Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi I own a 1968 moggie 4 door saloon
And it never reaches the right temperature
Irbid fitted with a temp gauge and does’t go just beyond the C mark
I have rebuilt the lower half of the engine and replaced the thermostat and new head gasket with anti freeze any advice welcomed

Richard

How do you know that the engine does not reach the right temperature?
It may be that the temperature gauge or transmitter is faulty.
Was the temp gauge and transmitter new or used?
Is the temp gauge a capillary served unit or an electrical served unit.
When you have completed a run of reasonable length and with the engine stopped feel the top hose and bottom hose - how hot or cold are they?
What temp thermostat have you got fitted?
To check the thermostat is opening at the right temp put the thermostat in a bowl of water with a thermometer placed in the water, warm the up the water and see at what temperature the thermostat opens.
If the water pump was not working the engine would get very hot due to non water circulation.
I would check the opening temperature of the thermostat as the first step.

Without seeing the gauge it's difficult to know what temperature is "just beyond the C mark". You can buy good infrared thermometer "guns" quite cheaply these days; and these will allow you to safely check the temperature of different parts of the engine whilst it's running. If the engine really is running cool, then the thermostat is the most likely culprit, but also give it a proper tuning, checking points, timing, and mixture.

Hi thanks for the good sound advice! The temp gauge is electrical and I think I fitted an 80 degree thermostat when I rebuilt the engine. What I should have explained was the heater doesn't push out much heat so assumed the temp wasn't where it could be especially when the temp gauge was only just past the "C" after an hours run
I flushed out the heater and re-furbed the heater valve before re assembly

Thanks Richard