• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

A close one

Share this page

regularman

regularman

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
Yesterday I changed the oil in the midget. I must have not got the canister seated good. I noticed a small amount of oil in the garage floor but I figured it was just oil from the pan where I changed it. We went to mount pisgah today. All of a sudden I notice the oil gauge go to 0. I turned around and drove 1/2 mile or so to a pull of and checked and it was out of oil. Put in the one quart I carry as a spare and went on the Pisgah inn. It was on zero pretty quick after leaving for the inn. I bought 6 quarts of oil at the inn. Put 4 in and got oil pressure and I could see the leak.
I coasted most of the way down the mountain because it was not leaking then. Still by the foot of the mountain it was on 0 again. drove another mile or so and put in my last 2 quarts and made it on home with still some oil pressure but dropping.
I hope I did not damage the engine too much. I was listening for any noise so I could shut it off but it purred right along through all that and never started to heat.
I guess that is a good case for the spin on filter. From now on I am going to pull the entire filter housing by removing the two bolts and change the filter and put it back on that way. Too had to see in there. I will make up a bunch of gaskets for the filter housing and just put one with each new filter until I go to a spin on. Whew!
 
It was after a similar experience that I was convinced of the value of the spin-on upgrade!!!
 
There's something to be said for the value of originality, but there's a lot to be said to improved reliability. (My positive ground car doesn't leak electricity).
 
If you had heard noise, you would probably be toasted already. Chances are, since you didn't drive far the residual oil coating everything did its job and you'll be fine.
 
My wife, then girlfriend, did the same thing back in 1975 with her first Sprite.
Bad seal on the oil canister, all the oil pumped out.
She also skipped school that day and went driving all over with her girlfriend.
Two 17 year old girls in a Sprite with no oil.
She tells me later that day that the Sprite sounds like a sewing machine.
Oh by the way, the oil pressure gauge broke, it stopped working and just reads ZERO now.
So I asked the dumb question.....Did you check the oil?
And I got a dumb blonde answer ....No.
But it was my fault, I changed her oil the day before and never checked for leaks.
I ALWAYS check for leaks ever since then.
I also learned how to rebuild an engine right around the same time.
 
spritenut said:
I also learned how to rebuild an engine right around the same time.
Click to expand...

wow what a remarkable coincidence, who would have guessed
grin.gif
 
Wife and I went to see a movie (in another car). After we got back, I pulled the whole canister off by removing the two long bolts. The rubber seal I had put in there was too fat and that was the problem. I cleaned it up and put in the correct seal and then put it all together and re-installed the whole canister with a new gasket. I also made 4 new gaskets and put on in each of boxes with the oil filters that I have left. I will change the oil that way from now on, until I get the spin on set up. I filled the car with oil and fired it up 60psi of oil pressure and no knocking or anything. I took it on a 20 mile drive part of which was interstate and the pressure dropped to about 50 when it all got heated up with the engine under power and 35psi or so at idle. I think it is ok and I dodged a bullet from my own stupidity.
I reckon the rest of the engine must have got a good cleaning with 14 quarts of oil going into in within 2 days time. If I had been some place where oil was available I would have stopped the instant I saw the low pressure, but I was on the blue ridge parkway and there are no services. had they had no oil at the pisgah inn store, I would have called someone to bring me a case of oil or a trailer. I think I will carry more spare oil from now on in the trunk. It can't hurt and if it doesn't help me it might help someone else.
Funny thing is that there is actually a trail of oil all along the path I took home, except where I was coasting with the engine off.
I am humbled by the abuse the A series motor can take once again.
 
glad you dodged the bullet!
 
JPSmit said:
glad you dodged the bullet!
Click to expand...
Me too brother, I was sick with worry. Wife was not happy, she says something happens every time we go out in that car. I would estimate its only about 1/3 of the time;) That one was my fault on several levels. Not getting the right seal on there and then not taking the car for a test run and checking the oil level and for leaks like I usually do with every vehicle I own.
 
I'm glad you got home and that there doesn't appear to be any damage.
 
Kim,

Even with Spin On adapter it's easier to change the filter by unscrewing the oil cooler hosed, unbolting the long bolts and carrying the whole assembly over to the vise to unscrew the oil filter.
 
Maybe on your car Jim but Miss Agatha has no problem unscrewing the filter. It is handy and easy. My little strap wrench works the charm.
 
Jim_Gruber said:
Kim,

Even with Spin On adapter it's easier to change the filter by unscrewing the oil cooler hosed, unbolting the long bolts and carrying the whole assembly over to the vise to unscrew the oil filter.
Click to expand...
Oh, in that case, I might just keep what I got and do it that way. I figure about 1 oil change a year in the Midget. I don't plan on putting the miles on it for more than that. Its at 57,000 or so and I will change it again at 60,000 or after a year whichever comes first. Thanks for the info Jim. Yeah, I learned lesson there.
 
Kim, I would have thought your car, 1971, already had a spin oil filter adapter stock, so you're saying you have the cannister oil filter set up?
 
Half a mile with no pressure?

I'd pull 'er down just to see....and put new bearings in just in case...


You might be just fine....but that's just me.


I'm just glad they can be changed in the car.

I once drove a Golf from N.O to B.R with no oil pressure, but I shut her down and coasted when the light came on. Once the crap settled back down off the pickup; I'd fire her off and drive till it sucked it all back up.
 
Back
Top