Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing 2011 Roadsters - A word of warning

A word of warning
I have just returned from the Scenic Tours trip to the Picos and Pyrenees which was excellent, but spoilt by a cheap Morgan part. As described elsewhere on this forum other Roadster 3 litre owners have been let down by a plastic “T” on the water cooling system splitting and losing the cooling. There are two plastic “Ts” on the nearside just in front of the heater box. My advice to all Roadster (2011) owners would be to check to see if you have them and if so make sure you change them for metal items or else you will find yourself on the back of an old shoogly recovery truck like me! The Ford garage in Pamplona refused to repair it as although it was a Ford engine, it was not in a Ford car. Luckily the Renault garage next door was very helpful and repaired it, probably because the Director of the group was a Morgan owner!
A question
I am about to change the second “T” for a metal item so will change the anti freeze while I am at it. Somewhere on the forum it was mentioned that Roadsters have Silicon pipes and that OAT antifreeze attacks Silicon pipes. What antifreeze do others use in their Roadsters?
Another question
As the horn push on my car is not really that reliable,I want to fit some auxiliary horns with a flick switch. I do not really understand car electrics and unlike older cars (70s Midgets) my Roadster does not have an obvious power outlet in the fuse box marked “Auxiliary”. The closest I can get is maybe to use the fuse marked air con! Where do people take power for radios and spot lights etc. Any observations from an electrically minded Roadster owner would be appreciated.
Thanks in anticipation.

Andrew, I cannot comment on the heater pipe issue, but on my 2009 Roadster the horn was as yours. The cause was poor machining of the steering wheel boss, so the centre would stick on the housing unless pushed evenly and dead center, impossible to achieve in the real world.

I change to a "slimline" steering wheel boss to give me 15mm extra room, it came with a plastic, not alloy centre and low and behold, the horn worked perfectly every time.

The cooling "T" came up a couple of weeks back.

http://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/473878/coolant_hose_connectors#Post473878

Re Antifreeze - I was under the impression that all recent Morgans have Silicon hoses and use OAT Antifreeze. Not at home at present to check, but the handbook on our car specifies the particular Antifreeze to use.

It sounds like your problem with your horns is with the switch rather than the actual horns themselves.

If that is the case how would fitting auxiliary horns improve things?

Arwyn

Oat does eat silicone hoses , it was only introduced as it was long life. If you can swap to non OAT then I would, that is mostly long life too now but without the issues. Make sure you flush it well though as I believe the two do NOT mix well.

Arwyn
Plan was to have a completely separate horn system. New horns, new wiring new switches. The present horn push on the wheel jams and is very hit or miss as to whether it works or not.
Just looked up the handbook which maybe I should have done first! Antifreeze should be Motorcraft Super Plus 2000 WSS97B44-D which is an Ethylene Glycol mixture. The online part number seems to have a "M" in the middle of the part number and there appears to be different colours from online comments, just to confuse things! Think I will go with that.

My S1 Roadster uses glycol antifreeze which I got from a Ford dealer. It's a pale purple.

Have just bought a new T from Simon at SiFab to fit over the winter

I wonder whether to try a Y piece.
The main flow passes straight into the header tank, whereas logically shouldn't it go straight into the heater?.......