Morris Minor Owners Club

Hey guys I'd just like to start off the nationals it's self was amazing I absolutely loved it. Met loads of new people and made loads of new friends and will be trying very hard to go next year

My problem was getting home and was wondering if I could pick some of your brains to what the problem was because I still don't feel it's fixed

So Norma convoyed up with a few other Moggys on the 280 mile drive to the nationals and she didn't go wrong once appart from the final stretch where she stuttered and lost power for a few seconds but came back to life as if nothing happened

She was great at the nationals with no problems at all

After the nationals on the Monday my plan was to go to Scarborough and visit my dad which she did with no troubles

I then set off home on the Tuesday to only get 6 miles out and she completely gave up on me stuttering and then she clonked out (I've broken down in worse places I must admit)[frame][/frame]

I put it down to vapour lock being a very hot day we came up with putting insulation foam over the fuel pipe and then wrapping that in silver insulation tape[frame][/frame]

This worked very well getting me 50 miles rather than 6 miles before she stuttered again and had to stop to let her cool down
By the time we sorted her out it was to late to make it back to Southampton so I went to Birmingham to visit some of my family there (very wise choice)

So now the problems really started
My uncle (also a moggy owner) said the fuel pump was dud so we fitted his spare one to find it didn't work so after fitting the old one back on I found this on the boot lid[frame][/frame]

I thought maybe the locking fuel cap didn't have a breather but it's been fitted for nearly a year now with no issues

We took her for a drive (wishing we didn't now)
Went down the road no problem, went on the motorway and again no problem until near the end she started sputtering and loosing power but was back to normal in no time. We came off the motorway and she sputtered badly and also made a huge pop put the exhaust as if it was a misfire

We pulled over and she was [Don't swear or you will be banned - Admin] out cooling out the over flow pipe and also the whole engine bay was roasting hot and to hot to touch
The oil pressure light started to come on faintly aswell
We checked the coolant and there was still loads in there and checked the oil and there was enough in there and nothing wrong with the oil

We headed down the road gently in the hope to get to my uncles friends farm we eventually got to them with a few other breakdowns

They looked into it and tried a few ideas we set off to see if they fixed it. Got out the drive and she sputtered badly and I nursed her into the petrol station 100yards down the road that's were we sat and gave up and called the AA. In the time we waited for him We tried starting her and again the engine bay was roasting alot more than it should do but for some reason she didn't want to stsrt (flat battery) I tried the starter handle ans still nothing

The AA came he fitted my spare points and condenser gave her a jump start and she started as usual he followed out a few tests and found the battery was not taking any charge so we fitted a new battery and she was driving like she did on the way to the nationals with no problems

So my question to you guys is surely all this couldn't have been down to the battery :S

Why would that make the engine hot and blow out water??? Check and set the valve gaps, and then check the compressions. Always carry a KNOWN WORKING fuel pump and complete dizzy. What use is a spare pump that doesn't work ?

bmcecosse wrote:Why would that make the engine hot and blow out water??? Check and set the valve gaps, and then check the compressions. Always carry a KNOWN WORKING fuel pump and complete dizzy. What use is a spare pump that doesn't work ?

Well that is why I don't think it's all sorted :S it just doesn't make sense
And yeah it was a spare pump he was given and was assured it was a fully working one But that was never the problem

It may just have been the heat maybe as she's running happy now I will be doing a full coolant flush as it is needed anyway but also the heat may have a killed the thermostat now :S

The heat wouldn't have killed the thermostat but it could have been the source of the over heating.
You really need to wash that dog pee off the boot

panky wrote:The heat wouldn't have killed the thermostat but it could have been the source of the over heating.
You really need to wash that dog pee off the boot

Well that's what I was thinking but was told if it gets to hot it may melt the wax inside it but I really don't know I've honestly had enough with everything this week lol and don't worry I look the pictures made sure it was fuel and then cleaned it all off

You mean you actually wiped it with your finger and smelled it, what would have happened if it was dog pee

Ha ha, years ago I actually saw someone do that, came back to his parked car and saw liquid dribbling down his wheel. He thought it might be leaking brake fluid. It wasn't.

Next doors dog was very keen on marking his territory!

Wiping something with your finger and smelling it, is an age old way of detecting a substance. How else would you know, as it may not be worth sending a sample to a lab!

les wrote:Wiping something with your finger and smelling it, is an age old way of detecting a substance. How else would you know, as it may not be worth sending a sample to a lab!

Ahh You should have TASTED it!

panky wrote:You mean you actually wiped it with your finger and smelled it, what would have happened if it was dog pee

Then I'd have been in for a nasty suprise

les wrote:Wiping something with your finger and smelling it, is an age old way of detecting a substance. How else would you know, as it may not be worth sending a sample to a lab!

Yeah exactly it's better than tasting it lol

A really good flushwill be well worth doing. 'Melting the wax' .....where do people get these ideas....

bmcecosse wrote:A really good flushwill be well worth doing. 'Melting the wax' .....where do people get these ideas....

Yeah I've wanted to do it for a while lol
Hmm yeah lol wouldn't have thought it would

Just been searching around on the Web and found a trouble shooting for classic cars website and it seems to say a possible overheating Is incorrect ignition timing I honestly have no idea how that could fix overheating but well the aa man has replaced points and condenser when he came and the points were blue :S could that have been the problem?

Definitely flush out the cooling system. I did it recently and was surprised at: 1. How much gunk came out of it, and 2. How much of a difference it made to engine temperature.

James k wrote:Definitely flush out the cooling system. I did it recently and was surprised at: 1. How much gunk came out of it, and 2. How much of a difference it made to engine temperature.

Yeah it will defonitly be done lol and did the proformance change or was it just cooling better

MoggyBlue wrote:

James k wrote:Definitely flush out the cooling system. I did it recently and was surprised at: 1. How much gunk came out of it, and 2. How much of a difference it made to engine temperature.

Yeah it will defonitly be done lol and did the proformance change or was it just cooling better

There was no noticeable change in performance, just a significant change in cooling. Not surprising after seeing what came out!

James k wrote: There was no noticeable change in performance, just significant change in cooling. Not surprising after seeing what came out!

I didn't think there would be and yeah I bet but the engine was replaced by previous owner at sometime in the recent years but the coolant is rusty water lol