Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) 4/4 1948 Overheating after some work done......

Hi guys, this is my first post in this forum ;-) Thanks for reading it!

I own a Morgan 4/4 1948, with a Standard Engine. It was always in great shape and I know the car for 30 years. two weeks ago my new mechanic (since I moved to a different city) did a deep carburetor cleaning, and a distributor overhauling (new cap, wires, rotor, bushings, spark plugs) since I had some misfire. After two weeks I got the car back, I went for a ride and the temperature went up right away :-( It never happened before. I am going to take it back to the mechanic next Monday.

What would you do or check? I am bit concerned......

Thanks in advance!

Hi there,

Welcome.

Assume you have checked the coolant level.

Could me many things but if the timing has been adjusted (distributor overhaul) my guess is this is a point to start. Does the car drive any differently (slow to repsond/stuttering etc.)?

R.

Thanks Richard for your answer.

Yes, coolant level is ok, the car drives well, nothing different but the temperature is high. I also believe that is a timing issue or may the mix is lean? I think this could also be reason? I am not so sure.........

Anyway, tomorrow I will drain and replace the coolant since the mechanic added some coolant when the engine was hot..... just to make sure that their is no bubbles in the system.....

Thanks again for your answer.

Gonzalo

Of it drives ok are you sure it's really overheating? It could be the voltage regulator on the instrument panel has broken,making the instrument give a false reading.

Thanks for your answer. I never thought about it..........you are right, that could also be the reason. I think it is overheating, but I am going to check the voltage regulator too.

Best,
G

From past experience, as the carb has been worked on, I think it may be running lean.

Check whether your exhaust is white (rather than sooty black which would indicate a rich mixture)

Colin Mackay

All I can come up with has been reported:

Lack of coolant
Temp gauge are notoriously inaccurate
Running lean
Timing too retarded
Fan belt broken
Combinations of the above list

Not sure if the car in question was laid up for a period of time recently?

My 1962 Singer gazelle developed over-heating after a 3 year lay up - turned out to be nothing more than a silted / scaled up rad. A decent rad descaler/cleaner and flush out and it was cured. Just a thought.

Thank you all for the answers. The radiator was rehauled 6 months ago, this just happened after the carburetor cleaning and the distributor rehauling......this morning I replaced the coolant just to be on safe side, but the temperature is still high.....I am going to take it to the mechanic tomorrow morning. It might be the timing or running lean, or maybe both........the car is running great but engine is definitely hot. I am lucky that the mechanic is only 5 minutes away......so I can drive there.

If you have access to a tempurature sensor such as used in the plumbing trade or even a domestic cookery thermometer, take some temperatures from different locations across the cooling system: radiator top and bottom, top and bottom hoses and different parts of the block and cylinder head.

Tempurature gauges in cars, particularly old ones are notoriously inaccurate. A calibrated sensor should help you identify whether you have a problem and potentially where.