Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi, I am new today, brought my morris over the weekend and theres a few questions I like to run past people.

Firstly, my cars running at a temperature of around 50, is this a normal temperature?

Thanks in advance

Is that 50F or 50C? either way should be in the 80's deg C. New thermostat required I suspect if your measurement is correct.

That's a bit too cool, thermostats are usually set at around 88 Deg C. Is your car fitted with a water temperature gauge? It could be a miss match between sender and gauge giving a false reading.

SUE482 wrote:Is that 50F or 50C? either way should be in the 80's deg C. New thermostat required I suspect if your measurement is correct.

I presumed it was 50C. I'll check.

I don't have a water temp gauge.

I'll probably replace the thermostat I think.

Thanks for the help, stand by for more confused questions

How did you measure the temp?

I do have a thermostat, not sure why I didn't think it was the water temperature.

Ehhh? The car will have a thermostat fitted - take care removing the cover if you decide to inspect it. How do you know it's running at 50 C ??? Not by any chance an oil pressure gauge at 50 PSI which you are seeing ?

So, I meant I have a temp gauge on the dash.

It was reading around 60C last night

Still very low - assuming you were actually running the car - not just idling in the drive...........But check it with a thermometer...in the rad top.

Mine rarley gets above 60 deg on the gauge unless I am working the engine hard going up a hill, even less in the winter.
Its a 948, whats your engine?

It's a 948 too. I drove the car back from Manchester to Birmingham on the weekend and was around 40C at the highest. Its been around 50C/60C since I've been using it daily since the weekend.

It runs really nicely which is why I just needed an opinion if it was too low.

It compares with mine, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I Have a 82 deg stat fitted, It's due to the big surface area of the radiator, it almost over cools the engine. During the winter I have a sheet of plywood with a cutout a third of the size of the radiator fitted as the temp gauge never climbs off the bottom of the gauge

Where is the temperature sensor fitted ?? And as before - check with a thermo in the rad top.

My traveller runs very cool too. I fitted an A+ head which required the by-pass connection on the water pump to be blocked off so a few holes were drilled in the thermostat, I also fitted a straight through stub in place of the heater valve because of the orientation of the heater off-take bolts. Before I did the swap the heater was excellent, nice and warm, but afterwards you could hardly feel it even on a very cold day, I was concerned there was a flow problem but everything was primed and was sure there were no air locks. I bit the bullet and made a adaptor so I could re-fit the heater valve and fitted a new 88 degree thermostat ( the one removed was also an 88 deg item and tested OK) With the heater valve throttled in the engine runs warmer (but still cooler than before the head swap) and the heater actually works now. My theory is that with full flow through the heater inlet and the small flow through the holes in the thermostat the system was way over-cooled and thermostat never got a chance to open in the cold weather, the more efficient flowing head and exhaust could also cause the engine to run cooler. Maybe a load of rubbish but they're my conclusions

bmcecosse wrote:Where is the temperature sensor fitted ?? And as before - check with a thermo in the rad top.

It is a capillary gauge with the sensor fitted to the top hose via an adapted bottom hose with the "T".

Hmm - well that should read ok IF enough of the bulb is in the stream of water. However it will only read when the stat opens. Put NO holes in the stat if the heater is kept open all year round. I can assure the heater with that config will be excellent!

Thanks all for the replies. Very useful and very interesting.