Had a trip to Anglesey yesterday, doing about 50mph and amber engine management light came on. Returned home. Checked today and oil stain on crankcase below air filter. Checked air filter and soaked in oil. Engine breathing issue. Anyone experienced anything similar?
All the dealers I have phoned know nothing of this issue and are fully booked with work. Morgan Motor Company on holiday.
I have the same problem. The engine oil comes out of the breather pipe inside the air intake behind the air filter. The theory is any oil mist coming out of the breather pipe should get sucked into the combustion chambers and burnt off. However yours, like mine, is much more than a mist. There is a reed valve (check valve) mounted at the crankcase level which stops the oil from the oil tank from draining into the crankcase. It could be that the valve is letting by and the scavenge pump can't clear the oil out of the crankcase fast enough when you start up. Mine is still blowing out oil and I just clean it up every week but I'm sure there must be a fix.
This happened to me once at 820 miles when heading to the dealer. My engine cut out in traffic, it restarted at third attempt with huge clouds of white smoke. Pulled off & phoned the dealer & carried on with smoke reducing. They found oil over front of engine & air filter oil soaked, cleaned up & fitted a new filter which they charged for. They did not really offer an explanation but no further problem over 2000 miles.
Thank you for your posts. Interesting that You have a continual problem DWBlues and TimG having it happen only once.
The reed valve sounds like a logical answer to the cause. Yes, a little more than oil mist!
Mine was first picked up when it went to the factory in March, nothing like it is now! Just a little oil. When I returned I cleaned and re-oiled the filter using a K&N kit. It has been fine for 1900 miles, until now. I checked it before setting off to Anglesey on Wednesday one of my pre flight checks and it was dry. After my engine warning light came on, still on, I looked around the engine and noticed all the oil.
I would expect it won't be good for the cats if our engines are burning this oil!
Hi Dave My air filter always has a smearing of oil on it like your photo , but never enough to cause an issue or a leak etc. In my naivety I assumed it was a good thing , hearing that these type of air filters should be oiled !
I'd guess at the engine management light coming on due to the lambda sensors picking up poor oxygen levels. I'd be inclined to vent the pipe to atmosphere & jury rig a small catch tank bottle in which to see how much comes out.
The reed valve seems to be the suspect, especially as the engine ran correctly with nothing else untoward.
Presumably the light will cycle itself out with a few start ups?
If it's anything like the dry sump system in my Caterham CSR, if the tank is overfilled, it will spit out any excess through the vent. This could be quite a lot, up to a cup full of oil at least, so Steve's suggestion is very practical, just run the pipe to a catch tank and empty that regularly, whilst keeping an eye on the oil level. If this is the cause, the amount of excess oil should diminish to nothing after a while, and if you check where you oil level is, then maintain it at that same level.
Thank you very much for your support. Yes, I have been having a good look around, it seems with this type of engine a common issue due to oil back up. Please see attached screen shot. The reed valve is the likely candidate. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-kBjUSjIMYAC&pg=PA219&lpg=PA219&dq=s+%26+S+engine+reed+valve+oil+return&source=bl&ots=DJPSiBo2YV&sig=VLfCI0LREaRkdOlb5Wt8pV7_Tfk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=k67bU9C2OdLT7AaNz4CACg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=s%20%26%20S%20engine%20reed%20valve%20oil%20return&f=false
