Morris Minor Owners Club

I am gathering the bits I need for a service over christmas (car not carol), the first I've ever done. I wondered which is the easier job, change the oil filter with standard or replace with one of the spin on oil filters that the birmingham centre sell. I know the replacement will be better in the long run, but I want to keep my first major job as simple and least prone to problems as I can. Any comments?

hi
basically the spin off is an easy job to re[place, i did mine in about 2 hours.

you buy the kit, take off the oil filter complete by undoing the nuts that hold it to the cylinder block, and the oil pipe on top.
then take out the 2 studs from the cylinder block and replace with the longer ones supplied in the kit, put the oilpipe back on and then screw on the new filter

Well, I've never had any problems with the oil filter (standard) (touch wood).

If you're careful taking it off so as to not get the order of components confused then you shouldn't really have any problems.

I find that, after draining the oil from t' sump:

- Carefully undo the bolt on the bottom of the oil filter until it can be undone using fingers
- Undo the rest of the way, supporting the filter bowl and bolt
- Remove as a whole.
- Dump old oil & fiter element in bucket of oil or other convenient location; making sure it has nothing attached (by stiction with old oil) to the bottom of the element.
- Take out parts of bowl and attachment thing in order, taking care to note order and position; clean with rag.
- Reassemble, with new filter.
- IF you're going to change the filter rubber, do so now. I generally, and very carefully, stab the old rubber with a very sharp new stanley knife point and pull it out in one smooth movement; and then replace with the correct, matching, oil seal (the thin one in the box, normally). This has given me no problems so far
- I'm told that you should part fill the old filter bowl with oil, to enable oil pressure to be brought up quicker when car is restarted (I've not done this), but I would suggest that on your first attempt you may not wish to as it may make it a more unpleasant experience.
- Line up the bowl and screw the bolt back in. Do it up nicely tight.

Voila.

Kate, Aingleson,

I've got the old type filter; you don't need to drain the engine to remove the filter. You can just remove the filter bowl and empty that - the rest of the sump contents stays in the sump.

Ok, I usually drain the engine into the oil catcher, then do the filter (screwing in the drain plug). And I also fill the filter bowl.

I managed to empty the spring and washer into the waste first time - which is how I fund out about removing just the filter.

Colin

ps for Kate - note the use of the ";"

ColinP wrote:And I also fill the filter bowl.

It's wonderful to see a semicolon in the wild. Unfortunately, the sentence quoted starts with a conjunction.

a

Yes, It's easy enough to replace the filter as Kate says; just ensure that you don't drop the rubber sealing ring or the little spring in the pool of filthy oil. I usually fill the new filter about 70% full of oil and very little drips out if you lift the filter bowl using the nut at the bottom of the long threaded bolt (the other hand keeps the bowl in place). As soon as the thread grips you can let go and tighten it with a spanner (as the filter, bowl and oil are pressed down by gravity).

Here's a suggestion:
If you have an empty 1 gallon oil container (plastic) use this as the drain can by cutting out one side.
Lay a load of old newspaper under the car to catch any oil that goes astray. Remove the filter housing, making sure the drain can is underneath (After you know how it all works you won't need to spill oil everywhere).
You can either hold the housing in place and remove the central bolt - then oil will run through the bolt hole. When the oil has come out you can push the bolt back in to help keep the internals in place and remove the housing to change the filter.
Otherwise you can try the better way, which is to keep the housing flush up against the bolt head preventing oil spillage (you may need to wiggle it a bit to free the housing off the manifold sealing ring) - Then you remove the whole housing keeping the bolt in the right place with one finger. Then carefully pour the oil into the empty drain can. After that you can pick out the old filter from the housing, making sure the big dished washer comes off the bottom of the filter and goes back where it came from.

If you do the filter before draining the engine oil you can avoid fishing around for missing washers/springs underneath a gallon of nasty old engine oil.

