Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Winter Reminder

Over the last week we've seen temperatures below freezing, even in my garage.

Today it is +11c, so I went in to check things. My Plus 4 has been dripping coolant from the top hose. Not much, about 2mm down on the plastic tank.

This is a Morgan "feature" which you may or may not have. When it gets seriously cold, the metal contracts and effectively loosens the hose clips. I struggled with my Roadster over several winters, because some of the metal pipes are not completely circular, which makes sealing more difficult. Eventually I sorted my Roadster.

This time the hose clip went three quarters of a turn, so hopefully that will sort it.

So check your coolant level, especially after a cold spell.

Oh and from 11th December I've been here 14 years................................Wow!

Dave ... I've found a couple of turns of self-amalgamating tape round the pipe under where the clip goes before fitting the hose can cure annoying weeping.

K

Thanks, yeah I used PTFE on the Roadster but I'll bear that in mind for the P4!

My car isn't leaking anything but absolutely soaking in condensation whilst inside garage. Opened front and side doors and look off cover to let everything breath

The hood is up in the garage but the doors open. No condensation or leaks

Indeed, always a problem here when there's a sudden warm-up after a cold period ..... fortunately the Morgan is in the workshop area where I've had the woodburner next to the lathe going as I've been working out there and that's kept everything warm by default .... my unheated big shed however is dripping wet .... the concrete slab floor is soaking and the metal rafters are dripping ... only the Landy in there and that's regularly used which dries it out ... forecast a nice day tomorrow so I'll open everything up to equalise the temperatures and stop the condensation.

K

Another thing worth doing is to press the clutch pedal a few times every month or so if the car's not used...saves the hassle of a stuck on clutch plate come the spring wake-up

Back in the days when my Morgan used to live in a single concrete garage with corrugated roof it used to suffer more from condensation damage than it did from being left outside. I ended up running a dehumidifier in there permanently. Thankfully now it's in a nice dry well-insulated garage and happily passes the winter months quite happily.

That reminds me, beware of combined fridge/freezers in a garage. The single thermostat is usually in the fridge compartment set at say 3°C. When garage temperature drops below, the compressor never comes on so food in freezer part gradually defrosts!

Good point. OTOH, a proper freezer set to -18C does a good job of providing a little extra warmth - unless the temperature drops to below -18 of course!