration
-low rumble when idling


things that do work:
spark at plugs
no valves stuck and all moving (so not a broken timing chain)
starter motor works
clutch works
oil pressure very steady at 50psi

my huntch is that one of the bearing on the crank has gone (possibly at the back) OR the input shaft bearing has broken up, causing the entire shaft to cavitate, hence the lack of power and very bad vibration.

Now before we all moan, i should of stopped and driven no more, it would of been a 3 hours wait for the RAC and i was a mere 15 miles from home and its been the mother of all bad days,

so, ideas as to what it could be please.

FWIW, my old TR4 used to have similar symptoms when the U-joint flange bolts would gradually work themselves loose. Or, failed trans mount?

Blown head gasket? Does it idle nicely? Apart from the rumble? Oil pressure @ 50 psi says it's not an engine bearing problem . Could be some sort of derangement in the clutch I suppose - does it work normally - feel ok through the pedal?
And yes - as above ^^ - check the prop shaft.

didn't think of the prop shaft, but ill have a look. hopefully its the uj.

it does idly nicely and when one is coating down the road it sounds normal, but then put the accelerator pedal down and the sound comes back with vengeance,
the clutch feels ok, but there is a very noticeable vibration through it.

as for the mounts, all are less than 2 years old, but ill have a check. The rear cable that goes from the gearbox through the xmember has gone astray at some point, but i dont think that will affect the car this much.

When i am free on wednesday afternoon/thursday ill have a good look underneath. If nothing is visible, ill pull the gearbox and check the clutch and anything else that could be loose.

If it idles nicely then it's not an engine problem.

Hello Chris,

loose flywheel?

Alec

Could be - but would surely make itself know when idling?

Hello BMCE.

one of the symptoms, "-low rumble when idling" and also vibration through the clutch pedal.

Alec

shouldnt be the flywheel, when i out in on last january i put 2 new lock plates and torqued them down, but ill have a look on thursday

Hello Chris,

the easiest way to check is just remove the starter motor, it is an unusual fault anyway but worth a check?

Alec

sounds exactly like when my head gasket went (even the rattling noise).. only i kept going for fifty more miles to make sure it was properly blown! compression check time

problem identified,
head gasket gone between 3 and 4 cylinders.
ran a quick compression test
1=160psi
2=155psi
3=5psi
4=5psi

so problem located and will be solved with a shiny new gasket, plus it gives me time to do a bit of a decoke as well.

Hello Chris,

rather misleading symptoms, such as :- "it does idly nicely"

A two cylinder Morris engine cannot idle nicely?

Alec

lol, i wish it idled nicely, but it was alot better than it was when it was under load.

after whipping the head off i was confronted with the worst thing anyone can find on a cars engine.....cracked head and block, so yet another engine junked totally.

i have many words that i could use, all of which are not for use in polite society.

so the hunt for a new engine starts now.

Hello Chris,

about the worst thing you could find, is it cracked between the cylinders?

Alec

You did say it was idling nicely - and an engine with blown head gasket doesn't idle at all in my experience. MOST unusual to have either a cracked block OR head - are you SURE?? Let's see some close ups. How far did you drive it with the gasket blown??

Cracked block?

Blimey - has it frozen over in the past perchance? Only guessing having seen your siggy pic.

just to avoid confusing about the idling nicely. the engine made a nice gentle purr when it was first started and then when i dropped it into gear, it sounded horrific. I think there is a possibility of my ears being wishful.

anyway, i digress. the block has crakced about 1/4 inch down between 3 and 4 cylinder bores. somehow the head has cracked in the same place, but only to about 4mm.

now stupidly, i drove 15 miles from newark to home with what i suspected was a knackered gearbox, not a head gasket. hindsight is a wonderful thing. if i had of suspected it was the gasket, i would of stopped there and then and got the rac out.

That's what's killed it.....expensive mistake.

expensive and stupid mistake.
still, all adds to the rich experience of classic motoring.