Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Workshop Note - GDI Oil Breather

Shocked that it is as bad as that after only 25k, and we all thought that routine de-cokes were a thing of the past!
A bit of an eye opener for GDI owners, but due credit to you for bringing it to the fore.

Seems odd Ford were happy with this arrangement. Also explains why a certain well known race “motor factor” cleans the back of the valves after every race.
Despite (I think) the engines having catch cans.

I think this design is a classic design team compromise, and not just at Ford. How many time have vehicle engineers said "that'll do"............or been forced by costs to take that route.

It is pretty ugly & I guess bad news for all those GDI engines out there.

I think Ford were only happy with it until they found out what issues it was causing. I don't know what Ford do now but other manufacturers use port injectors as well as direct. But think of the extra cost this causes?

Glad I've got a Duratec.

I promised an update on the cleanup of the inlet valves and trying to avoid recurrence, so here it is:

I finished cleaning all the valves and got them all looking pretty good, like the photo in my earlier post.

Re the crankcase breather to inlet manifold "culprit" pipework - it's quite a short length of stiff plastic pipe that seems to be "heat-shrunk" onto the fittings at each end, with a neoprene sponge covering, presumably for insulation. But with a very firm tug it can be removed, so that the end fittings can be reused to clamp rubber hose to.


I've replumbed the hose from the crankcase breather to an oil separator mounted on the sidewall of the engine bay with the outlet being vented to atmosphere.
I've also fitted a length of hose to where the breather was attached to the inlet manifold, but blocked it off at the other end. But I can easily change this back to the "factory" routing, albeit via the oil separator, if an MOT inspection ever objects to anything venting to atmosphere.

Regarding the valve cleaning process, all is reassembled and reconnected - it fired up ok and runs fine but there is an Engine Check light on, dammit! And I've checked all the plugs and connections, many times!

So any ideas about what might have triggered the warning light?

And my next question is for a recommendation please, as to what OBD reader I need to get for the Ford GDI set up? - I have no experience of such things.

Keith,
I've not had the MIL light come on many times, only when I've been playing with the Lambda sensors and then it's always reset on re-starting the car.
I use a Maxiscan MS309 which works on tintops and does seem to read from the GDI. I have also used the free Torque app to read live data via a bluetooth dongle. But be careful as the addressing in the GDI is not standard so data is not always in the correct place. You should be able to use the app to reset the mil light as well.
Perhaps the upstream lambda did not like the cleaning fluid? Is there a way to clean these?
Cheers
John.

Thanks John. I'm pretty sure that the cleaning fluid didn't go anywhere apart from the back of the valves. And talking about Lambda stuff is definitely straying in an area of ignorance for me! So all advice gratefully received!

In the first instance I would say put the breather back to standard an see if the mil light goes out. Be careful with your pipe joints on vacuum as they can easily leak and often need a pipe clip on. You cannot see if it's leaking!!
I looked up those maxiscans and they are still available, but they are nearly twice the price now!!!
Cheers
John