Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) how does the heater work?

Apologies to those who may have been members of eMog, and red of this at the time I had succumbed to a bit of counter-intuitive thinking as Ivor Mog describes it.. (-:

Having headed off on what for us was an epic adventure at the time, then when firing the old thing up to exit the Chunnel train carriage, finding that the starter motor continued to run when the ign key was released, was less than fun, fortunately shut down and re-start solved the situation temporarily. With that in the back of my mind a few days later a repeat performance of the starter issue was not desired on finding ourselves stuck in a traffic jam in another tunnel, this time in the then very HOT city of Naples when Italians were feeling the heat and fainting in the streets (2003)...At least we were out of the sun, but both of us sitting between a hot gearbox on one hip and a hot exhaust on the other and concern over possible engine overheating, it seemed that opening the heater flaps and switching on the heater might just help the engine.... Yeah shutting off the engine would be the logical answer but with the thoughts of possible starter issues and creating ever more of a traffic situation for frustrated Italians...!!!

The starter run on issue for any that might be interested was down to burned contacts in the bulkhead mounted relay that would stick ON intermittently, the burning caused by the spark created at the points when the starter solenoid is disengaged causing a back EMF/spark to occur.. I carry a spare these days..(-:

I do not know how effective switching the heater on had in reducing the engine temperature.. I suspect not much... for those inclined to try to work things out in terms of efficiency, I guess running the fan requires the engine to work harder to overcome the extra load of the fan on the alternator... etc.. hmm..?

Given that I had for a number of years been reading on eMog of Morgan overheating issues, I suspect I had become a tad over sensitised to such possibilities, thus In the heat of Italy I thought to try to increase airflow through at the top of the engine bay..... I disconnected the fresh air intake trunking from the air filter which equated to the engine sucking air from that point instead of lower down, whether that worked or not and to what degree... I have no idea, but the old +8 never used a drop of water the whole trip, though we drank PLENTY of the stuff.

In Scottish winters the heater works well enough for me in my old +8, more so if running solo with the tonneau cover in place the passenger footwell flap closed on the heater box and drivers side opened. Much improved on my Winter m/cycling stiff knee situation before deciding on a Morgan as an alternative...

If your themostat is working correctly, there's no need. Water shouldn't circulate through the cooling system until the engine is properly warm.

You did not think Morgan would make things easy Graham . They swap things round just to shake off the rust and not on the car .. No more car shows up here till spring . So it looks like all I have to do is play in the garage .
ps. My mog does not need a heater you can feel the heat from the engine .

It does because it's part of the bypass circuit with it's own branch off the thermostat housing on the double acting Zetec cooling system. (IIRC)

Well yes. There's no such thing as a standard car
That's what makes them such fun!

GPWM

So it seems clear that the operation of the heater valve swapped round in about 1994 or so. Mine is push for on, pull for off.

I used to have difficulty remembering which was was on or off until a friend pointed out that Morgan owners are much too polite to have any control function which requires you to "Push Off" - so push must be for On.

Well if one is not sure whether it is push for on, or push for off, how will one ever find out which is the right way on one’s own car?

well Its back in and blowing. Next dry day I'll take it for a blast and report back on the push/pull issue.

On a side note, having removed the 'tool tray' to get to the heater motor my lingering thought is 'haven't these people heard of RIVNUTS?.

Gary

Of course they have but they were vetoed by the bean counters