Oil surge problem at Le mans

[Fatboy 18]

I have a sump pan baffle kit fitted, anyone else get this when under very hard braking? Seems oil got into the piston cylinders then dumped it into the exhaust system My friends who were behind me said it looked much worse!

After the oil cleared the car ran fine on the way home with no issues!

[FLATOUT]

What's with all the joggers on the track? Do you have a catch can installed?

[Fatboy 18]

What's with all the joggers on the track? Do you have a catch can installed?

Lots of people like to TRY and run the circuit before race day for a bit of fun, that way they can justify drinking several gallons of French Beer

Catch can, I do not have one on the car at the moment but have been in the process of getting the parts together to fit one. But surely a catch can will only catch oil vapour out of the rocker boxes? This was more serious with the engine oil washing up the cylinders and getting into the the exhaust headers, only then to be burnt off?

[NI-KA]

I thought white smoke meant radiator fluid was the source?

[mad prof]

Great shots Mark. Obviously oil somehow got its way into yhe cylindes. Did you overfill engine with oil? I hope no oil-ring problems?

[C.J]

Did the oil color look okay, or did it look a bit milky? Same with coolant...still looking normal?

The kit you installed...do you know who made it? Do you have photos of the oil pan top tray that came with that kit compared with the OEM tray?

Have you pulled the plugs to see if they are fouled up (not a cause of the smoke, but they may be gunked up a bit).

Fun video...until the smoke...

[Fatboy 18]

I thought white smoke meant radiator fluid was the source?

The smoke was blue originally, (I know it looks white in the second engine start up), I will be checking the coolant and report back, but after we ran the engine everything cleared and the car ran OK and all gauges read normal?

[Fatboy 18]

Coolant is fine, no oil residue what so ever, no gunking on the engine Oil filler cap either but oil level is now at the bottom of the Safe area, saying it needs more!

The throttle intakes do have a film of oil on them so catch can is now a major priority.

[Big Miata]

DUDE I WAS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM. I noticed it on the street though maybe im driving too agro. I installed a catch can coming off the pcv before the t and then back into where it goes into the intake manifold. I put the can where my windshield washer was. After only 30 miles with only a bit of hard decal to hear exhaust there is a lot more than a few drops in the tank. You are sucking oil through your pcv because you are in vacuum when in decel. This is sucking the oil like a kid with a slurpee. If you are tracking this without a puke can then you are burning oil which lowers octane. This has nothing to do with a conventional catch can/ overflow, Those dont do jack sorry. It is all coming from your PCV and going straight into cylinders 1 and 6.

[Fatboy 18]

DUDE I WAS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM. I noticed it on the street though maybe im driving too agro. I installed a catch can coming off the pcv before the t and then back into where it goes into the intake manifold. I put the can where my windshield washer was. After only 30 miles with only a bit of hard decal to hear exhaust there is a lot more than a few drops in the tank. You are sucking oil through your pcv because you are in vacuum when in decel. This is sucking the oil like a kid with a slurpee. If you are tracking this without a puke can then you are burning oil which lowers octane. This has nothing to do with a conventional catch can/ overflow, Those dont do jack sorry. It is all coming from your PCV and going straight into cylinders 1 and 6.

Brilliant, this was exactly the sort of answer I was looking for, thank you. I have just come in from the Garage and am trying to work out the correct plumbing? If you can post a dirgram of exactly how to plumb this I would be very grateful.

I have the exact same catch can that is posted here http://driveviper.com/forums/threads...-Oil-Seperator

but I just dont understand how Tony connected this all up, I keep looking at the pictures but I can't work it out I need a one step at a time idiot guide, not a picture of it all finished.
thanks.

[Big Miata]

YES um I will take pictures later today and I have done this on all the cars I intend on tracking as all cars are affected by this with manual transmissions. If you love the sound of overrun and let off the gas and brake at the same time then it will suck oil. I used his pic on that link to find the pcv port then looked at the tubing for a couple of days. I had to run the tubing over and then back to the intake. It has to run 5 feet to get to the can and then 5 feet back to get to the intake. I have not been burning any oil on decal anymore just a tiny bit on hard accel ahahhahahah.

What pisses me off most, is this is never discussed in the other forums. People just blindly suck up a ton of oil into their intakes and then run their cars on very low oil levels between oil changes. I can almost be certain this is why cars with 50k mile or more start to lose power as we drive them hard. Drive hard with less oil or oil in chamber problems will happen.

