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MG TD TF 1500 - Oil Filter change

What is the easiest way to change the oil filter? Are any special tools needed for this? Does the engine oil need to be drained at the time of change? This is a 1953 TD.
Many thanks--
Bill Chandler
Ann Arbor MI
W Chandler

Stock filter canister I presume ..then one special tool I'd recommend is a short home made ice pick...suitable for shop use only. After you remove the canister you use the ice pick to get the rubber gasket out of the pump housing. It must be replaced when you replace the filter. You don't have to drain the oil but you should drain and replace the oil at the time you change the filter.
L E D LaVerne

I am going to contradict LaVern on this one. If the canister to fuel pump junction was not leaking, don't change the gasket. 1) It is a royal pain trying to get the old one out and any piece left in will cause a leak. 2) The old one, regardless of how hard it is, if it is not already leaking, will not leak in the future. when we first purchased our TD, the old gasket was hard as a rock (in fact I thought that it was the metal surface that the canister was seating on), but it didn't leak a drop. Even though the TD was my wife's everyday driver, it was only when I was restoring the car some 10 years later that I dug the old gasket out and replace it. The result of that change was the total loss of oil and 2 spun bearings because I didn't get the new gasket seated correctly. Bottom line - IF IT DOESN'T LEAK, DON'T FUSS WITH IT! Cheers - Dave

PS - If the gasket is leaking, follow LaVerne's instructions.
David DuBois

I'll deffer to Dave on the gasket. My experience was 40 years ago on a Sprite. Tried to leave the old gasket in a couple of times but it always leaked so from then on I always replaced it. Coverted the MGB,TD,and TF all to spin on filters.
L E D LaVerne

I just use a dental pick and pull it out. The WIX brand filters I buy come with new seals. I don't find any challenge with getting it in and out, and that is while sitting under the fender of the TF.

All that said, I had Dave D's experience with a Jag MK2. The old gasket felt almost glued in there and it was a big deal to get it out. It took multiple tries to get it not to leak. A royal paint in the a$$ while laying underneath the car.

Alex
Alex Waugh

When I was a kid working in the local gas station we tended to not change them unless they appeared to be leaking. We would always check them for leaks after changing the element.

One day I had a canister type in an early Chevy V8 had a little dampness appear on the leak check. I pulled it back down and dug out the old seal only to find not one but four seals all compressed in the groove. The bottom one was like rock!

Anyway, I change them on anything I own now. Come to think of it, only two tractors still have them, the TF got a spin-on adapter.

J E Carroll

This thread was discussed between 15/06/2013 and 16/06/2013

MG TD TF 1500 index

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