Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Wet Sumping

I have not even stood close to a three wheeler so could be typing rubbish... I read of your solution Colin and great that it works for you though could not help wondering if it is possible to install a manually operated isolating valve on the oil feed line from the tank..? Sure to forget to turn it on could be catastrophic but...?

Just thinking in type.

Something else to go wrong...

There are spring & ball valves available with positive pressure operation to prevent sumping as used on classic motorcycles but again it’s something more to go wrong.& no oil in the engine because of a tap being left off or a stuck valve would be catastrophic.

Finally solved the wet sumping issue..

Short version - change to mineral oil (V twin specifiuc of course)

Long version - bought the car from BHM just serviced and for the first year I had no leak at all. Did the first servioce after a year and switched to Motul V twin fully synthetic and the leak started. If I was leaving the car parked for more than a week I had to drain the oil. Lived with this for two years and finally twigged. Chnaged back to mineral oilo and problem solved !

Interesting and worth a try if this is a problem with your M3W. I have been using Motul 7100 4T 20w-50 V-Twin fully synthetic oil since after the first two oil changes, now almost 30,000 miles. The oil tank draining its contents into the sump has never been an issue on my car. I think the oil drains down through the pump and possibly variations in clearances would explain why some cars are more prone to this problem than others? The change to a mineral oil would be an easy check though, hope it works for those with this issue.

Shame I've got 20 litres of Motul synthetic on my garage shelf...

I guess we are or have become used to many decisions being made for us by digital processors. One of the main aspects of me arriving at Morgan ownership was to get back to basics and self reliance in terms of maintenance and repair having grown up as a child of the make do and mend generation.

My first motorcycle and many thereafter, required me to operate the lever to retard the ignition, turn on the fuel tap, "tickle" the carburettor, operate the choke manually, put it in gear and pull the machine backwards until the piston was felt to have arrived at compression thus restricting rearward progress. The aforementioned process equated to requiring less effort involved when operating the kick-start lever, thus with a bit of luck making starting a less physical effort and less chance of my ankle suffering a "kick back" should one have forgotten to operate the advance and retard lever. I suspect if one has ever suffered a kick back, then it kinda assists to remember that part of the ritual in bringing the machine back to life..? I guess my first m/cycle being a 350cc AJS and not of a sporting variety did not have overly high compression ratio, and thus did not have the advantage or added complexity of a de-compression lever.

All of which perhaps seems a bit of fuss and perhaps a too much for the modernised man to handle....? Or if like me your memory is somewhat lacking as you have aged..? Perhaps in order to assist the difficulty in remembering to turn on a simple lever operated tap fitted betwixt the oil tank and the engine to prevent the oil build up in the sump due to periods of lay-up, if you also fitted a similar manually operated tap to the fuel to shut it off, then using both taps to isolate oil and fuel at when parking up, one might hope once into the habit of using the taps, you might then be saved the embarrassment and expense of driving off having forgotten to turn the oil tap on when the lack of fuel kicks your memory back into gear...?

Of course if you find such processes all to arduous or think your grey matter could be over taxed to any degree, then perhaps another form of transport may be worthy of consideration...?

Yeah, kinda think I`m heading that way myself...

T`would be interesting to learn the processes involved in firing up an "original" Jap engined M3W, I suspect they may not be a lot different from that which I grew up with when firing up my old m/cycles..?

Any theories on why this “fix” seems to work? Sure is simple.

I think its common knowledge mineral oils are less viscous when cold than synthetic ?

To add to the above, being less viscous and thus thinner it seems likely that the thinner synthetic oil can pass through the oil pump and into the sump by gravity easier than could a thicker oil...? I suspect none of this was thought of as an issue in times when machines were built and used as tools and not toys that may not see regular usage..?

NOT that I am any different as my Morgan has evolved into being a garage queen.... Sigh..!