Oil fumes from the head cover

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petroscf
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by petroscf »

I read, in this link about the type of catch tank you use, "baffled to prevent oil vapors escaping out of the breather"
What does baffled mean?
(sorry for my poor English)


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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by davidvincent »

Basically the more expensive catch cans are typically baffled, it's not always necessary in my opinion, but if it is - the baffles are layers or partitions inside the can, with the inlet hose on one side and the outlet on the other, the intention is to catch all the oil particles from the fumes before it reaches the outlet side.

I know some people use the cheap cans, but add their own mesh or filter material inside - to save money.
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by petroscf »

Update:

At the moment the engine is opened (once again) and piston spings (rings is the right term perhaps?) are being replaced with "softer" ones - as mechanic says.
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by davidvincent »

petroscf wrote:Update:

At the moment the engine is opened (once again) and piston spings (rings is the right term perhaps?) are being replaced with "softer" ones - as mechanic says.
Sorry to hear that - how long before you get it back?
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by petroscf »

Guess that tomorrow or Monday the latest
Keep my fingers crossed that problem be solved :(
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by davidvincent »

Also, I forgot to send you the photos of my Oil Catch Can setup....

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9icM ... Uc3bEtBQzQ

Working well at the moment, no fumes in the cab or oil in the engine bay :)
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by petroscf »

So actually a hose takes the blow by fumes from the rocker cover vent hole and drives them to the catch can.
The other hole of the can goes into the K&N air filter box? Or am I mistaken?
Also -2nd question, I notice that the catch can is placed quite lower than the engine, right?
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by davidvincent »

petroscf wrote:So actually a hose takes the blow by fumes from the rocker cover vent hole and drives them to the catch can.
The other hole of the can goes into the K&N air filter box? Or am I mistaken?
Also -2nd question, I notice that the catch can is placed quite lower than the engine, right?
Yes to both of those questions :)

I positioned my catch can lower by choice, so there's little chance of any oil/crap that is caught in the fumes travelling uphill into the K&N, if anything makes it past the can, it should (in theory) drip back down the final hose, into the can.... but the nasty fumes still get sucked back through the carb, and burnt/expelled at the exhaust.
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by petroscf »

Which means that I should do something similar, but after the "too much blow by" issue is sorted:
1)Sort the blow by issue
2)Place the catch can lower (my engine has side draft webers, thus have to place the can much lower!)
3)Buy and fit some air filter boxes in order to drive the fumes in there...(at the moment the webers are totally open and free)
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by davidvincent »

You may not even need the catch can if the blowby is reduced to what it should be... I suppose you'll only know for sure once you have the engine back together.

Buy yeah I agree, if you still find the fumes to be an issue, then it would be a nice idea to vent them through one of the carbs if possible, someone must have done it already - perhaps there is a solution out there already!

Saying that, lots of people don't want more warm air being pushed to the carb, hence all the extra cold air feeds people build into their engines sometimes. But for a daily driver car - I think the warm air doesn't hurt, plus it's how bmw designed it originally. It's an interesting topic anyway, and I've enjoyed playing with my setup to get it how I like it.
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by petroscf »

:thumbsup
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by petroscf »

Piston rings replaced
Have done so far about 150 km after
Engine sounds sweeter, but will be able to speak about power and torque after 1000km because mechanic asked me to not pass 3500 rpm for a thousand km. In theory c/r should be better now.
About fumes now, still a bit can be smelled, and seen, but a big difference comparing to before.
Just a bit of oil (fumes that cool down into oil) at the two known points:
1) Small air filter (placed to the front at the moment, right behind left headlights, see above pics but area much cleaner now)
I guess this could be now solved by going the "factory way": Fitting air filters and connecting the hose from the rocker cover outlet to the filter boxes

and
2)still some oil drops can be seen all around the fuel pump-which probably means that mechanical fuel pump is no good for high c/r? Electric pump would solve the issue here?
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by Jeroen »

petroscf wrote:2)still some oil drops can be seen all around the fuel pump-which probably means that mechanical fuel pump is no good for high c/r? Electric pump would solve the issue here?
completely unrelated to C/R and should not be causing any issues unless uneven surface or cracked spacer for example. I hate workarounds while the solution is decent workmanship and parts :wink:
Regards/groeten, Jeroen
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by petroscf »

So you think it should probably be the bakelite part (spacer) ?
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Re: Oil fumes from the head cover

Post by Jeroen »

Could be, and I believe it should have a proper gasket on both sides. You can try to flatten the surface: sanding paper on a flat table and rub the spacer over it. Circular movement prevents long scratches that could also become uneven patches.
Regards/groeten, Jeroen
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