Parked the Wolseley up for a bit because I've been busy and haven't had time to take it out. Thought it would be a great time to get the wheels trued and rounded again too.

Jacked the front up and popped her on stands, put some spare wheels on the back - couldn't put spares on the front because it's running Allegro brakes and 12 inch wheels won't fit over them.

Car sat like that for a couple of weeks with her nose in the air til the wheels came back and the tyres were fitted up. Popped her back on the ground and fired up (with a jump start) so I could get the long awaited wheel alignment.

Once she fired up the middle of 3 unmarked dash lights stayed on - grabbed the owners manual light number one and number 2 are for oil pressure and charge - sequence was changed mid production - no idea where my car falls.

Mad panic omg I've got no oil pressure, popped the hood - plenty of oil on the stick, started her again - all sounds ok, most likely it's my charge light and the generator has gone awol - it's never been great.

Drive down to Diamo - around 8k's return trip, wheel alignment done, a series singing along at 90k to the whine of the diff (another job for Minitopia). Park her up again and wander off to my life.

Had arranged for a Miniptopia home visit today to check out the whole crew (5 cars 5 problems - sound familar?) and asked Scott to check the genny and change over with a spare we had kicking around.

Guess what...........................

It wasn't the charge lamp after all. The beast greeted Scott with what he calmly described as a "death rattle".

Who else but BMC would change the position of two unmarked tell tales mid production?

Anyone need a boat anchor?



end of rant ;-(

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'62 Morris 850 (Marion)
'65 Mini Delux - sleeper 1275/S discs (Ms Plum)
'69 Vanden Plas Princess 1300
'71 Wolseley 1300
'74 Austin 1300 Countryman
'94 XJ6 Sport 3.2
'04 Rover 75 CDTi

Aaaahhhh crap....

Soz buddy, at least you can get that diff looked at...
Any idea where the oil pressure dissapeared to?

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Bugger. Bugger bugger bugger. So what caused the oil pressure to drop?

I have in the past:
(a) lost the key to my Yamaha RD400's seat so assumed I'd have enough 2 stroke oil (which is accessed under the seat) for a reasonable ride. Nope. Seized at 140kph.
(b) Believed Haynes when they said 800ml for an oil change on a Honda XR600. $3,500 for a rebuild. It was a typo in the Haynes manual.

I hate assuming things will be alright. Both incidents were a long time in the past, but the memory of wrecking a good motor through neglect last a long time.

Scott thinks the oil pump may have died - guess I'm wondering if I may have stuffed it up leaving the nose of the car in the air for a couple of weeks

_________________
'62 Morris 850 (Marion)
'65 Mini Delux - sleeper 1275/S discs (Ms Plum)
'69 Vanden Plas Princess 1300
'71 Wolseley 1300
'74 Austin 1300 Countryman
'94 XJ6 Sport 3.2
'04 Rover 75 CDTi

I'd say the oil pump has lost prime due to standing. When we bought Barney (S replica with 1098 in) the PO had this same problem, if he left it more than a week he had to prime the pump.
Motor had been bought from Mini Kindom years ago, it seemed OK apart from this problem.
Eventually it was found the Valvoline running-in oil he was using (coz he had some) was a bit `too thin'.
Filled it with 20W/50 and it was fine thereafter.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.