X-Flow breathing - wet sump

[John]

Can some please explain the best way to arrange engine breathers to a catch tank for a wet sumped X-Flow?

 

I have a alloy elbow in the block side where the flame trap used to go above the petrol pump and a Fiesta filler cap both piped to a catch tank about level with the top of the bell housing. However, it fills up within a few minutes of running. Am I doing something wrong?

 

John

[Roger King]

John,

 

Your's is a standard problem and is caused by the fact that the block breather is positioned above the rotating camshaft which throws oil out. Of course, if your engine is also knackered and has a breathing problem this will make the situation even worse.

 

Firstly, be certain that you are not running with too much oil in the sump; it is often necessary to run nearer to the minimum mark than the maximum.

 

The original breather canister is preferable to the simple elbow that you appear to have because it is baffled inside, but you must make sure that the non-return valve is removed. Also, make sure that the end of the hose (assuming that you are now using an original canister) is cut with a 45 degree end (to stop it sitting on the bottom and being blocked).

 

Make sure that the hose from the block breather runs upwards as high as possible before falling to the catch tank. This gets gravity on your side.

 

You can machine the rocker cover to take an elbow and then feed the block breather to this. You will then need another elbow from the rear of the rocker cover to take a hose to the catch tank. This will often keep the oil in the engine, even though it is really covering the problem up rather than providing a fundamental cure.

[John]

Cheers Roger. This all makes sense. I have however rechecked the compression and found slight problems (No 1 220 psi and other 3 190 psi). In an attempt to get by, I routed the filler cap breather to the block brather and T 'd into this pipe. No benefit was gained. I then plugged up the block breather and channelled the filler breather to the dipstick pipe just to try and get the oil back into the sump (mainly out of desparation) but the oil still found its way out of the filler cap neck.

 

I'll give your method a try and see what happens. if no joy, I presume broken rings? ...although engine sounds and runs sweetly.

 

Regards,

 

John

[John]

Cheers Roger. This all makes sense. I have however rechecked the compression and found slight problems (No 1 220 psi and other 3 190 psi). In an attempt to get by, I routed the filler cap breather to the block brather and T 'd into this pipe. No benefit was gained. I then plugged up the block breather and channelled the filler breather to the dipstick pipe just to try and get the oil back into the sump (mainly out of desparation) but the oil still found its way out of the filler cap neck.

 

I'll give your method a try and see what happens. if no joy, I presume broken rings? ...although engine sounds and runs sweetly.

 

Regards,

 

John

[Roger Sunderland]

I took Roger King's advice re the block breather to the rocker cover and another pipe to the overflow bottle. It has worked a treat, no oil dumps with the oil at full on the dipstick. I also moved my bottle to where the windscreen washer bottle was and fed a breather under the car to prevent breathing in R40 fumes at the lights.

[Roger King]

Dear Mr Peril,

 

Why would you want to avoid breathing in R40 fumes? There are people who pay money for that sort of thing.