dhutch Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 I have a CVH thats currently loosing oil from all over the place! Ive not had the car long, and on one of the first drives this year (about third proper drive ever) i blow the dipstick out at 65 on the a50 depositing a pint of oil down the side of the car before i started geting oil spray on the windscreen. Error. But was nearly home, so cable tied the loose fitting dipstick in and carried on. Under inspection the breather from the rocker cover was clearly blocked and i could bearly blow down it, so i replaced it as was with 3/4inch heater hose (sorry, no oil hose to hand) along the same run. Forwards over the carbs, round underneath, and out to atmospher 2inchs behind the drivers footwell bulkhead. (total run 1m 10) Its much better now, but im still geting weaping from the filler cam, dipstick, and rockercover gasket. Setup is otherwise standard, in so much as the crackcase vents to the rockercover (cast alloy ford motorsports type) which then vents to atmospher. Reading other threads people recomend venting the crankcase seperatly (hose runing upto top of engine bay first, then out) and plugging the rocker cover. - Is there anything i should look out for before doing this? Also, if i would then like to run the breather through a catch tank, does anyone have any suggestions for a suitable catch tank (cost effective, but smarter than a bean can with a hole in it) Cheers, Daniel. *Apologies for spelling in title, ran out of characters! Quote
wolfheze Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Had the same problem with a cvh in an XR3i many years ago, seem to remember it was caused by the crankcase being pressurised due to worn out bores/piston rings. Quote
dhutch Posted March 16, 2009 Author Posted March 16, 2009 Had the same problem with a cvh in an XR3i many years ago, seem to remember it was caused by the crankcase being pressurised due to worn out bores/piston rings. Ahhh!!! You see thats what you dont say! Quote
dhutch Posted March 17, 2009 Author Posted March 17, 2009 But no, i guess ulitmatle is a case of try it and see what happens i guess. - Will also put a new o-ring on the dipstick tonight if i can find one as that should at lease make it seal better and contain that area of loss. Apprently the rubber rockercover seals (ebay) are far better than the standard cork ones as well. Daniel Quote
Nick A Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 This was common on a standard CVH engine there is a breather down the rear of the block at the lower end of the pipe that goes to the rocker cover(carb side), you need to be carefull when cleaning this as bits can fall into sump causing other problems (blocked or restricted oil pick up) There is also a wire mesh built into the inside of the rocker cover this must be clear also (standard cover can't remember if the motorspot one is the same ?) It was also very common for rocker cover gaskets to need replacing, the filler caps can also be very loose I would make sure these are clear before condeming the engine nick Quote
dhutch Posted March 17, 2009 Author Posted March 17, 2009 Yeah, well im not planning to condem the enigne anytime soon (it works, i have no money). - I will carefull removed the pipe between the crankcase and rockercover and inspect/clean that. - And have the rocker cover off to inspect how that breathes. As well as get a new rockercover gasket. Daniel Quote
Dave Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 Are you sure you have not put toooo much oil in it With a modded the dipstick may not be correct Dave Quote
dhutch Posted March 18, 2009 Author Posted March 18, 2009 Well as far as i know all to do with the oil leval is standard. - Sump is unmoddified, dipstick and tube seam standard, and its currently on the nub of 'low'. Im going to have to have a really good luck at it over easter if nothing happens easly but i had the breather hose from the crankshaft off the rocker cover and it seams to be breathing through that ok. Trace mist at tickover, less above that. - Connecting it all up and placing my hand over the rockercover in place of the filler cap cant feel any detectable built up of presure. Daniel Quote
B16CVH Posted March 20, 2009 Posted March 20, 2009 Depending on the year of the engine, the dipstick tube and stick differ. The early CVH had shorter tubes, if you have a longer later tube with an early dipstick you will have about 8 litres of oil in it! Quote
dhutch Posted March 20, 2009 Author Posted March 20, 2009 Interesting to know. I dont think i have 8liters of oil in it... - Keep meaning to get a rood reading of the engine serial number, but its not very clear and i havnt manage that yet. Dipstick had a yellow hand on it.... (can measure the length, if you have a figure to compair it with) Daniel Quote
Crazy Eddie Posted March 21, 2009 Posted March 21, 2009 Oil and filter change for the sake of it IMHO. New filter will be good and you will know exactly how much oil you put in it. Plus you can look at dipstick to see what it reads Quote
dhutch Posted March 21, 2009 Author Posted March 21, 2009 Oil and filter change for the sake of it IMHO. New filter will be good and you will know exactly how much oil you put in it. Plus you can look at dipstick to see what it reads Yes i agree. - The only reason i have been holding back it im hoping to sort a shortend sump for it, but maybe i will do the oil change now anyway. I can aways change it again. Can anyone confirm the oil capacity. Seams to be the one thing the haynes cvh book omits. Daniel Quote
dhutch Posted March 23, 2009 Author Posted March 23, 2009 Cracking, i have 4l, minus about 0.5l that i used to top it up as is! Quote
dhutch Posted May 13, 2009 Author Posted May 13, 2009 I guess ulitmatle is a case of try it and see what happens i guess. - Will also put a new o-ring on the dipstick tonight if i can find one as that should at lease make it seal better and contain that area of loss. Apprently the rubber rockercover seals (ebay) are far better than the standard cork ones as well. Daniel I tried venting the crankcase to atmopher directly a few weeks ago at easter. - Ran the hose up and over the engine and down and out under the pass footwell. Blocking the two takes offs on the rockercover. Net result is i lost half a liter of oil on a half hour spirited drive. So i guess thats not for me! The new rockercover gasget and dipstick o-ring seam to have done a good job of curing the problems of oil leaks however, and basiacally all im geting now is some out from the distibutor area (stuggling to trace exactly where) Although i might simply live with that untill i megajolt it. Daniel Quote
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