Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Running hot

Have just inherited my fathers '72 4/4. have done the usual housekeeping chores i.e. the wheels are now round, head hardened, carburettor has been rebuilt. I have had the local garage go right through the cooling system and tune the car but it is running hot on the gauge. the mechanic seems to think the gauge is true but has no answer to the problem. needle is well into the H even when cruising and although it's not yet boiled over I am anxious about breaking Dad's bequest and can't yet get any pleasure from the much heralded Morgan experience. Any idea's?

My experience is that my '76 will boil over before reaching 'H'.

I presume the car stood for a while before you inherited (sorry for your loss BTW)?

It may be worth backflushing the cooling system, however it would also be worth checking the actual temperature the car is reaching, just to make sure it's not a faulty or mismatched gauge/temp sender...

You don't say where you are located?

Oh, and welcome to the forum BTW. We like here!

Cheers,

Can you not borrow a dial off someone just to see if its the dial . Or send it to Speedograph to have it checked over should not cost that much. Agree with Graham I flush my car out regular may be wise to remove the hoses and have a look at them I swapped mine and it was a lot cooler also the heater worked better . I did spot old Melvyn selling something to keep mogs cool in this months mag . Wellcome, I remember my old man could not get him out of the passenger seat on a fine day it felt like he had been glued to it .

ok various issues;; I will try to work out how to post a photo in time as Dad's car is very pretty. Yes it had been standing for a long while through a long period that my father could not drive. Probably ten to fifteen years. It was sent for fairly regular services during that time. Another issue is my mechanical dyslexia and relative poverty. however the cooling system is apparently in good condition the water being according to mechanic who checked 'as clean as a whistle' I'm not sure how to check actual temperature safely??
Based in Oxford England
thanks for your interest Graham

Does it have the right theomastat? I understand you can get them or various temperatures.

Could also be the voltage stabilier - is the fuel gauge OK too?

(The above assume it is not actually boiling!)

Just a thought my petrol gauge was way way out and it could be the diode about to change mine as its shot .

You're not too far away then John, just along the A40.

As JT said above, are your other gauges correct (well, its a Morgan, correct'ish)? Do they fluctuate with engine revs?

There is a screw on the back of the dash (nice thing with these earlier Mogs is that you can get to the back quite easily) to which all the instrument earth leads go. It's worth checking that they are secure and that the screw isn't about to fall out of the (wood) dash.

Mechanical dyslexia? You have an ideal car to learn a little about motor vehicles, even if just the simple things...

Cheers,

A couple of things to check: firstly, there's a little voltage stabiliser up behind the dash which frequently suffers from a poor earth. If this is the case then the temp gauge will over read. Secondly, if you can get hold of one of those infra-red thermometers (I got mine from Amazon for 30 quid or so) then you can check the actual temperature at various places around the head and cooling system.

Thanks guys
I guess I'll have to screw up my courage open the bonnet or scrabble about under the dash ?? and see if I can identify a voltage stabiliser !

Borrow a non contact thermometer from someone and check the temperature where the sensor bulb is, see what the actual temperature is, this will depend on the rating of your thermostat.