There is a thin rectangular seal in the manifold. This should be replaced and it can be removed by fishing it out with a small electrical screwdriver. Fitting the new one (push it back in with the same small screwdriver) is fairly easy however getting it to stay in place is harder. I smear grease onto the seal to make it sticky and then as long as you aren't in a force 9 gale it is not too bad.

If the seal slips out of place when you are putting the housing back on, you need to correct that before doing the bolt up. If a small part of the seal is out of place the oil will leak everywhere. Therefore as a final check you should run the car for 5 minutes (with the newspaper still in place) and check for leaks.

Good luck! It's well worth the effort.

Pyoor_Kate wrote: stiction

excellent wordage. a late submission to my mental word of the year... mmm splendid. puts me in mind of mother's industrial gravy... happy memories, hungry pet dogs...

i know its off-topic (before the topic police turn up - squirrels/hazelnuts?) but i topped up the brake master cylinder last night kate (it drank a fair old bit) and i at least have some stopping power now (beyond opening the door and sticking my foot out). i'll carry the magic pot of dot4 round with me and see how things progress. cheers for your help

i topped up the brake master cylinder last night kate (it drank a fair old bit) and i at least have some stopping power now (beyond opening the door and sticking my foot out). i'll carry the magic pot of dot4 round with me

A dodgy master cylinder is most likely to fail in winter! Physics works against seals at cold temperature in 2 ways (it makes them shrink and it makes them hard). Therefore if you loose a lot of fluid in December you need to keep an eye on the M/C.
If you press the pedal and release, then a little buubble rises from the bottom of the reservoir - this is a faulty m/c. 95% of the time it can't just be fixed with a seal kit.

Here's a suggestion:
If you have an empty 1 gallon oil container (plastic) use this as the drain can by cutting out one side.

Just to add to Rays suggestion there is a plastic container made with a recess in one side that you can buy from places like Halfrauds if you dont have a spare container thats made for the job.

guydenning wrote: i know its off-topic (before the topic police turn up - squirrels/hazelnuts?)

I can't work out if I'm being got at here...

a

bigginger wrote:

guydenning wrote: i know its off-topic (before the topic police turn up - squirrels/hazelnuts?)

I can't work out if I'm being got at here...

a

Probably best to take it as you ARE being got at. It's for the best really...

bigginger wrote:

guydenning wrote: i know its off-topic (before the topic police turn up - squirrels/hazelnuts?)

I can't work out if I'm being got at here...

a

definitely not - because you live too close and i'm a devout coward. born-again church of the latterday runnerawayers me
always prepared to lead the retreat - he that doesn't fight and runs away, lives to run away another day...

cheers ray for the advice, s'what kate said too... my EYE is on offending receptacle for further mystery losses of fluid...

guy 'the spy' denning

yeah - that's right cam - you're up there in newcastle! diplomatic corps posting was it!!

Yes mate, just stirring it from a LARGE distance away!! Might not be so willing closer to....................

definitely not - because you live too close - That's lucky, 'cos I'm really, really frightening . Grrr. See?
a

Well, thanks to Kate's detailed instructions I decided to go for the standard filter. I'll let you know after Christmas if it was the right decision.

By the way, anyone in the Midlands planning a visit to the Oldbury centre, they are closed between Christmas and New Year.

BigGinger,

I've been considering your comment on the grammar (starting a sentence with a preposition).

And here's the opinion - if it's good enough for Julius Caesar, it's good enough for me!

"Et tu Brute" - or, "Oh you brute" or (time for Cam's photo album)
"Infamy, infamy they've all got it in for me...!" (Carry on Cleo?)

Happy Christmas,

Colin

Friends....... Romans........... (countrymen)...... I KNOW!

S'alright. Like splitting an infinitive, it's a silly rule invented by the victorians to ape Latin grammar, because they thaught it was big and clever. But (see, I do it too) it's not a preposition, it's a conjunction (I think).
Only a little fun, sorry. Have a cool yule.
a