Morris Minor Owners Club

I wonder how many of us scrupulously follow the Workshop Manual's advice to check the oil level (and radiator) daily? As my car doesn't burn oil and I don't drive every day, I usually check the oil a couple of times a month. Yesterday I randomly decided to check the oil level and was surprised and puzzled to see there was only a smear of oil at the very bottom of the dipstick (it doesn't have min/max markings, only 'full'). I topped the oil up and went for a very short run to find a regular drip from the oil filter canister. So I nipped up the bolt, only to find it then leaked worse and was from the sealing ring at the top of the canister. Removing the canister I found that the seal was practically severed. I had a spare sealing ring so fitted that and leak cured. 30 mile run and all fine. But had I done that run without checking the oil I dread to think what might have happened. It seems I did the check in the very nick of time.

A good case for fitting the throw away canister filter conversion which has a much better seal.
http://www.minispares.com/product/Class ... o%20search

So a better seal, and easier to change the filter as well, I guess. But I suppose the moral of the story is to check oil levels daily, even though it seems a bit excessive. And a daily check on the radiator level as well - coolent may be leaking out of a split hose at any time, which is why its best to check their condition regularly.

To loose that quantity of oil you'd surely have to be leaving a fair amount on the road and driveway which is generally pretty visible?

Yes, you are right and that was visible in retrospect once I had found the oil level to be low and started wondering why. But there were already some drops there from before. I suspect a lot of what was lost was actually on the road on my last two or three journeys.

It's important that, when tightening the bowl's bottom bolt, you don't allow the bowl body to spin with the bolt for the final few turns.
It is this action that damages the seal. It's not designed to freely rotate; so the top face remains in place in the groove, and the bottom face spins with the top edge of the bowl. So it shears! And then of course it leaks.
I learned this lesson after an oil change 40 years ago. Arriving at work I noticed a black sine wave on the road, adjacent to where I had just reverse parked. Like the OP, I had lost nearly all the oil. Fortunately there was (in those days) a motor factor just over the road from the office. So I re-did the oil change in my lunch hour.
Bottom Line: compress the oil ring, but never get it twisted.

Top tip, Mike! One I shall remember as I have an oil and filter change coming up!

Grease the seals before fitting them. Helps to keep the seal in place when fitting the bowl and keeps them supple for longer.

Another top tip, Phil. Keep 'em coming boys!