oil in air scoop.
oil in air scoop.
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Discussion

cerbieboy

Original Poster:

292 posts

236 months

Thursday 29th April 2010
quotequote all
bit panicky....noticed what appears to be oil dripping in the airscoop at front end. is this simply due to overfilling the tank and leaking out through the breather pipe, or is something more sinister possibly afoot?
thanks in advance of any help.

The_Edge

958 posts

235 months

Thursday 29th April 2010
quotequote all
Definitely engine oil?

I only ask because when I had a clutch cylinder leak, had what looked like oil (at a glance) manage to find its way to that sort of area...

Just wondered........

Gazzab

21,640 posts

311 months

Thursday 29th April 2010
quotequote all
Will be the breather.

crazycats

700 posts

278 months

Thursday 29th April 2010
quotequote all
I'd be surprised to find oil from the breather making it forward, could be wrong though.

Have you had it serviced recently?

The filter element is oil impregnated, might well be that dripping down. Whip the cover off and see how damp it is. smile

itiejim

1,822 posts

234 months

Thursday 29th April 2010
quotequote all
Gazzab said:
Will be the breather.
^^ What he said ^^

SimonKD

1,387 posts

260 months

Thursday 29th April 2010
quotequote all
crazycats said:
I'd be surprised to find oil from the breather making it forward, could be wrong though.

Have you had it serviced recently?

The filter element is oil impregnated, might well be that dripping down. Whip the cover off and see how damp it is. smile
^^What he said^^

crazycats

700 posts

278 months

Thursday 29th April 2010
quotequote all
itiejim said:
Gazzab said:
Will be the breather.
^^ What he said ^^
Gents, not trying to be obstructive here, just a alternative point of view smile

I find it hard to believe that oil mist can travel through the airboxes, down the hoses, through the filter while the engine is running seeing as air is rushing through, at xx litres a second. Even at tickover.

Gazzab

21,640 posts

311 months

Thursday 29th April 2010
quotequote all
I understand that it is not uncommon for breather oil to make it to the nose of the car.

itiejim

1,822 posts

234 months

Thursday 29th April 2010
quotequote all
It wouldn't be the first time I'd heard of it - see the below copied from a recent thread on fitting an external oil catch tank:

"I had problems with the oil dripping out of the front of the air intake of my 4.2 after a good thrashing, and had discussed this on previous threads on here at the time. Thanks to all those who responded to those posts - helped me to make up my mind to get a custom fabrication done.

I solved this by getting a custom made oil catch tank built, which is plumbed in to recirculate the oil. Joo (ex TCS) built this for me with the aide of a local race car fabricator. We had to modify the design to include some "baffles" out of wire wool or similar, as just the change in diametre from tubing to catch tank was insufficient to slow the oil mist down enough - resulting in oil still going into the air box."

If oil is dripping out of the air filter then it is far, far too wet.

schimg

1,923 posts

282 months

Friday 30th April 2010
quotequote all
I know that the air scoop thing in front of my air filter housing was covered in oily crud when I first got my cerb (12 months ago) I cleaned it all off ...then noticed a slight covering again a few weeks later...now it had had a new air filter...which appeared really damp with oil...so this might have been the case...

But the drivers side airbox had a fair bit of oily crud in it too....so might be a combination of the two...hence my thread on oil catch tanks...

morebeanz

3,283 posts

265 months

Friday 30th April 2010
quotequote all
If you look at the angle of the air pipes, and given enough time, oil from the breather could easily roll down to the front filter.

I agree that you wouldn't expect it with the engine running, but unless you clean the pipes regularly, there is plenty of opportunity for it to roll downhill when off.

Quentin1

468 posts

273 months

Friday 30th April 2010
quotequote all
Install a catch tank...

Regards,
Björn.

southendpier

6,208 posts

258 months

Friday 30th April 2010
quotequote all
Careful it might be a cracked oil cooler that sits at the front near side of the scoop - i had this, pain of a job too!

Allandwf

1,773 posts

224 months

Friday 30th April 2010
quotequote all
Mine used to leak from the breather, make it's way down the F1 panel (panel above the steering rack,) and drip out from the front of the car just in front of the offside front wheel. I would check that first before panicking.

cerbieboy

Original Poster:

292 posts

236 months

Friday 30th April 2010
quotequote all
ok thanks guys

YKB

824 posts

240 months

Friday 30th April 2010
quotequote all
I note the man with the question has an S6. So do I and mine has the same issue.

Extra 300 Driver

5,282 posts

275 months

Saturday 1st May 2010
quotequote all
If its a standard air filter system they are meant to be coated in oil, like K&N filters. When the weather gets warmer this oil thins and can sometimes find its way out, nothing to worry about.

HTH

kwosimodo

56 posts

219 months

Sunday 2nd May 2010
quotequote all
Ive got the same, its from the breather. doesnt cause any harm unles your run out of oil!

mikeinsheffield

1,038 posts

214 months

Tuesday 4th May 2010
quotequote all
itiejim said:
It wouldn't be the first time I'd heard of it - see the below copied from a recent thread on fitting an external oil catch tank:

"I had problems with the oil dripping out of the front of the air intake of my 4.2 after a good thrashing, and had discussed this on previous threads on here at the time. Thanks to all those who responded to those posts - helped me to make up my mind to get a custom fabrication done.

I solved this by getting a custom made oil catch tank built, which is plumbed in to recirculate the oil. Joo (ex TCS) built this for me with the aide of a local race car fabricator. We had to modify the design to include some "baffles" out of wire wool or similar, as just the change in diametre from tubing to catch tank was insufficient to slow the oil mist down enough - resulting in oil still going into the air box."

If oil is dripping out of the air filter then it is far, far too wet.
That'll be me, then.

Custom catch tank done the trick now it has "baffle" material in it - now done a couple thousand miles with the catch tank, including some "spirited" driving and a track day - no problems with the breather chucking oil into the air intake, which then dribbles down the hose and leaks out of the air intake.

Mine is a 4.2 AJP - I note from OP post that his is a speed 6 engine - so I'm not sure what the breather situation is on that engine. Lot's of sage advice on the AJP engine seems to think that as it's a race developed engine there is a lot of oil mist that gets "breathed" out and that engines that get a good pasting (i.e. spending time at high revs) it may show up..... (obviously the rest of you are all pootling about wink )

Here's how much oil used to come out - this is waiting for the ferry back to the UK after Le Mans last year, after maybe 3 - 4 hours of cross country driving:



Here's my install:






Gazzab

21,640 posts

311 months

Saturday 29th May 2010
quotequote all
Did you sort out the problem?