Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) How hot are you running?

What temperature does your Morgan run at?
My 4/4 is usually at 110C -120C which is about centre of the dial.
The car is still running in but there is a strong smell of hot coolant when I drive up steep hills. The fan is kicking in and temperature doesn't exceed 120.
Have others experienced the same smells when running in their cars?

We are only 600 miles in and still running in but ours runs a lot cooler than that (cannot remember the number but 90 rings a bell) - which I had not thought to question. So far, the fan has not cut in. However, we have not run far on a warm day yet - the longest journey being to the Dinner Dance in February.

My Zetec 1.8 runs at about 90 C, pretty much all of the time. Gerry.

My 2009 4/4 Sport with Sigma engine runs at 90 C pretty much all the while. The fan only cuts in standing traffic at the height of summer. I had it new and it was the same during running in time. The max temp I've noticed is 100 C.
Don't recall it ever smelling hot either - maybe worth getting it checked out.

Beware of the correct reading of the temperature and fuel gauge in a Morgan, even the more recent models.
My 2009 4/4 Sport has never given a correct and reliable reading of these gauges.
For the fuel consumption, I consider the covered mileage more reliable than the erratic fuel gauge and for the coolant temperature I generally don't pay attention to it. I'm happy to hear the coolant fan running into action from time to time in hot weather conditions or in city traffic.

I'd have it checked out for peace of mind. The Sigma should run normally at around 90c and rising to 100c should cause the fan to cut in. There should not be a smell of coolant.

My Roadster runs at 95C and the fan cuts in to keep it between there and 100c. Even in winter a traffic crawl will cause the fan to come on.

Interestingly the oil pressure is also a secondary temp gauge, when fully warmed up driving oil pressure drops from 7 bar cold to 2 bar when hot. But this process is not complete until the water temp has shown 95C for 10 min or so. My BMW has an oil temp gauge and this always takes 10 to 15 min to reach normal.
So, don't drive your motor hard until the oil pressure gauge confirms the motor has fully warmed up!

...something doesn't sound right.

Thanks everyone, great to have all your knowledge to call on.
It sounds like I'm running about 30C too high. Oil pressure looks good at 2bar usually.
I'll get the car back to the factory on Monday and have it checked out.
I'll let you know what they say.

I realise this might sound daft but you would be amazed how accurate a digital cooking thermometer is. Available for a few pounds from most cook shops, carefully remove the header tank cap (slowly if the engine is hot, it's OK to run at idle with the cap off) pop the probe in the header tank coolant or tape it to the top hose for a more accurate reading. I noticed my 08 +4 was only indicating 80 degrees at steady motorway speeds and never went above 90 even in traffic. The digital thermometer has a hold function and after a blast showed the peak temperature was 98.5 degrees and the gauge never went above 80, at idle the fan kicked in at a dash gauge reading of 80 whilst the digital showed 95. I just consider the cars temperature gauge as accurate as the cars fuel gauge and as long as it does not go above 90 I shall ignore it.