Failed breather and oil everywhere

[TorqueJunkie]

Hello guys,

450 petrol (roadster) in deep winter (-20C) here.

Couple days back I had an incident.. A minute after start, oil started spilling everywhere. I noticed that only at red light, after 3 kilometers. There was a lot of white smoke coming from all sides of the engine.

Opened it up and wow, view is terrifying. So what happened: oil started spilling out from dipstick pipe, getting all around manifold and turbo = a lot of white smoke. Also it seems like oil did somehow get in to burning process, as there was a lot of while-bluish smoke coming from exhaust as well. I lost one liter of fresh oil that day.

The engine was serviced recently (a month ago) and upper breather valve was replaced with generic one: original valve was failed (stuck partly open), I could not get whole pipe assembly in time. This is what I replaced it with:

While waiting for a friend to tow it away, I immediately checked upper valve and it was operating fine (detach one end from throttle body, blow, then pull with mouth). So it seems to be OK.

Couple hours later, when in garage, I checked lower breather pipe (part A1600180112):

I found only very little ice in it, not nearly enough to clog up. I cleaned it anyway and assembled it all back...

Today it happened again. Noticed it quicker, lost only 0.5 liter of oil...

So now I'm lost.

Oil is coming from dipstick, because there is pressure buildup and something is blocking it's way out. But why smoke from exhaust? Is oil getting sucked through upper breather valve? Can't really confirm it, but first observation is that the most of smoke from exhaust is only during negative boost pressure (when idling and upper breather valve is open).

But the biggest question is: what I missed? Should I also remove and inspect TIK pipe? Or can it be caused somehow by upper breather valve? Something else?

[tolsen]

Boost pressure is entering sump via upper breather pipe. Check valve in upper breather pipe is either wrong way or not working as intended. In this condition, you also get excess oil out of lower breather pipe which enters combustion chambers causing lots of blue smoke.

Perhaps you should install the proper Smart check valve and things may improve?

[TorqueJunkie]

I will of course order a proper Smart upper breather pipe. However now I see that Evilution did the same: http://www.evilution.co.uk/1034

However I have checked it and seems to be OK:

1. disconnect it from throttle body

2. blow with mouth - fully blocked

3. pull with mouth - requires a little force, but opens up fine. Closes fully afterward.

Since I am unable to blow from throttle body side, I guess it is mounted properly. Also it would have behaved like this right after install, however was fine for several months...

It is possible that it still leaks a little, that I can not "detect" with my lungs, however I noticed that there is far more smoke when idling (negative boost) and almost no smoke when boost is positive (accelerating).

When I removed lower breather pipe, I tried to check the port on TIK pipe, but it was very hard to do without rear panel/bumper removed (that is some work on roadster). However I did notice the hole was quite small and not very clean, but was unable to check it better. Is this (gunk inside TIK's breather port) a known issue in smarts?

Will go to garage and disassemble it all again, maybe will remove rear panel this time.

Edited January 7, 2016 by TorqueJunkie

[TorqueJunkie]

OK, spent few more hours in garage at -20C.

Removed TIK pipe (that is some work without removing rear panel). It had a bad mold, breather port was partly blocked and there was some gunk inside. Not sure if it could clog up. Cleaned it all up and assembled back.

But I did see that engine was getting the oil through this breather, so probably it was not clogged.

Also, this much oil revealed several air leaks around TIK pipe. in intercooler and exhaust... The most concerning is amount of soot in exhaust and particularly catalytic converter. Will it burn out on its own?

I also inspected upper breather pipe and valve... No oil there, looks all good and operational. However this incident can not be explained in any other way but failed valve. Maybe aluminum case attracts more moisture and it freezes up inside... I really have no idea.

As a temporary workaround, just to be able to drive around, I simply disconnected sump pipe from valve to breath to air. No incidents yet...

Will be getting a genuine valve. Big lesson learned...

[TorqueJunkie]

This is my third post in a row, sorry for that.

But one thing does not give me a peace of mind. Why are the two breathers routed differently? I mean, in current construction, when there is a boost for prolonged periods of time, upper breather is closed shut and oil vapor has no where to go?. And it is also a point of failure.

Why can't it be routed to the TIK pipe, same as lower breather? Pressure is always negative there and valve is not needed. Or am I missing something?

Also I do not quite understand why there are two breathers... Aren't they breathing the same thing, I mean, sump and rockers share the same air?..

[tolsen]

Positive crankcase ventilation flushes foul gases out of crank case.

With open throttle, breather gases are vented from crank case through lower breather tube into inlet just before turbo and ducted to combustion chamber.

With closed or partly closed throttle, when there is a vacuum in inlet manifold, fresh air enters crankcase from lower breather tube, flushes out foul gases and gases are sucked back into combustion chamber via upper breather tube.

Above describes breather system on a petrol Smart engine. The diesel 450 does not have any upper breather pipe hence there is no provision for flushing out foul gases.

Edited January 8, 2016 by tolsen

[TorqueJunkie]

What if upper breather is completely blocked? Would there be a lot of gunk buildup inside eventually? I am not very familiar with internal combustion engines, but never saw double breather system.