paulhussein

Hi,

I am having trouble with a breather that was with the car when I bought it.

On 1 bar everything seems ok, but with 1.5 bar oil leaks from the seals. So I guess I have either a problem with the breather, or my piston rings are gone ? which creates a buildup of pressure in the engine

The thing is, the previosu owner fitted the breather. I dont know if it was fitted correctly. Does someone have instruction son fitting a breather ?

One thing I have noticed is it still has the red valve/junction which seems to pop open from time to time, so maybe that is blocked/faulty or shouldnt be presemt at all.

Can someone advise the best way forward to diagnose this problem.

Yura

What is the scheme of your breather connections?

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

what set up is it? Bailey type? if it is (most common) then you will have 4 take offs on the breather itself

top 2 = 1 goes to the rocker cover, the other goes to inlet side of the block, but you need to remove the standard set up completely which includes the red/black ball shaped thing i assume you are describing above.

bottom 2 = the smaller pipes feeds back to the block through an adapter on the turbo side of the block. the other just vents to atmosphere

are the pipes filled up with oil?

get some pics up and we'll take a look

paulhussein

Thanks for the swift replies guys


There are three pipes entering. One from the bottom of the engine before the red valve, then after the red valve 1 from the head and one from the intake which then go to the canister. At the bottom of the canister is a pipe that dumps to atmosphere. It looks like a custom built canister.

What I am going to do is take the red valve out completely, and connect all the pipes straight to the canister then see if the oil is coming from the pipe venting to atmosphere on the canister, or somewhere else, and also double check for blockages.

If I still cant understand whats happening then I wil take some pictures.

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

here you go; i've knocked up a quick drawing for you

you need to remove all traces of the original system; the original system will have a pipe on the back on the inlet manifold; this can be blocked off.

AndyPen

iTrader: (24)

This is the official ford version but as said above the lower pipe on the the bailey type breaths to atmosphere and most people put the top one to the rocker cover. Some works cars and high bhp sometimes vent from the sump instead but I doubt if you have that setup?

Yura

Do you propose to return oil from oil catch tank above oil level?
to return pipe from turbo through T-connector?

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

you'll need one of these to return to the block

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=220213164146

i believe this is above oil level, but i am not 100% certain

xr4man

yes, it is above oil level.

tabetha

CHRIST that is expensive!!!, ideally the oil needs to return at oil level ie not in open air, otherwise this will pressurise the return.
The "cheat" way of doing this is to fit a 90 degree elbow in place of the sump plug, and use that as oil return from breather.
tabetha

paulhussein

Thanks again guys for the explanations and diagrams, which is most helpful

Just a couple of questions.

Is it really necessary to return the oil? Is there that much oil lost that I really should return it, especially if I am driving the car often ??

Also, in the picture of the tank below, I guess its the smaller of the two bottom pipes that is the oil return? The one that is labelled to go to the turbo side of the block with adapter?

The adapter is the ebay item ?

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

Yes & Yes

AndyPen

iTrader: (24)

Yes it is the small one that is a return for the oil. As Tab says you can go into the sump and the competition cars often did just that - via a fitting at the front passenger side where the oil pump is. Most go to the (ebay type) adaptor which replaces a blanking plug in the block... pipe 5 in the Ford Diagram.

Cossy's use oil - I'd return it

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

agreed; for quickness and ease just buy the ebay adapter and replace the standard bung in the block (turbo side) - fitted my complete breather system in 40 mins

you can also buy an adapter to fit on the inlet side of the block which replaces the existing standard set up...although not 100% neccesary

JTECH James

iTrader: (13)

theres no reason you cant use a catch tank,instead of returning to sump...

infact, some people prefer it, as the breather always has water in it from codensation, this mixes with the oil, turns to white goo, and then you drain it back into your sump.....bad times.

check inside your breather pipes and tank. ....

this is the main reason i place my breather tank by the turbo, so the tank gets hot, evaporates the water out to atmosphere...

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

good idea!

AndyPen

iTrader: (24)

Yes of course - perfect sense - good one!

tabetha

It's crap.
Any water vapour that can stand these temps does not mix with oil, the insides are extemely HOT, although water boils at 100C, it vapourises at a VASTLY lower temp, otherwise when you pour a cup of water on the floor it would stay there, unless we have a outside temp of plus 100C, in which case we would all be dead.
Siting a catch tank near the turbo merely gives the cooling system more work to do to dissipate the heat.
tabetha

JTECH James

iTrader: (13)

sorry but thats bollocks, chuck a cup of water on the floor, then add some oil...mix it around a bit, and see whats left when the water evaporates.....

if you mix water with oil it turns to white goo, if you then evaporate the water from it...it doent turn back to nice clean oil......you need to stop the oil being so heavily contaminated, so it DOESNT turn to goo...you will never stop it having some moisture in it when cold...

the point is, condensation is evaporated from the oil as it warms up,fact.......and this moisture always gets caught and held in the breather tank...dont forget,this is the tanks job right?seperating fluid from air.... this is where oil gets mixed with the most water,and where most contamination happens,small ammont of oil, fairly large ammount of water in comparison ......
run your car for 5mins, then remove and shake your breather tank....it WILL have water in it. infact,id edge bets on more water than oil after 5mins!

getting the tank as hot as possible as quickly as possible helps prevent condensation forming and being held in the TANK, a turbo can run at 600+ degrees,so the tank will get over 100degs easily(i have burns to prove it) and the condensation doesnt settle in the tank,or on the cooler tank walls,it goes out with the air....

it minimalises the water and oil contact,which is all you can try and do and it does work.... the first engine in my saff when stripped had alot and i mean alot! of white goo in the sump which was draining in from the breather return, so i did some testing, and played with position of tank ,and breathing position and the last strip after 50k miles...i had zero white goo, clean pipes....

alot of the better breather systems are mounted on the hot side of the engine

it will eventually burn off the moisture anyway, after a long riun... , but by then its contaminated more oil then if the tank never held the moisture that it does. over a period of time, this small ammount of oil contamination adds up, and end up with lots of goo...once its there it stays there..sitting in the sump


all imo ofcourse


and as for it effecting the cooling.....how exactly? the air breathes away to atmosphere...and how much oil do you think passes through a breather tank...enough to raise oil temp

xr4man

hmm, seems i may have inadvertently done something right. this was the only place i could find to mount my breather tank.

tabetha

With the piss poor design of the cossie cooling system(more so 2wd) you don't want to be doing anything to add to the heat.
I think your reasoning is rubbish, bit like the cossie engine in some ways.
tabetha