I've only had 5 Morgans, each one have presented often common problems that manifest themselves in different ways,
Firstly, I would expect the engines. gearboxes and transmissions to be reliable, they are mass produced by other vehicle manufacturers and been subjected to extensive development and testing. All Morgan has to do is slot them in the chassis, and there problems can manifest themselves eg low ground clearance causing problems. With more modern engines they have to tailor the ecu to the much lower weight and dynamics of a Morgan and hence problems then ensue see CX recall. Brakes , steering are bought in components, yet problems ensue. Little things like Duratec engine spark plug holes fill with water, Morgan know that there are vents above the engine and it invariably rains, so why not either direct the water away or prevent it from entering the engine with say an engine cover..........I remember tales of cracks in chassis because the exhaust hole was too big .. But the number of times you read of wiper blades arms becoming detached in use. or they leak into the cabin......such simple tried and tested basic engineering and poor construction that fails and I've never come across with other vehicles. Of course other vehicle manufacturers are not infallible and have their fare share of problems
Where I experience the most issues is where the item has been bespoke in some way by Morgan's fair hand. The other major components shouldn't and usually don't fail, as they are not Morgan designed and engineered. When it came to the trads, they had decades of experience to refine the basic recipe, They weren't having to, as with other vehicle manufacturers, be reinventing the wheel all the time, they had a tried and tested construction method and the only thing that really changed basically because of the more demanding environmental requirements was to adopt cleaner engines and exhaust systems and they made money at it. Where things seem to go wrong reading between the lines was when they tried to diversify to 3 wheelers and the Aero platform which consumed much of their development and engineering and financial resources to the detriment of their parts supply strategy.
They have come a long way from the build quality of my crossflow 4/4 particularly with the materials used, the wood treatments and the production methodology has improved without question. At least with my latest Morgan, it's so far not falling apart/disintegrating to the extent my crossflow 4/4 did in the few short years I owned it. The Plus 4 so far, it's only Morgan's electrics that have let me down, but its early days yet. Of course, most cars improve with regular use, and that maybe at the heart of many of the problems you experience thru lack of regular use
One thing my Plus 4 sport has surprised me with so far, is how compliant the suspension is overall. it doesn't bang and crash anything like my other Morgan's. I suspect that the lack of the spare wheel weight at the rear of the chassis possibly changing the fulcrum and reducing the flexing of the chassis created by a stiffer body shell with a single piece of aluminium across the rear deck with no spare wheel cut out and therefore maybe less subject to scuttle shake and flexing overall helps the suspension compliance..
Last edited by JohnHarris; 22/12/24 12:51 PM.
