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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Oil Pressure question

Hi all,
1275 Mk III midget Castrol 20W/50
Out on Drive it day last week, my usually very stable Oil pressure ( 60 -70 running and about 30 ish at traffic lights ) started going all over the place - though mainly down. It picked up when I accelerated. luckily , I was not far from home. The car still SEEMED to be running fine.
Oil level is fine and I can find no leaks.
I don't seem to using much oil either .

My question is :
Does it sound as if my oil pump has gone?
Is there any way I can test the pump to see if it is stuffed without shagging the engine?

I have read the archive on this board about Oil pressures and they often refer to a dodgy relief valve-could this be the reason?

Haynes is not much use here , neither is my Autodata book.

I'm not running the car presently in case I do something really horrid to it, so I could really use
any advice as I sure need it.
cheers
colin
colin frowen

Colin,
I cannot answer your question, but add to your list of "unknowns" the possibility that the gauge itself has gone faulty and there is in fact no oil pressure problem. Do you have a spare, or can you borrow one, as this would provide a very simple first check on the apparent fault.
GuyW

Hi GuyW,
Thanks very much for your reply.
I guess the gauge is OK as , as I said, if I accelerated , the gauge went up to where it " usually " sat, but then started messing around.
I will certainly see if I can find a " spare" gauge on ebay , so thanks very much for the thought.
Cheers colin
colin frowen

Colin, contact someone in your local MASC area, you may find you can borrow one locally.
GuyW

Colin I've got a dual gauge with a bust water temp capillary which you can have for nothing to test with. Email midget1380 on btinternet dotcom...
David Smith

David's post is EXACTLY why I love this bbs.....

Well played Sir.
Greybeard

Yup, and David has the mechanical gauge, which is what you want for the test.

For future consideration, it scares me a bit when you say, "I was not far from home. The car still SEEMED to be running fine".

Remember the old saying, "They run just as well without oil, they just don't run as long".

Charley
C R Huff

It may be worth taking out the oil relief valve and check that no bits of crud are stuck and not letting it close fully.
A filter change is also pretty cheap and gives a bit of piece of mind.

I've never had an oil pump 'go' its always been very slow loss with age and replaced at engine rebuilds.

Checking the gauge is always a good starting point though.

R.
richard boobier

Hi all,
Thanks very much for all your help , especially David's kind offer which I have taken up.
Cheers & wish me luck
Colin
colin frowen

Oh GOOD GOD...

BUDDY this was my OH SH#T momen back in 2008

lets hope its just a gauge or an oil relief valve and need be only an oil pump

mine did exactly the same thing... i drove about 200 miles one way on the free way and the oil pressure started flactuating here and there... the car SEEMED to be working okay ... but off and not sure why... just my imagination

on the way home about 50 miles to go... oil pressure still jumpy... its just an mg it will go away...therewas a loud BANG around the transmission ... it was still moving and just banging like a drum... i shut the engine down and cousted to the edge...

popped the bonnet nothing no holes or any thing out of place... put it in nutral and fired it back up and bang bang bang

so towed it home pulled the engine and started pulling the engine apart...

crank shaft busted at the rear engnine main bearing... not just cracked... i mean broken in half

there is a fault that runs along the oil gally and its not common but that is a popular place for the T16 crankshaft to crack/break

im really hoping this not the case for you

you can search the archives its well documented...2008 prop and the blackhole mdget... it would have been around sept of 2008 when that happened... lots of photos

Prop
prop

This thread was discussed between 28/04/2016 and 29/04/2016

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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