And now it's pushing oil out of the dipstick !!!!!!

[nebogipfel]

Fixed the ignitor problems. Thanks for all the input.

Took the +ve feed from the fuse box and the tach' bounce is virtually gone

BUT

Now it is splashing oil out of the dipstick. OK the engine may not be A1 but it has been recently freshened up with new rings etc. I've never had a twink do this before.

The breather is clear and routed into the airbox as it should be


Can anyone solve this one for me before I give up and put the damn thing on Ebay?

Thanks as always for the input

[rgh0]

Three potential reasons

1. Its the normal amount that comes out and you need to seal it properly.
2. You have excessive crank case pressure due to the vent not working properly or the blowby past the pistons being excessive due to broken or worn rings
3. Your oil level is to high

regards
Rohan

[nebogipfel]

Rohan,

I measured the oil when I put it in

I'm confident the breather is OK and the rings have only done a couple of thousand miles

I've run really worn high mileage twinks before but have never had one do this before

I've tried sealing the dipstick without sucess so far.

It really is starting to bug me

[rgh0]

John

Starting to sound like you may have a broken ring. How much is coming out the crank breather, it should be just a small amount if its a steady high flow stream then excessive blowby and probably broken rings if they have been in for only a few thousand miles.

Rohan

[types26/36]

Rohan,
the rings have only done a couple of thousand miles(

Was it a high milage when the rings were replaced?was there a ridge in the bore? were the bore's measured? were the pistons and the ring grooves checked for wear? were the ring gaps checked? I agree with Rohan that you "probably" have a broken ring.
Brian

[nebogipfel]

Thanks for the replies, I wondered about a broken ring.

To be honest the bores were worn but I would have expected to have got a few more thousand miles out of them before needing a rebore.

The strange thing is, it doesn't appear to be breathing excessively from either the breather or out of the filler cap if I remove it.

I may have said this before, but Oh the joy of classic cars

[cliveyboy]

John
It takes very little pressure to blow oil out the dip stick.
I once put a filter on the crank case breather of an engine and it started blowing oil. I was very suprised as you could actually blow through the filter with very little resistance but it was enough to cause problems.
I now always vent to atmosphere where possible

Clive

[JJDraper]

I once rebuilt a Hillman Imp engine and saved a few bob by fitting new rings rather than a rebore. The guy at the motor factor recommended a set of rings called 'Ridge Dodgers' with a slight step in the top ring. The step gives the old ridge a bit of clearance. He said there was always a good chance of smashing a top ring against the wear ridge, especially once the new rings bed in and you rev the engine a bit. It sounds like a compression check is in order....

Does anyone know if 'Ridge Dodgers' exist for twinks?!

Jeremy

PS the Imp went on for another 60k miles before I sold it.

[1964 S1]

This may have nothing to do with your problem, but, I just measured two and one half inches from the top of my dipstick tube to where it goes into the engine. This oil out the dipstick seems to affect numerous owners but I've never had the problem. The tube is a slip fit and if it's re-installed improperly, it could cause confusion AND problems.
This one's a bit of a mystery and unfortunately the broken ring guessers may be right.
If you drive around boringly, keeping it under 4000 rpm does it still spout?

[nebogipfel]

Jeremy, I did fit stepped rings, they are not difficult to obtain. I've re-ringed blocks with much more wear than mine in the past without any problems.

I was expecting to get several summers out of the Elan before a rebore was needed.

It does tend to do it more if I push the load pedal a bit harder but as I said previously the engine doesn't seem to be creating much pressure or breathing excessively.

The short tube and loose dipstick isn't a very good design but I suppose it's how they were back then ........ and it was designed for a Ford kent engine anyway which certainly didn't have the breathing issues of a twink.

[poiuyt]

Get a straight spark plug boot of the type found on modern wires. Slip this over the dipstick and tywrap it so that when the dipstick is seated the wide part of the boot seals over the dipstick tube and the narrow part begins at the top of the tube. This should stop oil from coming out of the dipstick tube. You can also put some RTP on the dipstick to seal the narrow end of the boot.

However, if the crankcase is pressurized you have to find and correct this or oil will come from places you didn't know you had!

Steve B
1969 S4

[denicholls2]

Am I correct that you just replaced the rings without either removing the ridge or honing the bores?

If so, your rings have little chance of seating properly.

Every rebuild I've done, which I admit is not that many and never a twink, has involved use of standard-size replacement rings, ridge reaming and honing to a proper pattern. I don't consider it re-boring, but I do consider it the minimum work you can do if you're replacing the rings. And it's never resulted in a problem.

[tdafforn]

very similar problem on my +2 (see post a week or so ago...)
tried the spark plug boot trick, worked pretty well
then got annoyed and fltted a short peice of silicon tubing with a clamp to seal the dipstick tube off completey (easy to take off in order refit the dipstick (takes a couple of minutes)..
Have now run the car for a couple of hundred miles, and no new leaks!
cheers
Tim

[nebogipfel]

This is really embarrasing but I THINK I found the problem today.

Having sealed the dipstick I still had a leak. Then I noticed the bolt which goes up into the head directly above the dipstick was tight but the washer on it moved!

Yes it was too long and bottoming out The result was oil leaking down onto the dipstick

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Perhaps it's cured now?

Until the next problem.......................

[Hamish Coutts]

Cheers to that!!

.... and there will surely be one!! It is a Lotus after all. I wouldn't swap it for anything else.

Hamish.