Mi16 Oil Issues

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Hey guys,

Lately my mi16 has been giving out low oil pressure (on the guage i might add...) it shows 7 bar when cold started, when hot it drops to as low as 1.5 - 2 bar at idle, but when reved will lift to around 4 bar at 3K,

 

When the engine was first built some 6 months ago (4500miles) it would give around 3 bar at idle lifting to 6 at revs, can anyone sugest what could be causing the low oil pressure? i hoping its not an isue with the bearings as the pressure has droped a few times under hard cornering but never for more than a split seccond, and never at high revs, i have been thinking of fitting a larger oil pump drive cog (from an S16 i belive) but i feel this would be more masking the problem as apposed to cureing it.

 

Also the engine seems to be using quite alot of oil, much more than i would have expected it to use, at a guess id say about 1L a month, it does seem to give out quite alot of vapor form the breathers but nothing obscene, the engine dosent leak or burn any oil so im rather stumped,

 

and finaly as mentioned above, under hard cornering the pressure does drop slightly, and one or twice scary low, iv currently have a PTS baffle in but was wondering if a S16 sump would also help, another idea i have been toying with is modding the sump its self so that the right hand side of the sump is raised up about an inch and angled so the oil naturaly flows towards the pump and cant flow back, has anyone done this bofore or seen anything similar??

 

And yes, there is plenty of oil in the car, i check it fairly regulaly

 

Cheers for any advice

Paul.

[James_R 3]

Put a proper gauge on it first and see what it's doing the std gauges are awful at the best of times, and maybe check the crank bolt is tight enough.

[Anthony 1,003]

It's not running rich and allowing fuel in the oil is it? Seen that before, and that will result in lower pressure (and increased wear)

 

Change the oil if you've not done so recently, and if that makes no difference, verify that there is definately an issue with a proper mechanical gauge as James says.

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

i have a wet guage at home, i just need to get a pipe mad up to fit it, am i correct in saying that the oil pressure switch just controls the dash warning light? if so what thread size is it and il use that as the guage feed

 

in answer to your question Anthony, it is/was running slightly rich, 11:1ish AFR at worst, iv now got it running at mid 14s on light throttle low 14s mid throttle and mid 13s heavy throttle.

 

Cheers

Paul.

[Jamal 2]

what thread size is it and il use that as the guage feed

 

M16x1,5 If I'm right.

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Right then, a little update with my on going problem, got a wet gauge fitted up and my oil pressure is fine, at idle it is around 4 bar, 6 at about 2500 and 7.5-8 at full chat, when first started and cold it is about 6 at idle and 8 when reved, this is with brand new 15w40 Mobil 1

 

oil starvation was down to lack of oil im guessing i have the wrong dip stick or something as on the dipstick it shows max, but when we drained the sump for the oil change, only about 3L came out.

 

Now then, my problem now is the massive Fu** off puddle of oil all over my drive and my engine bay for some reason there is lots (and i mean LOTS) of oil getting blasted out of my dipstick, BUT not out of my breathers :S

 

This only happened tonight after a 45 min drive that was spent on the rivet, between around 5000 and 8000 rpm, but when i got home i ran the car and even on idle i can see it spitting oil out of the top of the tube....

 

What im thinking about doing is just blocking up the dipstick tube with a nice big fat blob of weld! and then finally getting around to plumbing in a nice shiney catch tank??

 

All opinions, comments and advice very welcome!

Paul.

 

Pictures!

Edited February 1, 2010 by M_R_205

[mickie 3]

wow, you must be getting a massive amount of blow by to get oil spitting out of the dipstick tube like that

[sub205 5]

have you checked whether the breather hoses are free, no oil/water/ice mud inside?

and, of course, remove the filter from the head of the oilthingy ;-)

[Cameron 16]

Got to be a blocked breather somewhere! You shouldn't be getting any blow-by coming out of the dipstick, the breathers should vent all of the pressure.

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Well today i took all the breather hoses off, and cleared the "short trip mayo" out of them, they weren't to bad, they looked a little like a fat persons artery would, my biggest concern was the amount of s*it in the filler bottle/neck, so i took all the mesh out of the cap, and the bottle its self and poped it in the bin, i also fitted a filter to the vent on the cap,

 

i did notice that before i cleaned everything up, i could hardly feel any air coming from the filler cap breather, now i can feel the engine panting quite strongly against my hand, so all being well this should be it sorted

 

Finlay, i took it for a spin and there was no oil any where, so if the engine was breathing through the dipstick and it blew oil everywhere, why did the engine not just blow oil out of the breather? i assume the dipstick end sits much closer to the oil and so more is picked up??

 

Any Way, fingers crossed

Paul.

[blessed6383 0]

glad you seemed to have sorted it bud but bet thats a pain in the arse cleaning that mess up :-(