Dear All, I just wanted to give you an update of how this all ended..... Well, as mentioned I had no warning lights and I instinctively didn't want to change the cats in France. We limped home at 65 and after swapping could packs and plugs etc, there was no difference. In the end I phoned the legendary Billy Bellinger and took the car over to him. Billy and his Dad are geniuses. They finally traced it to a gap where the bonding had degraded by cylinder 6 on the plastic air inlet manifold. Basically the air inlet manifold on the roadster is made up of two halves sandwiched and glued together along the top and bottom sections. it appears that the immense heat that we have been having caused the glue to melt on one edge which affected the air /fuel mix going into cylinder 6 (which was running 40 degrees cooler tat the others). They glued it back together and although the car is fine, I've actually fallen out of love with it now.
I have had 4 Morgans and have been loyal to the cause, often turning a blind eye on build quality. The roadster has cost me at least £7000-£10,000 in fixing things that should never have broken in the first place. But when something as fundamental as an inlet manifold fails, it takes 2nd rate build quality to another level. The car is 6 years old; I even thought that perhaps I should trade it in for a new one, but as far as I know the new ones are equally as bad.
I will need serious persuasion to stay loyal - I think its time to move on
No wonder you have fallen out of love with your morgan. Bizaar that the melting of glue led to this. I would have thought that as the manifold is bolted on, the it would have held everything together. Surely there could be a better design for what will be a cheap part. What manufacturer makes your engine?
Edit. Just realised its the manifold itself that's failed not the gasket.
