Well it's Monday AM after the big Rally on Sunday. First Note: I got a
3rd place in the Rally, Unfortunately the only MG to place. We ended up
in a three way tie for first. The tie breaker: time to finish. The only
reason I got third: about 45 min along side the road broke down, or so I
thought. If the tie breaker had been mileage, as I was told on departure,
I would have gotten First and the return of the coveted Lucas cup to the
MG fold. Oh well.
Now the reason I spent 45 minutes along side the road. We had reached a
point in the instructions that was a little ambiguous we sat for a minute
trying to decide to go straight or turn onto a main road. We were trying
to decide if we had missed a clue we were supposed to find. We made the
turn, assuming we had missed it, after backtracking a bit to see. As I
drove around the corner a weird knocking noise developed under the hood.
Fearing it might be the bearings or something similarily disastrous in my
only car, I shut it down immediately. Several cars pulled to a stop to
see if they could help, but to no avail. I checked the oil level and it
was full, I had checked prior to the early morning start. The "rattle"
was engine speed related, but not in the top end, no change in the noise
level when removing the oil filler cap. Jumped on the trusty cell phone
to call Reg and see if he had an idea and to let him know we were
stranded and not likely to finish. Called AAA to get a tow to Reg's place
to skip work fo a few days to get it back on the road. A while later Reg
pulled up as they had missed a clue and were backtracking - errr actually
he came to get me, yea that's it.
Anyway he starts checking it out and determines it is not a bearing but
unsure of what it was, water pump maybe. As I had about 45 lbs of oil
pressure at a bit over idle he said go for it and drive the car. About
that time the rattle went away. Just then the tow truck arrives, I
explained that wee had checked out the car and decided we did not need
him, apologized and away he went.
We got back on course and finished up the rally with out missing a single
clue, well one slight 0.1 mile detour on a bit of a misleading clue after
a one lane bridge. My GF Navigator was quick to spot that one. One of the
late arriving TR's argued with the rallymaster that the clues were wrong,
even stating at one point, loudly , "that if you cover this line up the
rest of it leads you someplace else!!". To which the rallymaster says,
"but you can't cover one clue up and do it the way you want." Thought I
was gonna die laughing. Anyway all that lead to a three way tie fo
first. the times being seperated by about 35 minutes. With me being the
longest - bummer.
I drove the Midget the rest of the day and never had a recurrence of the
problem. Did determine that I need a front oil seal so I will do that and
see if the front timing chain etc are all fine.
Larry (Second Third in the Spring MG vs. TR Rally - One o' these days)
Larry
Larry B. Macy, Ph.D.
macy@bblmail.psycha.upenn.edu
System Administrator/Manager
Neuropsychiatry Section
Department of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania
3400 Spruce St. - 1015 Gates
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Ask a question and you're a fool for three minutes; do not ask a
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