Oil, oil, Xflow bleeding oil...

[Quinten]

Seems like my Xflow knows it is running on borrowed time as today I discovered that my oil catch tank had burst it's sighting tube leaving me to clean up the mess. It's not the first time of course, but I really want it to be the last time... at least until winter.

Examine exhibit a) a crude drawing

1) When I bought the car in 2014, the crankcase breather was plumbed into an old 1L oil bottle which was jammed between the frame and skin. The oil cap was vented, although it was always being pushed out, only to be held in by the faintest of resistance of the funnel.

2) Last year I bought an oil catch tank and with a T-piece and a oil cap with an hose connection hooked it up as shown. I figured that most of the oil expelled by the engine would end up remaining in the engine, with only the vapour ending up in the catch tank.

Unfortunately, after one day driving, I came back to find my oil cap missing... it had popped off and melted on the exhaust manifold

After some advice on the forums I replaced the cap with a new one and removed the internal stuffing, and as I didn't really want to clean the engine bay again, I took no prisoners and created a 'muselet' to keep the cap on the engine

This seemed to have worked ok-ish, although I did have to clean the area around the catch tank a few times, mostly because it is a crap cheap chinese bottle.

3) If I want to deal with it quick and cheap, then this would be it. Back goes the old vented oil cap, and instead of putting the crankcase breather into an old oil canister, it would go into the crap catch tank.

4) If I wanted to spend a little more, I would replace the catch tank with one that could take both oil hoses, and still have a breather filter on top. The only thing I am not sure about is why this would be any better than what I currently have (other than taking out the T piece)

If you're still with me after reading the above, then maybe you have some better advice?

[Thrustyjust]

The block breather , I take it is a billet alloy job or do you use the original canister on the side of the block above where the fuel pump is. I take it you are using an electric fuel pump?

[Pistol Pete]

Standard breather mod for xflows is:

Crank breather roued into one end of rocker cover.

Breather off other and if the to rocker cover into the catch tank.

Any oil will get caught into the rocker cover and get drained back into the sump.

[Quinten]

Block breather? The fuel pump sits in the 'boot', and yes, that is an electric pump. Not sure I'm understanding you though?

The crankcase breather is just a tube sticking out of the engine. The oil cap is just a plastic jobbie (as shown in the photos). But I have no idea what the block breather is...

[Quinten]

Standard breather mod for xflows is:

Crank breather roued into one end of rocker cover.

Breather off other and if the to rocker cover into the catch tank.

Any oil will get caught into the rocker cover and get drained back into the sump.

Yes, Burtons website says so too, but I do not have a rocker cover with a hose tail on it. And I'm not jumping at the idea of replacing the cover with a new one especially when I am looking at replacing the whole engine at the end of this year. It's an 'investment' of which I would see no return.

[Thrustyjust]

This is the block breather

 

http://www.burtonpower.com/breather-elbow-23-5mm-ford-x-flow-691m-711m-ohv-kent-fp280a.html

 

If you use one of these and you have a pump blanking plate , you must use a baffled pump blank like this

 

http://www.burtonpower.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=crossflow+blanking+plate

 

If you just use a blank, the crank physically throws the oil up the breather and fills the tank. If you fit this, then you dont need a rocker cover breather and fit the standard cap back on it . I was running 140 bhp on my crossflow and the tank would hardly ever need to be emptied.

[Thrustyjust]

If you do want to run a breather from the rocker, then just drill the back of the cover near the gearbox end and get a 1/2 steel spigot welded in and feed to the tank there and replace the cap with a standard. Looks neater too. Cost a tenner and a cork gasket.

[Quinten]

This is the block breather

 

http://www.burtonpower.com/breather-elbow-23-5mm-ford-x-flow-691m-711m-ohv-kent-fp280a.html

 

If you use one of these and you have a pump blanking plate , you must use a baffled pump blank like this

 

http://www.burtonpower.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=crossflow+blanking+plate

 

If you just use a blank, the crank physically throws the oil up the breather and fills the tank. If you fit this, then you dont need a rocker cover breather and fit the standard cap back on it . I was running 140 bhp on my crossflow and the tank would hardly ever need to be emptied.

I was just looking on Burtons site at that breather elbow, and I have nothing like that fitted. My crankcase breather is just a hose tail sticking upward from the engine?!?

 

 

If you do want to run a breather from the rocker, then just drill the back of the cover near the gearbox end and get a 1/2 steel spigot welded in and feed to the tank there and replace the cap with a standard. Looks neater too. Cost a tenner and a cork gasket.

It will certainly look neater, but 'just get it welded in' is not as easy as it sounds when 1) I can't weld, and 2) I would have to remove the rocker cover, which inevitably in my case would lead to 3) more leakage around the gasket. It may well be a tenner in parts, but to me it is just a can of worms.

[Thrustyjust]

You might have one of these with a vacuum poppet valve in it, which has hopefully been removed.

 

http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=723215

 

Welding is easy for people who can weld. So, do the prep work, by drilling and find a small piece of steel pipe  and find a local welders and slip him a tenner for mig welding it in. Rocker cover is 4 screws , so very simple to remove. 

[B.RAD]

Sorry to say it Q but you're fighting a losing battle here - once they start breathing that heavily it's a sign the engine needs a refresh. I tried every iteration you've mentioned here plus a few more to stop my old crossflow breathing oil out but nothing worked, there was always an oily consequence somewhere in the chain. My fresh engine didn't breathe a drop of oil.

Did you manage to get hold of a project engine to rebuild?

[Quinten]

Nope, none of that either. Can't find a great picture, but this

where it shows the black rubber tube (with the text Inner Hole - Oil Drain) I do not have the black rubber tube, but a metal hose tail and nothing else. There is a cover underneath it (on the picture above this is not present), which is what I presume you refer to as the blanking plate. I have no idea if my blanking plate has the lip or not.

[Quinten]

Sorry to say it Q but you're fighting a losing battle here - once they start breathing that heavily it's a sign the engine needs a refresh. I tried every iteration you've mentioned here plus a few more to stop my old crossflow breathing oil out but nothing worked, there was always an oily consequence somewhere in the chain. My fresh engine didn't breathe a drop of oil.

Did you manage to get hold of a project engine to rebuild?

Yeah, I know it is a losing battle, I'm just trying to get past the summer... I've been offered a Zetec, but it needs additional parts, which I hope to be able to spend money on, instead of ploughing it into the Xflow :/

[Thrustyjust]

I would be taking the plate from under it to see if it has the deflection plate on it. It makes a massive difference to oil tank filling !! As for if the engine is breather heavy, then a compression check would prove it or not. 

[B.RAD]

I have a blanking plate with the deflector that you can have FOC Q. Just get one of the proper alloy elbow connectors and try option 3.

[Quinten]

Cheers mate, much appreciated.  What I'll do tonight, is stick a long pin into the crankcase breather and see if it is blocked by a deflector or not.  Should work no?

 

Also, the elbow...  how does it connect to the crankcase breather?  I'm sure my hose tail is only 12mm in diameter or so, so I can not see how the 23.5mm of the elbow would hold?  Or does the elbow effectively replaces the hose tail on my crank case?  Does that mean I should be able to pull the current hose tail out?  It certainly didnt look like it could, but then again, I wasnt looking to pull it out either so may have missed the obvious.