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MG MGA - Loss of oil, horses and stable doors

After losing my oil the other week and fortunately discovering it in time (more by luck than judgement) I am fitting a back up system.
Although I subconsciously look at the oil and temp gauge very regularly, you have to be lucky to notice the 0psi in time to save the engine in the event of complete oil loss.
I have fitted a T-adaptor in the feed to the oil pressure guage and the old-style pressure switch in the spare port. I have connected a 12v buzzer in series with the pressure switch and to prevent it sounding whenever the ignition is on but the engine not running, I have powered it using a "delay power on timer" with gives me a delay up to 90secs. This was about £6 off ebay (they all seem to come from Bulgaria).
If the oil pressure goes completely due to another cooler pipe failure, the buzzer should sound in time to save the day.
Graeme Williams

Not bad at all.
MAndrus

Pictures and a parts list with sources for the bits and a wiring diagram would be very interesting
dominic clancy

Declan Burns declan_burns@web.de has a ready made unit that he sells for oil pressure loss. Cheers - Dave
DW DuBois

Dominic: I'll put that together.

BTW I bought one of those USB power sources you suggested. Very good and lass intrusive (and easier to install) than the usual 12v socket.
Graeme Williams

You could take it one step further Graeme and rig up a relay that would switch off your ignition at the same time as the buzzer sounded.

It seems like you are fast developing an engine management system for your MGA Graeme! :-)

Colyn
Colyn Firth

Don't be sarcastic Colyn! Or take the p*ss. That's my job.
Graeme Williams

Sorry Graeme,
If it wasn't for us all poking fun at each other on this forum, there would probably at least 50% less posts on here. :-)

Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

Being a purist....I'm offended that you would put such a modern device in to an MGA!

You should just go ahead and blow your engine up like I would. Noticing the sweet smell of burning oil and clattering costly rotating parts only after its too late!

LOL!
S

To be fair, only the delay power-on timer is modern. The rest harks back to pre-war. And the timer is only for my sanity - didn't want the buzzer driving me up the wall every time I turn on the ignition. However, statistically it is probably a waste of time in that over 60 years of driving I have NEVER lost the oil until this time. What's the chance of it happening again? On the other hand, I have never had an MGA with an oil cooler before.

Colin: totally agree! Compared with fitting a kitchen sink in the boot of an MGA, all this technical stuff is BORING!
Graeme Williams

I've done too many post MGA production era modifications to knock any of these innovations. Having suffered a sudden total oil loss like Graeme on almost my first MGA drive I keep the oil pressure gauge in my normal instrument scan, probably observing it every 20 to 30 seconds - much the same way as I used to scan all my flight instruments. Lookout port, front, starboard, mirrors, instruments, repeat. It's embedded in me.

Not a mod I will consider but a good idea nonetheless.

Steve
Steve Gyles

With a flying background, Steve, you can't worry about something stopping or falling off, otherwise you would never leave the ground. Hence minimum spares.
You can see where Colyn sits (so many spares he couldn't get airbourne). I'm not as bad but the pressure switch suits my pessimism and my "if it's going to go wrong..."
attitude.
Graeme Williams

Graeme - Don't feel bad, I destroyed the bearings on two rods shortly after having gotten our TD on the road after a 5 year restoration because I lost oil pressure (and most of the oil in the sump).

Not only did I damage the engine, I also caused a 5 mile backup on the highway that we were traveling on, having stopped on the Tacoma Narrows bridge, the main highway from the peninsula that we live on to Tacoma Washington. After repairing the engine, I also installed a buzzer to warn me of loss of oil pressure when on the road. Cheers - Dave
DW DuBois

No need for a buzzer - just wire in a yellow indicator light mounted on top of the dashboard like the racers do....
Chris at Octarine Services

IMHO I would want the buzzer to come on right away for 2 reasons,1-you know before it starts that the system is ready and working and 2- would you be ok with it if it took a minute and a half for your oil gauge to respond to a change in pressure? I'd want to know sooner
gary starr

The delay power on only delays once when you first turn it on. After that there is power on the switch until you turn the ignition off again, so pressure loss detection is "instant".
I had considered your first point (referring to knowing all is working) but decided the buzzer is so loud it would be very annoying. All I need to do is to remember from time to time to delay startup until the buzzer has sounded just as an "all ok" check.
Graeme Williams

Graeme

You should have connected it up to a set of air horns playing Colonel Bogie! That would wake the neighbours.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Graeme,
now I think I detected just a "hint" of sarcasm in Steves comment.
It makes my suggestion of an automatic ignition cut-off relay sound almost sensible!


Colyn
Colyn Firth

All your suggestions are sensible Colyn. We both suffer from the same level of paranoia.
Gyles is just a trouble maker. Moustache, flying helmet, goggles, you know the type. God's gift to MGA! Just wait till he needs a spare he doesn't have, eh!
Graeme Williams

Sorry, no moustache!

LoL

Steve

Steve Gyles

Nice one Graeme.

Great picture Steve,

I dont know why but I had always thought the English Electric Lightning had pressurised enclosed cockpit and a joystick rather than the wooden steering wheel I can see in the picture!
Also, are both the flying goggles and the flying helmet in the picture really rated for Mach 2? :-)
( I guess the handlebar moustache must have blown off when you broke the sound barrier! )

Colyn

PS Steve, Where can I go and see a EE Lightning in the UK?

Colyn Firth

You see the difference here Colyn. If you had owned a Lightning you would have accumulated enough spares to build one in your garage.
Graeme Williams

Colyn

I did not want to go too far off thread. You will find all the Lightning locations on this site: http://www.lightnings.info/ However, the thought occurred to me that the best location to see two working Lightnings is Bruntingthorpe in Leicestshire. They keep them airworthy and regularly do reheat taxy runs on the runway for the public. It may be a good venue some future MG gathering. The aircraft are kept in QRA sheds so it's quite authentic. The CAA will not issue an airworthiness certificate as they consider the aircraft to old and dangerous for civilian use, both maintenance and flying.

The noise of the reheats will certainly drown out Graeme's buzzer.

Steve



Steve Gyles

Not when I turn the buzzer up to reheat too!
Graeme Williams

This thread was discussed between 01/06/2016 and 08/06/2016

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