Analyze This! 2nd Gen Engine Question
Killed the motor in my ITS car this past weekend at Waterford Hills. Looking for a little input as to what might have been the problem. I visit this site very often as there is a lot of good info from a lot of smart guys...at least much more informed than I.
I have the old Chris Ludwig 08 car. A lot of you probably know it. I believe he sold it to Michael Flock without the engine in it. As I recall, Michael, who I bought it from after he ran it only a couple of times, put the engine in from the car he totaled.
At any rate, I ran it 2 race weekends last year at Waterford. No problems other than it was very hard to start and requires a strong battery and starting fluid, probably low compression?? I never changed the engine oil as Mike had just done that.
Fast forward to '08. Changed the oil and filter in the spring. Fram filter. Ran it on a practice day for 2 20 minute sessions with no issues other than the typical hard start(starts OK once warmed up but always seemed flooded, never starts hardly when hot, say 220 after a race). Also, always seemd to get hot fairly easy even with the double oil cooler and aluminum radiator.
Fast forward again to the first race weekend, May 3rd and 4th. Ran fine for Saturday 15 minute qualifying and 10 lap(20 minute) race. Ran fine for Sunday morning class race(10 laps). Of course the normal hard start. Sinday afternoon feature race, lap 6, had oil blowing in the engine bay and pulled in to corner station. Got a flat tow in and discovered about 1-1/2 quarts of oil had blown out the crank vent and out of the overflow bottle. No leaks or line problems. A couple of the local gurus mentioned that if the oil was overfull it may do that. The dipstick after the blowback showed overful. When I changed the oil I only put 4 quarts in so......?
Tried to get it out to practice before this past race, May 31 & June 1, but had to much work going on. We were pretty comfortable I had put to much oil in and we had remedied that earlier in the week by draining some, changing the filter, and running it while keeping an eye on the pressure gauge which showed 50 at idle and jumps to 100 at WOT. Went out for qualifying Sat Am and car was fine idling and revving in false grid, 40 psi jumping to 100. On track, started to warm the tires and oil idiot light came on as pressure went to almost 0 while working side to side to warm tires. Laid off a little and oil pressure went to base 40 again. Started first hot lap and oil seemed to not drop below 35 or 40 in the first couple of hard turns while still jumping up to the 80 to 100 range under straight line accel. Got to the big 4th gear sweeper and as I came out engine lost power. Had 2 cars on my tail so didn't look right away at gauge, was more worried about staying out of their way. At any rate, let the car basically idle the 1/2 lap back to pit lane. Gauge still said 40 psi. At the end of pit lane engine died and I coasted and was pushed back to my paddock space. Again, oil had blown out the vent and all over the engine bay.
Now the engine sounds dead. I cranked it for Bob Cross, a local guru and engine builder whose son holds records at several CenDiv tracks in IT7 and he just shook his head and said it was toasted. He can't explain why there would be so much blowback.
Car has always pulled strong as I am usually gridded somewhere between 3rd and 6th here at Waterford. We have several strong cars here( Kris Smith, who bought Gerald Potts old car and won the IT Fest in '07 in ITS, races here every weekend) and my car would pull right with them (5:12).
Is that enough detail??
Anyone know what I might look for before we tear things apart?
Thanks in advance....:blink:
