Battery draining problem – Superlight R

[Nick Bassett]

On 22/05/2024 at 14:08, Nick Bassett said:

On the way home on Sunday there might a slight metallic rattle - I stopped all seemed OK. Noise seemed to go away... coming out of Rhayader there was another funny noise, an acrid smell and then smoke coming out of the bonnet louvres. Quickly stopped and got out - oil being thrown out of the bellhousing. Called the RAC just after noon - a recovery truck finally showed up at 9pm... 🤬.

Car now at home - it'll be an engine out job for sure - gawd knows what I'll find. 😟

So to close the loop on this for anyone who's interested... the problem last month was caused by the DS gold pump pulley coming loose meaning the pump was no longer scavenging anymore. The bottom of the engine filled with oil and pushed out the crank seal.

So engine & gearbox out (again) and new seal fitted (thanks DVA), although not without a bit of persuasion. Thankfully the new clutch plate fitted just over 12 months ago was uncontaminated, so could be reused. DS pulley needed a bit of fettling, but thankfully having a son who works at a F1 gearbox manufacturer was very convenient and he sorted that out for me! Titan don't stock them anymore but wanted a considerable sum to machine one for me.

With the assistance of my good friend Simon, we spent this weekend putting it all back together again and started for the first time. Engine sounds great as does the DS pump. Great oil pressure. Once the airlock in the cooling system was removed, all worked very well. Even took the opportunity to fit the later, redesigned coolant rail that now allows me to remove primary #4 without having to drain the cooling system & original coolant rail first! 

Next step is to road test the car, so fingers crossed. Weather looks good this week, so that's helpful. If all goes well I might be able to attend Wilton Wake Up this coming Sunday. 🤞

Edited June 17 by Nick Bassett

[DanRo]

Great news Nick. Thanks for updating. 

[anthonym]

any chance this is a parasitic drain? Possible culprit being alternator given master is "off". 

same age K car here, had that issue.

Edited July 6 by anthonym