Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Couple of technical questions.

Any advice please.
4/4 zetec. Early 2000s
Radiator expansion tank (clear plastic) shows full of brown stuff...
Clutch biting right at top of pedal. Is it adjustable on that model does anyone know please? Or is it last legs.
Engine oil looked good, no white contamination.
Any comments welcome.

Brown stuff implies a flush ook new fluid in the rad.
But if the oil is emulsified the head gasket is blown.

Look up GoMog for more

You haven't provided any context to your questions, however, I'm going to assume you're inspecting a car with view to purchasing it?


1. Radiator expansion tank (clear plastic) shows full of brown stuff

* Needs a flush and coolant refresh, it sounds like it has been neglected, see here:

https://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/834133/1


2. Clutch biting right at top of pedal. Is it adjustable on that model does anyone know please? Or is it last legs.

* Look for the presence of a resevoir, if you find a clutch fluid resevoir it's hydraulic so self adjusting. If no clutch fluid resevoir can be found it may well be on a cable, so adjustable. However, either way if the bite point is right at the top of the pedal travell, I'd be testing the clutch carefully. Try pulling away in 2nd gear to see if it slips, also find a hill and get it into 3rd gear early, then floor it. One or other of these two tests will typically reveal if a clutch is on the way out.


3. Engine oil looked good, no white contamination.

* Sounds fine to me, smell the oil too, a petrol smell can inducate an incontinant injector


If I've assumed correctly and you're inspecting a car with view to purchasing it and if you are not especially mechanically minded, paying an experienced Morgan specialist to look it over could be worth considering? These are simple cars, but the front suspension is unique, and it is prone to wear. A full front suspension refurb with new kingpins etc could prove expensive, others on this forum are better to advise you on this aspect as I have a Mulfab front wishbone conversion that replaces the antiquated and wear prone sliding pillar design with a very different and largely maintenance-free arrangement.

From an engine perspective, the Ford Zetec is a robust and reliable unit with a cast iron block, an aluminium cylinder head and belt driven overhead camshafts, as with any engine you need to see proof it's had regular oil changes. Also look for evidence of a fairly recent cam belt change in the file of receipts, this should be changed every 100,000 miles or 8 years, whichever comes first. An all aluminium engine, and especially one with an aluminium head on an iron block like the Zetec needs regular coolant changes, ideally you want to see evidence the engine has enjoyed fresh quality coolant every 3 years as a miniumum or you run the risk of internal engine corrosion issues and water pump failure. Saying that, some modern coolant types like Prestone will last 10 years or 300,000 miles when used as a complete flush and fill.

Morgans often don't get driven much, a car that sits for long periods of time is to be treated with suspicion, inactivity is not a good thing because if you press a lightly used car into service it will nearly always it'll give you trouble untill you've gone through a season of snagging, and correcting the issues. Also, check the date on the tyres, the tyres may apear to have lots of tread left but if they're 5 years old or more they'll definitely still need replacing.

At the end of the day a Morgan is a very simple car making them easy for any competant mechanic to insect, maintain and fix. However, like any low volume hand made British sports car you need to be hands on, or prepared to pay a specialist to fix all the inevitable little niggles for you. Keep in mind it's a buyers market right now so don't feel under pressure to buy the first car you view. Look at a few within your budget, but don't let asking prices dictate what you view, subtract a good 10% from asking prices and view those cars too.

Sellers know the market is flat right now and buyers are thin on the ground, so they should be open to negociation, you may find you can get in a younger Morgan than you first thought possible with your budget. Finally, don't ignore higher milage cars thinking they'll be worn out, often a higher milage car will have seen more regular and consistant maintinance than a low milage example, the regularly used car will also very often have less faults than one that just been sat unused.

