Oil everywhere
Stories
Engine failures.
Uneven big-end wear?
At the final event of 2023 and back to Walters arena again. Early on the second run of the day we hit a large rock and immediately acquire a flat tyre. We continue on with the damage to the wheel getting worse all the time, we even stop mid run and reassess the situation deciding to continue. Probably a mistake.
We get to the final corner of the run about ten meters from the finish line.
The slight side slope and greasy conditions and with what was left of the tyre spinning on the rim mean the loss of traction and we failed to actually get across the finish line.
We had to (reluctantly) abandon the lap, back out of the course and change the wheel to get back to services without ever crossing the finish line on this lap.
Extremely frustrating!
While we where looking at the damage and starting to asses what needed to be replace. we also noticed that the engine had developed a significant oil leak from the rear. In an attempt to save any further damage to the engine we decided to retire (again).
The engine was pulled out and the oil leak investigated. As you can see from the image on the left the oil leak is not too bad, however, what was found when the engine was fully stripped confused every one!
The big end bearings had worn out again, however , they had worn in a very unusual way with the bearings to the front of the engine being very badly damaged and the bearings to the rear in reasonably good condition.
Looking at this image, the shells to the right (especially in the foreground) are very badly worn almost to the point of "curling out" The bearing shells to the left although showing some damage are in comparatively good condition.
This has meant yet another expensive engine rebuild.
Also as a part of the winter mods an engine oil temperature gauge has been fitted.
At the first event of 2024 it quickly became apparent the engine oil temperatures where very low even at the end of a lap. As a result of this, a new thermostatic oil filter head has been fitted.
The impacts are almost immediate with the engine oil temps a lot more consistent. Of course this has created a new problem that at the warmer events during the year the engine is overheating (not helped by breaking the cooling fan on one event). so now we need to look at ways of increasing air flow across the rad.
So the moral of this story is;
It is not always best to fit an oversized oil cooler!
It may help keep the overall engine temps down, but cold oil does not work properly.
