SR3 Supersport Catch Tank Filling.....

[paulmj]

Chaps,

I have just emailed Radical, but I would be grateful for your thoughts on this too.

I had a problem with my Supersport (2005/6 1500 with injection and a dry sump) when racing at the weekend. During a 30 minute race at Pembrey (which is very bumpy, but I wouldn't have thought that was the cause) the engine filled the catch tank with oil (and then chucked it on the exhaust). Clearly, I don't know much about this particular engine, but I am assuming that the only cause of that would be that it is pressurising the crank case and therefore has either blown the head gasket or broken some piston rings. However:

Could there be a simply common cause such as a sticking breather valve (if it has one)?
If I do a compression test what should I see on the gauge and is that likely to give a better diagnosis?
I'm not minded to take the engine apart myself (or have anyone other than Radical do so - unless you have some good recommendations????), so I would be keen to take the car in if it isn't something simple. So, would it be better to have the engine in the car or out?
Or, as I have no idea how many hours it has done (I bought the car second hand) is it better to have the engine refreshed?

I also have a transfer box that jumps into neutral on occasion so it probably needs a refresh too.

If I was taking the car in I'd probably have the suspension set up too. So there are advantages.

Or....... are you all about to recommend someone else that can do all of this?

Many thanks for your time and thoughts.

Cheers.

Paul

[double d racing]

Daft question from a daft person....was there too much oil in to start with ? ( its happened to me ! )
D D

[splitpin]

Reminds me of a true story in passing ........ chap we bought our dry sump SR4 from fessed up to having a 'keeps totally filling the darn catch tank problem' when he first owned the car. Then he twigged that the engine should be hot and in the running condition before dipsticking the dry sump tank .......... he was dipping it cold (forgetting about the several litres already laying dormant in the sump).

Tis true.

Comp test will give you a decent impression of the state/health of the upper part of the engine and if anything is amiss, it can then be used to ascertain if rings etc or valves etc.

Readings will vary from gauge to gauge, but what you're looking for is nice even readings, say something pleasingly like 1 Xpsi 2 X+2.5psi, 3 Xpsi, 4 x-2.5psi. If you have say two @ Xpsi, one @ X-15psi and the other one @ X-30psi, be it rings or valves, it's refresh way overdue time.

[Simon T]

re the diff, check the adjustment on the reverse cable before you do anything else

Simon

[paulmj]

Thanks for that chaps.

I suppose the first thing I should do is pull the hose off the catch tank and see if it feels like it is pressurised at revs.

I'm pretty sure that the oil level isn't too high - but now I'm doubting myself....... The tank was well below the top baffle after it had filled the catch tank. I will do some more checking though. That combined with the compression test should give me a good steer, I guess. I'll do some more investigation.

Also, I have a horrid feeling I saw the oil pressure caption flash a couple of times, but by the time I had looked it had gone. After racing, when hot the oil pressure is VERY low at tick over. A blip of the throttle and it comes back up. I used to expect that on my old road cars, but is that normal on one of these?

As for the transfer box, what do you mean by check the cable? I assume you mean that I should check it isn't stopping the box from being fully engaged because the level is reaching the end of its range? I'll have a good look, but at the moment I have a securing device stopping the lever from moving and hence it jumping into neutral. It works fine like that - it just doesn't seem like a good long term idea.

As always - many thanks!

[Simon T]

Chances are the gears are not engaging fully as it is now, that's a certain way to destroy your diff! Remove the cable tie (? wild guess ) release the clip at the lever end of the cable then see how much more movement you can get on the shaft at the diff end then adjust the cable so it allows this degree of movement

S

[BioBa]

paulmj said:

The tank was well below the top baffle after it had filled the catch tank.

The tank should be empty after the car has been sitting for a while engine off. Tank should have only oil in it when engine is running and pumping oil into the tank. If you have oil in the tank 10-15 after running you most likely have overfilled. See the thread: Step by step oil change procedure - for cheking oil level the correct way.