Oil Coming From Filter Cone?!?!

[AS_BO]

I've picked up a Saxo VTR with the silver top engine in and i'm losing oil through the intake system. It's actually dripping out from underneath, on top of the gearbox and it's a fair amount.

Is this just because the breather from the rocker cover is into the intake hard pipe with no catch can?

[greyjasper51]

Yeah or a seperate filter... Seems like its pulling alot over... Could be more serious but i doubt it...

[AS_BO]

Originally Posted by greyjasper51

Yeah or a seperate filter... Seems like its pulling alot over... Could be more serious but i doubt it...

Really?! How would you identify if what it's losing is "alot"? And how serious are we talking? All i know is that it's leaving black patches wherever it's parked right now, checked the level this morning after owning from monday and it's just off maximum so still fine.

Also, it pulls alright but still slightly worrying given the amount of backpressure it must be producing to push that amount back through.

Any light on it would be awesome as i'm tinkering tomorrow.

[Chief]

Sounds like something more serious. Wouldn't push that much through the filter. A bit yes, but not to the point where its leaving black marks in the drive.

[jones91]

Any blue smoke come out the exhaust under acceleration?

Sounds like the engines burning oil, coming out the breather and eventually coming out the air filter

[AS_BO]

Niothing out of the exhaust, I looked at it at the weekend it's running spot on with no smoke at all, both on cold start and running at temperature. I'll monitor the level and post my findings on thursday and friday.

[Rossp]

Oil in the filter is because the engine is breathing (normal). What sounds abnormal is the quantity - dripping onto your driveway it shouldn't be. So the engine is breathing harder than it should be.

"Breathing" is where exhaust gasses pass the piston rings into the crankcase (happens in all engines, even brand new ones). If your rings are shot, this is exasperated and "heavy breathing" occurs, dragging more oil into the breather system than normal. In a closed system (the standard inlet system) this is generally trapped in the intake and recirculated into the combustion chamber and burnt (although too much breathing here will reduce performance, induce pinking etc so it's still a bad thing). When you've an open cone filter, it will just drip/flow to the lowest point on your intake system - often the lower edge of a cone filter.

[blackie_2k5]

From experience

The 8v engines do seen to breathe a lot, a especially the silver top 90bhp ones

I've seen endless amount of R'a with the older style dipstick tied down lol

It sounds excessive but just clean the pipes and fit a catch tank, not a restrictive one though as it'll make matters worae

[AS_BO]

Ok thanks guys for the responses, I'll do a compression test to find out whether i'm getting excessive blow past and post the results. However, does anyone know what sort of pressure I should be reading for the silver top? Also, rather than fitting a catch can i'm thinkingo f getting rid of the intake system anyway, it's one of those £30 jobbies of ebay and it's sucking hot air directly from above the exhaust manifold so heat soak is killing the midrange.

How does a standard phase 2 airbox with a panel filter normally run? Or any other alternatives, i'm open to suggestions. If I fit a standard air box would you still recommend fitting the catch can anyway to eliminate the recirc?

[jones91]

It's more important to get an even compression across all 4 cylinders, but you should be getting about 180-190ish psi on each cylinder

As far as I'm concerned, a panel filter in a standard air box is as good as any aftermarket filter on the market

And it might be a good idea to fit a catch tank, doesn't have to be fancy, my old one used to be a 500ml bottle of water before I made it a catch tank lol, just make sure you put a slit in it so the air can escape