12 replies to this topic

[rendersonique]

Has anybody had a problem with oil coming out of the rocker cover filler cap pin hole?

I have not long had my car back on the road since a partial rebuild and have a new rocker cover and filler cap. To be honest I thought it was coming out of the engine breather, but noticed its actually coming out of the pin hole in the cap today. It appears the rocker cover is filling up with oil. I am not sure if that's what's meant to happen as I have never,had cause to take the filler cap of during the running of the engine.

[racingbob]

have you tried a different type of cap

[rendersonique]

have you tried a different type of cap

Unfortunately I don't have another one. Just want some feedback a to why it may be happening as its never happened before. The previous rocker cover was an mg metro type, with matching cap, but that never leaked. Can I just state that the original set up had a single su, with the vent pipe coming off the engine breather plugged into the side. However, this twin set up has no such input for the vent pipe, so its just venting into the ether.

Just been out without the bonnet on and it started spewing oil into the air like a whales spout :-( thought my engine was going to set on fire as it was landing on the manifold and smoking heavily!

[lrostoke]

We had this happen on one of ours, the bad news is it turned out to be broken piston rings and the block was being pressurised by blow past from the cylinders.

[rendersonique]

We had this happen on one of ours, the bad news is it turned out to be broken piston rings and the block was being pressurised by blow past from the cylinders.

Thanks for feedback. Although it could be the case, I have not had pistons out so would be surprised if it were the cause.

[jaydee]

I had the same rocker cover + cap a while ago before fitting rollers..it is not normal to have oil coming out from there..
Check the breathers for blockage, butpiston rings are suspicious..

[rendersonique]

I had the same rocker cover + cap a while ago before fitting rollers..it is not normal to have oil coming out from there..
Check the breathers for blockage, butpiston rings are suspicious..

Breathers as in the charcoal canister breather?

[rendersonique]

Well I did a search on the net and got a hit (on tmf ironically) which explained my issue exactly. His fix was to clean the charcoal canister out as it was full of milky stuff (oil and water no doubt). So this morning I have checked the charcoal breather and guess what.....


just need to flush it out. Good job its now a broken piston ring...

[jaydee]

I had the same rocker cover + cap a while ago before fitting rollers..it is not normal to have oil coming out from there..
Check the breathers for blockage, butpiston rings are suspicious..

Breathers as in the charcoal canister breather?

Yep exactly, but i see you already found out :)

[icklemini]

note: its not a "charcoal canister" - that is something different!

It is however a 'breather' that contains basically wire wool type stuff to separate the larger amounts of oil out of the vapour going through it...

[R1minimagic]

Not seen one that blocked up before! Are you doing lots of short journeys?

[dklawson]

As others said, it's not a charcoal canister, just a crankcase breather. It is full of a coarse steel wool to collect oil vapors.

I am concerned that it is full of mayo. That's not uncommon in the rocker cover area but I have not seen it elsewhere. While it is attributed to short drives where the oil does not heat up enough to drive out moisture, it can also be from mixing coolant with oil. How has your coolant level been? What does the oil on the dip stick look like?

[rendersonique]

As others said, it's not a charcoal canister, just a crankcase breather. It is full of a coarse steel wool to collect oil vapors.

I am concerned that it is full of mayo. That's not uncommon in the rocker cover area but I have not seen it elsewhere. While it is attributed to short drives where the oil does not heat up enough to drive out moisture, it can also be from mixing coolant with oil. How has your coolant level been? What does the oil on the dip stick look like?

Just got the car on the road so have been tootleing around. The oil is pure with no contamination on the dipstick. I did have a breather pipe fitted that was just trailing away from the engine, but not actually terminating anywhere, so maybe it was just not being drawn out the way it would have been if it was attached to a carb manifold. Hopefully all should be well now, but I am sure you will hear from me again it its not