Wishing you all the best with your search, if you're patient I'm sure you'll find the right car

Nick, Is this a potential new purchase? Everything Dave said (monty) is spot on. If it is I would go through the full inspect /service myself and make the purchase price reflect that or walk away. Cam belt a must in my book regardless of what your'e told then oil, engine, diff and gearbox. Full brake service and a coolant system flush and refill and as Monty said... use prestone coolant, it really is phenomenal, by your description of the coolant it's in dire need of one too! Prior to draining check for oil contamination in the coolant and likewise water in the oil.... head gasket issues!

Best of luck but if you are a driver rather than an oily hand geek like me then as Dave suggests... find a man who can look at it for you.

Yes, sorry, I should have given some context.
Following my heart surgery last year I wasn't able to drive my Mog for months, I thought about selling it. It',s an older car, 1987; a few years ago I became disenchanted with the newer cars (I'd been buying a new one every five or so years) so sold up and went for an older car. I'm much improved healthwise now and using the car again. But I'm struggling with the short door. So I started looking around for a narrow car and came upon a nice 2003 Zetec 4/4. Not as quick as my plus 4 but lighter and might suit me better now. On driving it I like it a lot, although the steering wheel is very low, I suppose I would have to lower the seat a little, but I discovered two things of concern. One was brown muck in expansion tank and the other was clutch bite right at the top of the pedal.
So I'm wondering if the brown sludge is a sign of neglect - although having followed the link above it's maybe OK with just a flush if done properly - or is there likely to be damage inside the engine. No sign of head gasket failure as in cream in oil.
Looking at Mr Google seems to say that high clutch position is common on Ford Fiesta and Focus but....
So that's my situation, thanks for help so far and any more comments gratefully appreciated.

I should add that I am no longer in a position to look after my car myself. The engine hoist has gone!

There are some options on You Tube as to how to clean out a stained expansion tank. Or alternatively there should be new replacement options on E Bay. I bought a new pattern tank as a stand by last year for my Roadster, and it's bang on original. Maybe even a bit stronger. I think it cost about £16 with a proper cap, whereas secondhand tanks were way more expensive and every one had been abused badly.

Yes Dave is spot on.... don't touch the rubbish that's been previously used when new are available and usually at least half the price. good to have a spare though.

Thanks for outlining your situation Nick, sorry to hear about your heart issues, more so when they effect an individuals ability to do the things they wish to do!

Yes your car should be alright given a good flush. It's quite a sedate job and by the very nature of it something that will need to be done slowly.

First question is what radiator do you have fitted.. is it an original plastic end tank option or the older metal Morgan offering or perhaps an uprated type such as a Mulfab or sifab.

If you think you can pour water and undo a drain plug you could probably take this on as it's probably less physical than driving the mog.

Send off on line for some Prestone coolant system flush, one bottle is normally enough but in extreme cases you can repeat so a second might be wise while at it. Then 5 bottles of the antifreeze concentrate which makes 10 Ltr's mixed with distilled water in equal amounts.

Now here is where Preston scores the high points. In a badly sludged up car you can put the flush in and instead of a standard flush you can run the car around for a few days, put some miles on the clock and let the flush do a more thorough job. To do this just undo the drain plug on the rad and drain as much as you can get out. Then through the header tank put the whole 1 lt of flush in and top up with plain tap water. You can then either run the car for a standard flush or the intense option. I see Dave forwarded my in depth report on me flushing my car so if you follow that you should be alright. Sod's Law but I don't expect you are anywhere near north Wales as I'd quite happily do it for you!

Re. the dirty header tank, I took mine completely off of the car in the end as with all the baffles inside there's a lot of rotational shacking with your cleaning solution inside to be undertaken. I can't say I discovered the holy grail of cleaner but drain unblocked did the best job. you will need to block the three open tubes to keep the solution in the tank.

Think my header tank belonged to a ford focus mk 3.

I did the same to my header tank. Take it off & keep flushing it. It takes a while as stuff is stuck behind the baffles.

Thanks for all your comments. Very useful for me.
Thanks gents.