[Mgs] Torn gaiter

[Barney Gaylord]

Simon,

One does not pump more oil in at every service on the 
car.  Lubrication instructions vary, but always at 12,000 mile interval.
         The Workshop Manual calls for 15 strokes gear in the rack 
housing, and 5 strokes oil in the pinion shaft Zerk.  I will 
"estimate" (guess) that would be about 1 fluid ounce. ounce.
         A Lube Chart for MGA, published by Morris Motors Ltd, echoes 
the Workshop Manual.
         The Workshop Manual for MGA Twin Cam calls for 10 strokes 
gear in the rack housing, and 2 strokes oil only in the pinion shaft Zerk.
         A Lube Chart for the MGA Twin Cam, printed by The Nuffield 
Press Ltd, calls for 10 strokes in the rack and 2 strokes only on the 
pinion shaft.  The chart says "approved by the manufacturers".

If you follow these directions regularly, then in 70,000 to 100,000 
miles or so you might add as much oil as the original 6 ounce fill 
amount.  The factory apparently considered this to be 
acceptable.  Either they expected some to leak out, or they thought 
that double the amount of original minimal fill was okay (or maybe 
both).  I suppose in 100,000 miles the rubber boots were expected to 
fail (and be replaced if the car was still on the road), in which 
case the oil would be lost and you start over with the minimal 6 ounce fill.

I almost never lube the steering rack after the initial 6 ounce 
fill.  If it gurgles when moved from lock to lock I figure it has 
enough oil inside, so leave well enough alone.  So far it has not 
failed in 400,000 miles, although it has had the boots replaced a 
couple of times and needed to be refilled.  I also adjusted clearance 
of the inner ball joints once at about 300,000 miles.

Barney


At 11:04 AM 9/5/2012 -0700, Simon Matthews wrote:
>....
>With the MGA, one pumps  more oil in at every service on the car. 
>Does any excess naturally leak out, or how does one tell if there is 
>too much oil in there?
>....


>On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 4:17 PM, Barney Gaylord 
><<mailto:barneymg at mgaguru.com>barneymg at mgaguru.com> wrote:
>....
>The "pool of oil" doesn't stay at the bottom of the gaiters, and 
>there is good reason why it is gear oil and not grease.  When you 
>get the prescribed 6 fluid ounces of oil in the rack you can turn it 
>from lock to lock, and you can hear the oil gurgle in and out of the 
>gaiters and is passes back and forth through the rack 
>assembly.  That's how you know there is enough oil in it.  Don't use 
>too much oil, as that could explode the gaiters.
>
>The MGA has a Zerk fitting on top of the steering rack housing for 
>the purpose of installing the oil, so you don't have to fiddle with 
>the caps or covers.  The small palm push oil gun is a nifty tool for 
>this operation.  MGB design deleted the Zerk fittings (just to make 
>life difficult).
>........