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Oil Catch Tank Advice


steve_wilson

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Hello everyone :)

 

Hopefully a simple question... but one I haven't found an answer to yet!

 

I'm a little put off driving my 2B at the moment as after a few minutes I soon stink of fumes, which then means a shower and a change of clothes when I get back in. I realise this is all part of the experience, but I'd like to make it something I can go to and from work in this year.

 

As it stands I have a cam cover breather with a little mesh filter exhausting the oil vapour fumes into the engine bay - which I suspect is the main cause of the smelliness.

 

 

So I'm looking at either fitting an oil catch tank, routing the oil vapours back into the turbo inlet or just extending the current filter and hose to under the car somewhere?

 

Why do people fit oil catch tanks over burning the oil vapour or just exhausting the fumes under the car somewhere?

 

Any advice welcome!

 

Thanks,

Steve

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i have a catch tank connected to the crank breather and a pipe from the cam cover vented under the car but then the zetec cam cover breather is baffled

i would be a bit careful of piping it back into the turbo

Edited by tractor
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So I'm looking at either fitting an oil catch tank, routing the oil vapours back into the turbo inlet or just extending the current filter and hose to under the car somewhere?

 

Why do people fit oil catch tanks over burning the oil vapour or just exhausting the fumes under the car somewhere?

 

I fitted a catch tank to mine purely because, having moved to throttle bodies, it's not so easy to vent the crank breather into any plenum. I figured as much as I could plumb it into the filter backplate, I could route it down to a small tank with a sight glass/inspection tube so I could at least notice if/when it was venting excessively through the crankcase.

 

If you're burning that much oil it strikes me that you have a more important issue with your engine than where you're throwing the blowby gasses to! I mean, if it's really that bad/smelly?

 

The "green"/"environmentally friendly" thing to do would be to circulate it back into the engine... but... well... yeah, you get the idea ;)

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I rebuilt the engine and has only had about 300 miles of use since then, so it shouldn't (and as far as I know isn't) using oil.

 

sounds like the best option is to just run a pipe out under the car then?

 

 

Just to clarify, these oil vapours may not be the cause of the smelliness, but it's just the cheapest, easiest and in my opinion most likely cause.

 

Thanks,

Steve

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I would do that for now then, even if it's just a temporary measure to check if it's truly the cause of the problem. Your passenger compartment should be sealed off from the engine bay so to be honest, it shouldn't make any difference, but routing a tube down low is at least a quick, cheap alternative to see if it fixes the issue. If your bulkhead is full of holes and gaps, or you've got a heater that sucks in air from under the bonnet, or no gearstick/handbrake gaiter, etc etc then I'd suggest that's probably more likely to be the cause of your problem ;) !

Edited by brumster
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I have an oil catch can on my redtop engine. The pipe runs from the cam cover into the side of the can and there is a mesh breather fitted to an outlet on the top. Originally the pipes were the other way round but I would get oil vapour in the engine bay making everything nasty and greasy so I swapped the pipes round and put a larger breather on. This cured the problem. There is an outlet on the bottom which I blocked up with a piece of hose and a bolt with a jubilee clip. I just periodically check and drain anything collected in it. You don't really want to be piping anything collected back in to the engine as it will contain water that has been evaporated off as well as oil.

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I wonder if it is not the crankcase venting causing your smelliness (or only part of). I was over fueling quite a bit and would arrive at work with quite a smell on my coat etc. Because of the air currents and a side exhaust the exhaust fumes were come back into the cockpit area or at least enough to get my right shoulder area.

 

I think my carb is a bit knackered and am looking to change to some bike carbs (currently sitting on the kitchen cupboard) but i was definitely over fueling, probably not helped by a bent valve on one cylinder.

 

If it's a relatively recent overhaul i am assuming the valve stem seals were replaced?

 

I'd check your fuel mixture and look for any blue smoke from the exhaust.

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It's a Z20LET (newer turbo'd version of the red top). Valve stem seals were all replaced for new.

Also the exhaust is on the passenger side - still could be a contributing factor though.

 

I've recently had it mapped so should be spot on, I still have my wideband lambda sensor and gauge to install though. So I won't rule out overfuelling!

 

I'll try the above and see how I get on.

 

Thanks

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I had one on the old pinto. Near the bulkhead. It was so stinky I dropped it down within a week, through the engine without filters etc. Problem cured. I have one in the same place now with the zetec and no issues.

But I have no vents in the bonnet now, whereas before I had many.

Try venting via a simple pipe to ground and see

Edited by Andi
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