Nels,
General comment: A TD is important to ones happiness and satisfaction,
so having one in your garage is almost a necessity.
More specific comment: Well...you might notice some smoke coming from
the breather, but there shouldn't be much. Compare it to other engines
with which you are familiar. The smoke should be about the same.
Spark plugs should look same as any other engine that is running well.
A light toasty brown on the tips is ideal. This varies with the fuel
burned, as well as with oil signs (fluffy black) or overly rich gas mix
(hard black).
Brakes should not pull to one side. He may well be telling the truth
about the new parts. A copy of the invoice for the parts would be helpful
to verify the assertion. Brakes work better when a car is used
regularly. 300 miles in three years is so little mileage that there could
be rust haze on the drums, rubbers could be sticking, condensed water in
the system could be pitting the cylinders. The system could also be
perfect, except that it is pulling.
I don't believe that explanation of brake adjustments being done in
steps is a meaningful observation. One does adjust brakes in steps, sort
of, but the entire point of hydraulic brakes is that they are applied
evenly because the pressure is distributed equally. If he's saying that
the brakes merely need adjusting, have him do it while you watch. He only
needs to lift the wheel off the ground, poke a screwdriver through the
hole in the drum and adjust the micram. Time should be about two minutes
per wheel. That gives you an opportunity to peer through the adjustment
hole and to take a look inside the drum for wetness, dirt, dust, etc.
You can't see much, but if there is fluid splashed about or signs of
shrapnel inside the drum, take heed.
The rattle could be any of a dozen things. Perhaps there is something
dropped in the sidecurtain storage area. Maybe it's a loose damper bolt.
But, if you suspect it's in the brakes, have him pull the drum and see,
with you present. You don't want to find a chewed up drum because a
spring slipped off---well, it's not a big item to replace but you may not
want to bear the expense.
Gas tank leaks can be a nuisance if they are from the fuel lamp sender
unit. If they are leaking at the bottom of the tank, one leaking hole is
not likely to be the only thin spot. There are coatings for tanks that
are supposed to stop leaks. Had the guy driven the car, condensation
that falls to the bottom of the tank would have been sucked out by the
fuel pump and lodged in the carb float bowl where it can be removed
easily.
Spin on oil filter blowing off, that's an interesting one. My engine
pushes 80+ psi shortly after startup on cold days. That's higher than I
would like, and I'm considering replacing the oil pressure limit spring.
This car must have wild pressure to blow off the spin-on filter. Find out
what he or someone else has done to the pressure limit spring. Its
purpose is to prevent just this sort of incident. Something about this
sounds odd to me. For instance, when he blew off the rubber ring, how did
he find out that the engine was pumping its oil onto the floor? By seeing
a puddle emerge? By hearing bearings knock when all the oil was pumped
out?
Where is this car located? Someone on the list may be able to direct
you to an experienced TD mechanic or owner nearby who could look it over
with you.
Bob
On Wed, 19 Jun 2002 13:43:59 -0400 Nels Anderson <nels@flightsim.com>
writes:
> I'm considering joining the ranks of MGTD owners and have found a
> likely candidate to buy. Being a 52 year old car it does have a few
flaws
> but nothing that's killed the purchase yet. I do have a couple of
> questions I wonder if experienced owners can answer though.
>
> The engine breather has noticeable smoke coming out of it. I believe
> this is normal, but just how much is normal and under what
> conditions?
>
> I did not pull the spark plugs on the initial look (it was getting
> dark)
> but want to go back and do that. How should they look on a properly
> working engine?
>
> There are some questions about the brakes. The owner says they were
> repaired about 3 years ago (about 300 running miles, since the car
> has
> not been used much recently). One drum was replaced and the brake
> cylinder redone. There is no apparent problem when running, but when
> the
> brakes are applied the car pulls to the right a bit. He explains
> that
> the pad adjustments are done in steps and unless pad wear is exactly
> the
> same on both sides you will always get some pull to one side or the
> other. True? If not true, how hard to fix?
>
> There's also a bit of a rattle which appears to come from the right
> rear
> wheel area. Any ideas what might be loose back there (brake pad,
> ...?)
> and how much of a problem it's likely to be.
>
> The gas tank leaks. Not fast enough that we could see it actually
> drip,
> but there is paint damage from it. The FAQ has a pretty good
> discussion
> on this but is a couple of years old. Is there any new knowledge
> about
> this sort of problem?
>
> He has a spin on oil filter adapter that apparently does not work
> well.
> He's had it blow the filter seal twice right after startup due, he
> says,
> to high pressure. By letting the car warm up (and thus the oil warm,
> thin, and max. pressure go down) he says there are no problems. He
> suggests I switch to the other type of filter mod (the one with
> replaceable filter elements) which is supposed to work properly.
> This is
> discussed in the FAQ too so making the change does not seem to be a
> problem, but is there any new knowledge on this topic?
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/mg-t
|