Oil Catch Tank Filling too quickly

23rd September 2012, 13:24

Hi all,

After eventually getting the VTS in French plates I've now started to do some mileage and am ironing out several problems.

I added an Oil Catch tank to stop the drips from the "Breather filter" and am now finding that it's filling up way too quickly - I've done two 4 hour round trips over the last few days (didn't really push the engine) and I've about 0.25l of oil in the tank. I've put it back in the engine but want to know if repositioning the catch tank (higher up) would help or if there's something else I can do???

The engine is a C2 VTS bottom end so no oil return hole. The Head is a Saxo VTS with both side holes blocked (EGR valve and usual oil return to block).The breather hole takes the pipe to the catch pipe but does run "down" towards the tank.

Given all the other holes are blocked and that there's no real external oil return to the block I guess that the pressure above the head is forcing the oil out through to the catch tank. I also note some seepage from the oil filler cap on top of the engine - again I am assuming this is pressure related. But short of drilling a hole in the block for the oil to return to can't see a way of avoiding this pressure build up.

Photo shows it in more details and possible new location for tank which would mean that the oil would have to run/be pushed "up" in order to get to the tank.

Help please

23rd September 2012, 13:50

fit JP4 covers, seems to have fixed the problem on a rally saxo I service for.

23rd September 2012, 13:58

Thanks Welshpug I hadn't thought of that - they seem to be around £45 + P&P so not too bad. I guess with the configuration being different and two breather outlets it may reduce the pressure build up. Do you reckon it would really work?

Any one else done this?

23rd September 2012, 14:07

it seems to be oil surge not pressure

23rd September 2012, 14:28

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nk...gine&_osacat=0 Plus did you get you`re rattling boot sorted(to the op?)

23rd September 2012, 15:10

I've had this problem on a mates car if you take the cam box off if I remember correctly there is a o-ring on the breather on the underside i think it either gets blocked or split I think the o-ring was like 50p buy 50 as they are common on these
Don't hold me too it as can't really remember but worth a look!
Hope this help
matt

23rd September 2012, 15:53

Cheers guys.

Stevo67: No the boot rattle is still there - now got no idea where it comes from - maybe even the lock mechanism - if the roads are smooth then no worries but countryside roads in France tend to be a little bumpy - for the moment I'm ignoring it and have increased the stereo volume - once I get this oil issue fixed I'll have another looksie. Thanks for the ebay link - the same seller has another at a buy it now of £45 and I've sent him a message asking for P&P to France.

Mat: "Cam Box" ... do you mean the rocker covers, if so I do recall that there was a o-ring or something like that on the underside of the rear one - It looked fine when I had the covers off a couple of weeks ago.

I'm thinking that the JP4 covers are an evolution of the originals and designed to go with the new engines. As I've now got a "newer" (C2 VTS) block I guess it makes sense to upgrade the covers if this solves the problem - worth a shot me thinks.

Thanks chaps.

23rd September 2012, 15:55

Yer I do mean rocker covers, same things haha, yer I think I was advised to replace it every time you had the rocker box off and for 50p it's well worth a shot

Matt

23rd September 2012, 16:19

OK cool - thx Mat. Think mines in pretty good shape from what I recall.

Looks like its a rocker cover change - seems the most logical option at the moment.

23rd September 2012, 22:25

I won the ebay item that Steve linked to (postage is £14.27 to me in France) - so will report back once it's arrived and fitted to let you know if it worked.

I assume that I need to link the Y split breather pipes to the 2 rocker cover outlets and 1 to the oil catch tank. Does the small 4th pipe go to the Carb as per the Saxo system?

23rd September 2012, 22:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by LVC

I won the ebay item that Steve linked to (postage is £14.27 to me in France) - so will report back once it's arrived and fitted to let you know if it worked.

I assume that I need to link the Y split breather pipes to the 2 rocker cover outlets and 1 to the oil catch tank. Does the small 4th pipe go to the Carb as per the Saxo system?

Yes the small outlet will go to the Throttle Body if using the standard set-up.

23rd September 2012, 22:59

Ta muchly Daz_Kez

23rd September 2012, 23:33

JP4 cam covers reduce oil surge and the covers also contain baffles to stop oil coming out so easily

23rd September 2012, 23:42

Thanks piggy123 that sounds great and just what I wanted to hear - hoping that it sorts my problem.

I was quite amazed at the amount of oil (250ml) that filled the catch tank in only a few hours. I checked the oil level (via the dash) on Friday and all was good - on Saturday I pushed the engine a bit a couple of times during the 4 hour round trip and checked the oil level cold today and found it'd dropped and the catch tank was about 1/2 full.

Logically I guess a JP4 bottom end, J4 head and JP4 cam covers should be an OK arrangement.

9th November 2012, 18:01

JP4 covers ordered and paid for the 23rd September and guess what....they just arrived, yep only took them 7 weeks to get across the channel to me

First set sent disapeared en route and the second got returned to seller and then UPS couried to me arriving today. Credit to the seller - top man and covered the courier charges himself (hot_hatching on ebay)

All fitted and in place this afternoon - now to test to see if it solves the problem - will let you know

11th November 2012, 12:40

scrap that didnt read it was a c2 bottom with no return

11th November 2012, 13:03

First test yesterday was very short as it involved a return to base to modify the E-tech strut brace which was getting hit by the top of the coil pack cover - on the JP4s this is higher than the old version, but at least there seems to be no oil leaks from the junctions I made to the catch tank, etc.

Longer test this week to "push" the motor a bit more to see if the covers do their job.

25th November 2012, 17:22

Right - in case anyone's interested or had a similar problem here's the verdict.

The JP4 covers do a much, much better job than the original ones. There's still some oil getting into the catch tank but nowhere near as much as before and I can live with it. Long autoroute runs with sustained high speed seems OK, it's when you boot it that the oil seems to "overflow" into the catch tank

One "stupid" issue I had was an annoying "rattle" following the fitment of the covers - I eventually tracked it down to the bonnet support strut/bar resting on the E-tech top mount bar. This in turn caused the bonnet to "pivot" on the bar causing a rattle noise at the hinge of the bonnet. The JP4 covers are taller than the old ones as as such this caused the bar to touch. Solution....take off the bonnet support bar and put it in the boot - simples (just chuffing annoying until I figured what it was, lol)

So in short - if you've got an oil "leak" issue with your oil cap of breather pipe - change the covers to JP4

Thank you for the advice that led to the solution