Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,

I'm new to the forum, and a relatively new Minor owner (1961, 2-door, 1098 engine) , teaching myself mechanics on the car. I've looked on the forums for answers to my questions but have struggled to find precise answers, so I hope it's ok to ask in a new thread with the risk of it being a repost.



Firstly, the car has been peeing out oil between the engine and the clutch bell housing, which then leaks down through the hole that contains the pin in the base of the clutch bell housing. This has a knock on problem of causing the clutch to slip a fair bit (I think that's the cause, anyway), and the leaking is particularly bad when on a long run at higher revs. After a bit of a look around, I found that this is likely to be because of the crankcase breather being blocked, causing the pressure in the crankcase not to be relieved, meaning that oil is forced out through the squirrel.

With the engine running I checked for air passing through the breathers. The rocker cover is working absolutely fine, but the open ended swans neck type running from the side of the engine (valve cover? I don't have my Haynes manual with me) has no air running through it at all. I took the cover with the breather off, and it would allow air through. I gave it a good clean anyway, just to be sure, checked that air would flow freely (it did) and re-attached to its position. When running the engine, however, there's still no air passing through the breather, even when the throttle cable is pulled to rev the engine. Does anyone have any ideas about where is the next best place to look to try and solve the problem, or have any ideas on what the problem could be?



Sorry for the essay and so many questions, and feel free to point me in the right direction if the questions have been answered elsewhere (apologies if they have).

Cheers,
Russell


The following are questions which I have had answered

Next is what I think is a blockage in the coolant system in the engine. The engine is running too hot, and the drain plug on the engine passed no water, so after fiddling with a bit of wire and a drill bit, I cleared a load of gunk out. (As a side note, worryingly this seemed to be black oil gunk, rather than rust coloured gunk. This could be due to the fact that when I got the car the cylinder head bolts weren't done up anywhere near tight enough, and I'm pretty sure oil was leaking past the head gasket into the cylinders, so could well have been heading into the water system too). This allowed water to pass through the plug, but the engine is still running hot, so I think I need to flush the engine.

A bit of additional info: the bottom hose of the radiator is slightly cooler than the top, but is still warm, the top hose is only warm after the engine warms and the thermostat kicks in, allowing water to pass, and when I had the cylinder head off last there weren't any obvious blockages. Also, the engine is only running a bit over temp, as while it does max out my gauge, it has been dropping off the top point more as the weather has got cooler and wetter (the temperature sender has been replaced, so I don't think that's the cause). Does anyone have any idea if the system being blocked is likely to be the cause of the engine running hot, and if so, what the best method of flushing it is?



Finally, I was looking at coolants/antifreezes, and have found out that OATs are a no go. The only other one I have seen so far is a silicate based one. Would that work, or is there any that are more suited to the A series? I was also wondering if the addition of this may relieve the blockage issues without the need to flush?

Hmm - this is a familiar thread - and you have already been very fully answered in 'another place'. I have nothing more to add - have you followed any of the advice you were given?? Or bothered to answer any of the clarifying questions asked ?
Although I have never heard of the dishwasher tablet idea - I guess it will do no harm, and may do the trick! Do you know what thermostat is in the head? 84 will be good for winter motoring, but perhaps a bit too high for summer. To test for crankcase pressure - after a good run, with the engine idling - remove the oil filler cap and rev up. Is there a plume of smoke/fume ? The breathers can only cope with so much fume.....so if the bores are a bit worn - especially at higher revs - the pressure can't escape and the oil is blown out through the labyrinth into the bellhousing. Is the rocker breather connected to the air filter casing (and thus plastering the element with oil and filth..) or is it connected to the brass tube on the side of later SU carbs ? This is a much better arrangement. Best of all is the PCV fitted to later engines - this directly sucks the fumes into the inlet manifold. But all these systems can only cope with so much fume - hence the 'plume' test. And as you have already been told too - good old Ethylene Glycol is the antifreeze to use.

Apologies. You're right of course, I have asked the 3 questions elsewhere and had good advice from yourself and another member of the board. While two of my questions had been answered completely, and for one of them I had been given a fair bit of information on, I still was looking for what people thought the side breather issue could be, as in why it isn't breathing despite being clear of blockages in the breather itself.

I should have edited the original post to omit the other questions, admittedly. I was in a rush to post this this morning before wok as I knew I had a rare evening free to work on the car today after work, and as it is my day to day car which I require for commuting the opportunity to work on it for long periodss of time rarely presents itself. I apologise again, but I was after as much information as I could gather off of people far more knowledgeable than myself so that I had the best chance of fixing as many problems as I could in a short space of time. I am really new to the mechanics of it; this is my first car and I've been having to teach myself, so any information I can gather from others is invaluable.

As far as the points you raised go, it does have a fair bit of oil smoke rising out of the rocker cover when the oil filler cap is removed after a long run. I was wondering how much of the smoke and the leaking could be due to the engine running hot?

How hot? How do you know it's 'hot' ? And yes - it won't be helping if it really is overheating... Have you investigated the thermostat yet? The side breather if it really is clear - will #breathe' ok at high revs. But the rocker cover should be connected to carb or aircleaner - and so normally some air would be sucked in the side breather. At high revs if the fume is too much it will be blown out the side breather

My suspicions are that the engine is running hot because me temperature gauge (see below) is telling me it is.

The gauge was always running hot to the point where the red bar is marked (once engine had warmed up), so I replaced the sender. The same thing continued to happen, so I presumed the engine is running hot. Recently (in the last month or so), the gauge sometime drops into the area marked green on the image, in cold and often damp conditions, and only when in the city rather than the open road.

My guess is that it is running hot, but I could easily be wrong.

I tried to get at the thermostat this evening, but I was left ruing the decision to use a gasket sealant previously, so can't really go at the thermostat to get it off and check the temp on it until I get a new gasket in case I ruin the current one. I know that it does function in the sense that it prevents water from circulating back into the radiator until it reaches a certain temp, but what that temp is I don't know.

With regards to the side breather, I've had it off and blown through it fine, as well as had white spirit and a pipe cleaner down it, but even when I rev the engine lots it neither provides suction or pressure when my finger covers the end.[frame][/frame]

I understand from reading other post in the past, that the electrical temp gauge should have the power feed from a voltage stabilizer or they will read high. The sender must also match the gauge, as an incorrect sender will give the wrong reading.

I am sure others on the forum will be able to confirm the above.

Yes it could be that the gauge isn't matched to the sender. Best way to check if it is running that hot is to use an infra red thermometer, I got a laser one of ebay for a tenner and it's proven extremely useful as I had a similar symptom on my camper.

Exactly - these electric gauges are not the best, and in any case must be fed from the 10 volt voltage stabiliser.... is it? A simple thermometer in the top of the rad (care when releasing the cap) will tell you what's going on! Just revving up the engine puts no load on it...run it flat out on a rolling road and you'll soon see fumes coming out! If you've cleared it - it must be free... can't do any more !

I am sure that Ive read this before so not sure why the repost but I think the best thing to do Russ is to take the advise offered...

Alan