Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello, ive owned my 1961 moggie (Rose) for over a year now and has been a faithful daily driver, i got her when i was 19 so i haven't got a vast amount of knowledge and I was wondering if ive been running her right. So when I start her I will let her idle until 45°/50° (previous owner installed a temperature gauge), is this over kill? is it causing damage? Sometimes she'll be ready in 2 minutes sometimes ill be sat there for 15 minutes depending on the temperature outside, also once she's done warming up, the engine feels boggy for a fue miles and then clears up, is this normal? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

On the starting-up front, drive off as soon as you want. The engine will warm up much quicker under load. You aren't doing it any harm.

Just get in the car, start it up and drive away. The engine will warm up quicker under load than sat idling. If the engine is idling with the choke out you could be washing the oil off the walls of the bores which can lead to rapid wear of the bores which in turn leads to high oil consumption. Push the choke in as soon as possible after driving away. If the engine stutters pull the choke out again or a bit further. Using the choke requires a learning period and it will soon come as second nature to you as regards its use.
Drive and enjoy.

Yes, drive off as soon as you want. Maybe in severe winter weather when temperatures drop below freezing you may benefit from warming the car a little.
When I bought my Traveller in 1979, I told the bloke I bought it off that I wanted to fit a temperature gauge. He told me not to bother. He called them "worry meters'.

Thank you all for the replies, I was told that I must let the engine warm up before driving off but apparently not, this will surly save a lot of time in the mornings

King Kenny wrote: ↑Wed Apr 08, 2026 8:56 pm
When I bought my Traveller in 1979, I told the bloke I bought it off that I wanted to fit a temperature gauge. He told me not to bother. He called them "worry meters'.

I agree to a certain extent. I have a Temp Gauge fitted to Basil, but that was installed because I was fitting the POLICE sign across the front and was concerned about the effect it might have, covering the radiator quite a bit.
On a hot day, the temp can slowly creep up at sustained higher speeds, just slowing a little can drop the needle back to a more respectable point.
I have a handheld digital temp gun and I know that at the mid range on the gauge the thermostat has just opened, so when the gauge creeps up it is actually getting hotter.

I like the term "worry meters"! If the engine seriously overheats the radiator cap will vent and you will have clouds of steam so it is going to be rather obvious. The radiator cap is sprung so that it will vent at 4 lbs pressure. I have had my Minor since I was 17 (it was my first car) and it has never overheated once. If the cooling system is in good order it just won't overheat even on a very hot day unless you are asking the car to do something very arduous like tow loads up hills on a very hot day.

When I was a small boy it was extremely common to see numerous cars pulled over at the side of the road, boiling over on hot bank holiday weekends. Usually poorly maintained cars suddenly pressed into service, overloaded, towing and in hot weather. The Minor has a big radiator for the size of engine and is not prone to overheating. If anything it is a bit overcooled.

As for when to drive off after starting, just drive off immediately. Each engine is slightly different but my technique for starting from stone cold (sitting overnight) is: pull the choke out to maximum, turn the key to the first position and hold it there until the fuel pump stops ticking (this is filling the float bowl and it might be full already) then start the engine. As soon as the engine is running try to reduce the choke. If you push the choke in too much and the engine starts to falter, pull it back out a little until it sounds reasonable and drive off. As you drive along and the engine warms up, push the choke in in stages until it is off completely. It is completely normal for a cold engine to feel a bit lacking in power and sluggish but if you push the choke in too far and too fast it will be very hesitant and may stall easily. On a cold damp morning you won't have the heater working until the engine is up to temperature so open the quarter lights and use a demising pad on the windscreen. Rain-X anti-fog is pretty good on the inside of the screen but the ideal solution (which I don't have) is a heated windscreen.

Stephen