Morris Minor Owners Club

Having had a successful run out yesterday to the Great British Car Journey, where Basil won me a 1 year membership (for the 2nd year running)....
I started him today, prior to some maintenance activity, and noticed the Oil Lamp flickering at idle...
Did a resistance check on the switch and it's not operating cleanly as a switch, in the space of a few seconds, it's wandering all over the place from 2 Ohms to a few KOhms and back, registering many other resistance figures in between...

Only when I came to remove it, did I realise it's not the one I was expecting...
Stupidly small nut hidden behind a large round switch body.
Obviously been in there years and just no way can I get a decent spanner onto it, unless I strip everything from that side of the engine. So just out of curiosity, does anyone recognise it as being from a particular car model??
I think I'm going to have to wreck this to get it off.

I recognise that as similar to the type I last removed from my car. I remember it was a bit of a fiddle to get off but I didn't strip anything off the engine. Fortunately it was not very tight. I assumed the switch I removed was the original from when my car was made. Incidentally, I also recall it had a parallel thread and a copper washer unlike the modern tapered thread switches.

I will have a look for a photo.......

Stephen

The is the new one, not the awkward old one but can you not approach undoing the old switch from the bell housing direction?

Stephen

Those old oil pressure switches are quite tough enough to allow a pair of grips to hold the body and undo. The switch is not done up very tight so should come undone with out too much effort.

Thanks guys, particularly Phill for saying ....

philthehill wrote: ↑Tue May 06, 2025 10:51 pm Those old oil pressure switches are quite tough enough to allow a pair of grips to hold the body and undo......

I got a pipe wrench to the casing today and it did budge without tearing the casing off, which I had feared it might.
To paraphrase HG Wells and 'War of the Worlds' slowly but surely, it came undone .
Once about 1 revolution completed, a 7/16AF would turn it without slipping, which it had done last night.
It's been on a long time, having has a slap of silver paint at some time...
.
.
Turns out it's an AC Delco, and there's currently a pair of NOS ones on ebay for £30, apparently being OE on Hillman/Commer cars.

Once off, I was able to connect the meter to it again and just lightly tapping it on the bench made the resistance of the contacts vary, so obviously loose inside.

Well done