[MADMAX]

Brilliant, this was exactly the sort of answer I was looking for, thank you. I have just come in from the Garage and am trying to work out the correct plumbing? If you can post a dirgram of exactly how to plumb this I would be very grateful.

I have the exact same catch can that is posted here http://driveviper.com/forums/threads...-Oil-Seperator

but I just dont understand how Tony connected this all up, I keep looking at the pictures but I can't work it out I need a one step at a time idiot guide, not a picture of it all finished.
thanks.

Aint you fitted that yet man....... chop chop

Here if you need any help.

[Fatboy 18]

Aint you fitted that yet man....... chop chop

Here if you need any help.

Sadly Adrian, I did not understand your diagram either!

[Big Miata]

Man stop looking on the internet and go look at your car Ill take pics when I take the car out this weekend. You can stare at pics all day long and not get the answer. If you put your hands on the hose you can see it do u bend from the pcv to a t that goes directly into the front of the intake manifold in two spots. Get a flashlight to flash it on your intake manifold and move hoses til you see the one that moves your pcv. That is gonna be the hose that you connect into the puke can. Then plumb the exit back into where the t meets the intake manifold. Also do not run a breather there as your ecu will not like you. you are gonna have to get couplers so that you can use the stock pcv hose without having to take the intake manifold off. I guess starting on Honda's and Miata's made me more of a thinker.

[Camfab]

Seems kind of nuts haulin butt with all those pedestrians around. You probably need a catch can, but you should do a cylinder leak down test as a matter of course. As mentioned above these cars will siphon a bunch of oil right into the intake from high vacuum conditions and rapid decel.

[Fatboy 18]

Started fitting things today, but I have run into a problem, the tube from the PCV Valve is 14 yrs old, the rubber has gone hard and each time I try to insert a new joiner fitting the tube is splitting. Looks like I am going to have to find a way of fitting a replacement tube without removing the intake manifold! Should be fun ........Meanwhile Gearbox came out today and am in the process of fitting a new flywheel and clutch. The clutch was down to the rivets!. Not bad for 68.000 miles

As for haulin ass, well I was on a race track short burst in 3rd

[Big Miata]

Well im happy you got your hands on the tubes and where able to see the cracks. Im sorry I couldn't post any pics the folks showed up two days too early. Either way when you drive it you will be astonished the amount of oil that goes in that little can. intake cans or overflow cans are a complete waste unless you have a ton of power and hoosiers. All these manufacturers of tanks that go off the oil filler area or anything off the valvecover are taking money from people. The whole catch can industry doesn't know how cars work.

[VIPER BAZ UK]

CHOP CHOP Mark...... been telling you for ages to fit that catch can.......

Also here to help or even if you just want to take a look at my set up..

[Fatboy 18]

Cheers Baz, and thanks for your help on the phone

[VIPER BAZ UK]

Anytime Mark.. happy to help...

[ACR_VP]

Just adding a bit to this thread as its relevant and might help some one in the future. I am just finishing up my build, but I put in a nice air/oil separator / catch can for the pcv to intake line... It's a nice unit from moroso, a lot of the baffled cans out there contain crap steel wool that I would be worried about coming off and getting sucked into the engine. This moroso unit has a steel mesh, kinda like chain mail, inside that isn't going anywhere. I wish it was larger, but it's size means it's easier to find a place to put it. I mounted it to the side of my jmb intake...

Here's the actual product on amazon


morosoPort_zpse9197e68.jpg
morosoInside_zps709fc54c.jpg
morosoMount_zpsac66fb8d.jpg

morosoClearance_zps849f950c.jpg
How much clearance it has with the invisible hood down :-)

[Fatboy 18]

Well fitted up the can the day before heading off to le mans, heres some pics

Air/ Oil seperator tank position


Bottom tube into catch can from PCV Valve.
Top tube from catch can into inlet manifold.


I went with the braided hose look, I need to get some hose finishers but these clamps will do for now.



So after a 900 mile round trip here is what came out of the tank!



It, seems to be working and I did not see any smoke this time on de cell

[Big Miata]

yep it is crazy how this isn't talked about a lot on the net. I know for a fact some of these engines should be going at least 150k miles of beating on them. With oil going into 1 and 6 this has to reduce engine life.

[Fatboy 18]

Bit more bling added today, looking much better Can is working really well, cant believe the amount of oil its catching!

- 6 Hose finishers for the top vacuum hose and -8 finishers for the lower hose











So that's the engine bay sorted for now, next job to get some spark plug wire separators to tidy up those wires. What do you guys use?