Paul White Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Hooray, summer is coming - charge the battery and start the 7 Oh no! the oil pressure is low, very very low I'll remove the sump and have a look! Strange! the foam sump baffle (fine in July when the engine was built) seems to have dissolved into a sludgey mess in the bottom of the sump over the winter and blocked the pick-up pipe Weird or not so weird Can anyone shed any light on this? Paul. Multi-coloured Beaulieu 1.8(now 2.0), see wraps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelico Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 It has happened before. Myles should be along in a minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fathead Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Happened to me, took the best part of two months (or less!) to dissolve, HGF and an engine rebuild the result . Personally i wouldn't risk fitting a new one. Tom The most southerly uk blatter 😬Yellow 1.6 Supersport 😬 Photos here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355GTS Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 As said Myles had this, I think it was Coolant in the Oil which dissolved it ☹️ Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irrotational Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 search on here for foam, a lot of people think it is the devil, a lot of people have run it for 20k plus miles and been fine (changing it every 12k) myself included. I tok it out as i didnt want the risk... no problems yet but i havent been out on track yet! --- this is a local sig for local people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul White Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 Is there an alternative? mesh for instance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul White Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 Why though? The previous one was fine in 4 years and 17k miles!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelico Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Paul, Some have found using a Hellier baffle plate as an alternative. Lots in the archives. Funnily enough I have one in For Sale ! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul White Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 I forgot to mention this is an 8v vauxhall engine - if that makes any difference? Peter - why isn't it in your sump? A credible answer may insure a sale! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 It has happened before. Myles should be along in a minute You rang Mine went in roughly 70 miles after assembling a new engine - noticed odd oil pressure, but drove it for a further hundred or two before giving up and pulling it apart. Had to replace the big-end bearings. I was using the cheapest available pure mineral oil to run the engine in. There was a suspicion that maybe some coolant might have entered the mix through a loose liner - never really bottomed that one out. Oily thought not/unlikely FWIW I subsequently rebuilt without foam - and 'invested' in the Hellier baffle. My views on this are recorded elsewhere in Techtalk - but let's keep it polite and just say that my experience is that I don't believe that it does what it aimed to do and I personally cannot recommend it. I can and have induced OP drops on the road in situations that the Hellier baffle should prevent. When I change the oil for the beginning of this years driving (OK - shouldn't have left the engine sitting with old oil over the winter, but had no choice) I will try the Oily gasket modification - two well-aimed holes to allow oil to return to the sump rather than pool on the shelf that the gasket makes in the sump on the nearside. Mine is a 'k' - not sure if there is a necessary/suitable gasket mod for an 8v VX - doesn't really matter, fact is that your foam can dissolve and kill your engine 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 Alcester Racing 7s Equipe™ 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Edited by - Myles on 13 Mar 2007 19:21:17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irrotational Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 bit worried you managed to get OP drops on the road, with or without helier baffle!! what have you done to fix it? or is the implied answer nothing, and you're going to do the gasket mod? I have done that so waiting to see what happens at abingdon next friday... --- this is a local sig for local people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul White Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 Interesting Myles - I had been running-it-in on Mineral oil and just changed it for a high performance oil when it was last running. However, I wouldn't have noticed the guage as it has always read very low even from new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Irrotianal - I drop OP to 2-bar on the first serious left-hander - which is maybe and unfair test of the baffle - but I've seen it drop on RHers including roundabouts when 'going for it'. Also manage to get the OP dropping on track. It's not the end of the world - 2bar is still 2bar. In the end, I decided to more or less ignore it - I don't spend *that* much time on track. 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 Alcester Racing 7s Equipe™ 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Day Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Myles When my K was wet sumped I removed the foam (my foam sat in the sump & was not sandwiched between the baffle plate & oil rail) & fitted a Hellier baffle. Not a lot of difference with OP change to be honest. So dropped the sump again, drilled the holes in the sump gasket & modified the oil pick-up by putting 3 dents around the periphery in between the 3 blips. The blips are supposed to keep the pick-up from touching the bottom of the sump & the dents just increase the flow rate into the pick-up. It does work & stopped the OP gauge from waving at me. When the engine was dismantled one big end bearing showed signs of mild damage & that was after 6 years of track days, road use etc., some 19,000 miles. Foam was removed & Hellier baffle used for 1 of those years. Mick Edited by - Mick Day on 14 Mar 2007 10:45:22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I reply to every thread Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 A change in oil type (or indeed brand) whilst leaving the foam in place seems to be one consistant in foam baffle problems. Mine was fine for two years, changed from Semi synthetic to full synthetic and it turned into uncooked egg noodles. 😶🌫️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old captain slow Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 We ditched the foam in our 7s with no apparent ill efects except for one observation. We got fatigue cracking in the baffle plate on one car that may have been the result of vibration that had hitherto been damped by the foam that the baffle plate is meant to hold in place. Haven't checked to see if it's happened again. C7 CDW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unclefester Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Has anyone tried that foamed metal stuff that's available? That shouldn't disintegrate with anything the oil is likely to do.....but would it do the job otherwise? I don't know. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds..ooooh hooo hooo!!... 😬 😬Abbey Road Time-Machine *eek* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stationary M25 Traveller Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 All this talk of foam migrating around the engine is particularly scary for a Caterham newbie !! Fortunately, CC replaced mine when they serviced the car before I collected it. But - should it be replaced annually for peace of mind ? ****************** And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking... And racing around to come up behind you again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Day Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 We got fatigue cracking in the baffle plate on one car . My car is a 1994 K series car & the handbook said that the baffle plate should be replaced every 12,000 miles "as they can fracture". However there is no mention of the sump foam in the 1994 handbook. Incidentaly I had to replace the baffle plate as it did start to crack a few years back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 The blips are supposed to keep the pick-up from touching the bottom of the sump & the dents just increase the flow rate into the pick-up. It does work & stopped the OP gauge from waving at me. My original engine was ex-race and already had this kind of mod - assuming it's not factory-fit these days. 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 Alcester Racing 7s Equipe™ 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now