Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Ever worried about oil?

Rover Plus 8.....
The oil pressure gauge showed how pressure varied with revs.
The drop when idling could cause worries until you found out it was normal.
Mine had two sensors. One linked to the ecu so it could cut the engine if needed. The other to the gauge. My gauge sensor started to fail giving weird gauge readings. Simple job to unscrew, replace. Also worrying unless you knew the set-up.

Oil-filling is determined by set up specific to the engine one is speaking to. Aside from ridiculous extremes, like adding double the oil called for, that is the only generalization one can honestly make.
That experiment is as sensible as pouring petrol on the top of the car to see whether it will seep in somewhere so you can locate the tank.. Some Porches are like that!

The Rover/LR V8s have one of the more rarely found systems until the advent of the GEMS (late 1994) and the Motronic generation (never used in Morgans.) All of this group (1968- through 1994) had a
volume based system rather than a high pressure system..like the Triumphs and others to date. The entire system was changed to a pressure based system, where the oil pump is run off of the crankshaft
rather than of a curious arrangement (from Buick) involving a camshaft/distributor/oilgear arrangements.

Volume systems run low oil pressures. 12psi (!!!!) can be normal at hot idle, which scares the wits out of newbies. A limited amount of extra oil can be very helpful. The late JHS2, always ran his racers with an
American "quart". (aka an extra liter for the rest of us.) That is NOT advisable with the post 1995..there is a MMC transition period that can be determined by your block number). There are all up on gomog.

I use the later 3.9 sumps on my Plus 8s (all sumps form 1960s to the end of that model are compatible) . They the best after you know how to deal with installation. The LR instructions lead to leaks. They allow
for a liter more more oil and I fill over that just under 7 liters) ! They can still clear the 4.6 crankshaft (the 3.5 sumps will not..just), they are much stronger built than anything earlier or the cast alloy sumps LR
sadly used (that crack like an egg shell) but thankfully, the MMC dodged that one and kept using the 3.9 sump. You can even rest the car on them.

When alloy sumps are hit, they crack and shatter. When steel sumps (all proper sumps) are hit, they merely dent. That means I have no need of protective skid plate that lowers the Morgan ground clearance even
more. I keep two sumps per car. When one dents, (inevitable) I remove it, and replace it with the other. I then, at my leisure, take a 2x2" length of wood and bang out the dent (s) (10 minutes) leaving it on the shelf
waiting for its turn again. If Rover v8 oil pressure paranoia is a factor (frequent) this can be cured with a little thingie sold be the premier Buick 215 specialist. It will not cure idle pressures, but can be adjusted so
that you get 10 psi for each 1000 rpm. (yes you can raise idle pressure but that is invasive and only need for the owner paranoia correction and nothing do with the engine need per se. I use this mildly modified
system for 22+ years on two Plus 8s and nary a problem despite my mileage, along with a tadpole valve (below). The tadpole prevents the relief valve from its rare but characteristic habit in getting seized in the
oil pressure relief shaft. These things cost pennies. Any British Rover V8 specialist will sell them. The combination of UK and US ingenuity pleases me, being Canadian.

As this system, as explained, does not need the qualities of synthetic oil (high heat or high pressure resistance) it has absolutely no need for for that much extra expenditure. The only key is frequent oil (3000 miles)
changes with a high quality mineral oil. I have opened up many Plus 8 engines and the result of frequent changes is quite amazing.

As for other Morgan engines, we would I have to examine each one separately.