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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - does every diff leak ?

Changed the oil in the diff at the weekend, and sure enough it already leaks around the drain plug. . .does every ones ??
My dads BGT did, my Mums midget did. . .anyone found a cure they would like to share.
P Bentley

Not mine
I Ball

Wrap a couple of turns of plumber's PTFE tape around the plug thread before fitting it.
Or, the old fashioned way was to use red haemetite, or ordinary household gloss paint.
Guy Weller

Nor mine.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

that's a job for the weekend then. . .clean the garage floor first and see to the plug. . .PTFE tape it is
P Bentley

Clean the garage floor FIRST?!!?
Nick and Cherry Scoop

Clean the garage floor FIRST?!!?

I can see how that looks Nick. . .i should explain its not my garage. I will sort the leak out in my garage. . .it only drips but it will be good to join the D.D.O.C or dry diff owners club :)
P Bentley

Yeah... but if you fix the leaky plug, how will you know in the diff has ran out of oil or not

Sounds very crazy anti MG to me.... fix the leaking plug, phiff! ... seriously, who does that

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

like the engine the drips off the r/axle drain plug could perhaps be from elsewhere and ending there (fill/level plug, vent perhaps)

I find if I fill or top up the r/axle to the bottom of the threads and leave for any excess to run out then despite this the next time I check the oil level by removing the fill/level plug more excess runs out then, so now I fill to just below the bottom threads
Nigel Atkins

Nigel, you remind me of filling my SU dashpots with oil. For a long time I thought, "gosh the level has gone down again!" and put a bit more in.

Then, I noticed that it was only going down to the top of the piston edge and never went down below there = I was overfilling it and it was just going down to its own natural level. Never had to put any more in once I figured our that rocket science!

:)
Norm



Norm Kerr

Norm,
I did exactly the same with my dashpot oil to find the bonnet there well protected with oil (I'm now using John Twist recommended "90 weight gear oil" and it makes them very smooth)

I've also found that if I fill the engine to about an eighth of an inch below the 'Max' on the dipstick then it sits at that point much longer than if I go to the 'Max' mark (perhaps it's imagination?)

I'm going to drop the oil level on my Ford type-9 box to three-quarters to an inch below the fill hole threads instead of level with the hole to see if that makes any difference whatsoever to the leak on the g/box

I kept getting told to fill to level with the hole and curse my memory I'd forgot I'd read otherwise before
Nigel Atkins

My diff doesn't leak. Filled it up on Wednesday for the first time after being re-built. Today, garage floor clean! :-) Woo!

Malc.
M Le Chevalier

Nigel,
Some versions of the t9 box are specified with an oil level set below the level of the filler hole thread. I forget the exact amount but it is around 1/2" to 3/4". Are you aware of this?

It's not all T9 boxes, some you do fill to the filler hole thread level but others specifically are left lower than that. If its of relevance or interest to you,I can look up the reference that I will have somewhere to this.
Guy Weller

Guy, surely Nigel would have the handbook for his T9!
Graeme W

Guy,
thanks for the offer but, and I don't like to admit this, I've got the info from a pdf copy of g/box section of a Haynes that someone sent me, it was 20-25mm below (higher) fill hole IIRC

as my box has the higher fill hole I'll risk dropping the level, I can't say which box I have because I don't know but as I've had the leak from day one of 'specialist experts' installation and still after their attempted rectification of wrapping the end of the box in some sort of tape didn't cure it I might as well try my idea

Graham,
I have the workshop version in effect, after the first paragraph it's totally useless to me
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 30/05/2014 and 05/06/2014

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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