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

How was/ is the oil level?

A couple of things, 1 all the oil mist going into the engine is only true whilst the engine is running. When stopped and it cools down the mist in the manifold will drop out to be oil. 2, there is a pocket below the breather entry in to the manifold that will hold oil. 3, comprssion test, I hope the engine does not need that? But yes I could do one.


The oil level is always up to the high mark but never over.

I think it could be the oil I am using or the engine has been over filled at some time in the past.

I would keep the oil half way between the marks. If it has been overfilled that could be the cause.

Having changed all the spark plugs on my 3.7 V6 Roadster recently I note they all looked like new after removing. The coil packs allowing access as below are open to the elements. I assume they are similar to those used on the GDI 4 cylinder engines having a thin rubber tapered seal into the plug tunnel and external lip as below. I'm very surprised these seals don't fully waterproof in a similar manner on the GDI engines therefore despite not having the advantage of cylinder heads sitting 30° outboard of the horizontal on the V engine.





Note just the front left hand bank coil pack was found with the thin seal doubled over on one side from new and requiring a lot of twisting action to remove. No sign of water ingress though. All received a smear of dielectric silicon grease on the seal/tunnel when re-fitted.

Not sure compression test is going to shed any light on this. The other way, and most likely, is for oil of that quantity to get in via faulty valve stem seals. A closer look at each valve guide is advised to see if one is wetter than others.
Be interesting to know when the engine was last run (i.e. has it been sitting for weeks on end?) and if blue smoke is usually noticed on start up.

Deejay,
Yes the oil build up on the valves could have come down the valve guides but there is no blue smoke on startup. As my other toy is an Elan I know all about oil coming down the guides!! Plus to have got into the manifold from the guides it has to go up hill and against the flow of the incoming air.
If you look at the manifold you can see the pocket below the breather inlet to the manifold. As I said above I think it's the oil condensing out in the manifold and as there is no way out it just stays there. I think the variation between cars is due to different driving styles or different oils or just some engines have closer fits of the valve to guide.
A few pics for you.
Cheers
John.

Been thinking about this, on one hand the oil level is about 260mm below the breather level which one would think is OK but on the other hand we are using a non Ford sump. I'll have to check the shape of a Ford sump?
Cheers
John.

I assume you will have to change the green manifold seals ? If so, do you have the part numbers as I guess they are standard Ford parts.

My understanding is that the green manifold seals are very much reusable, provided they are undamaged of course. Mine were certainly fine and I'd seen this advice on several YouTube how-to guides (not that such sources are infallible, I admit!)

I didn't renew the seals.