Last weekend was the first time I've ran with a B18C1 in a CRX...and it's also the first time I've ever had this problem.

There's a high speed left hand sweeper at SMMP (turn 2 for those who know) where when it makes it's transition to the straight, there's a bump.

accelerating thru this turn and hitting the bump causes the engine to shoot out a plume of white smoke from the back (not sure if it's exhaust or just under the car).

There are no oil leaks and oil pressure remained constant during the transition (per gauges).

Could this potentially be an oil starvation problem due to an unbaffled oil pan? What about a PVC problem (oil being recirculated back into the intake via the PCV?).

My guess was the unbaffled pan, since the oil pick up is on the "front" (crank pulley side) of the engine and all the oil would have been on the "back" (gearbox side) of the engine.


Mind you, this is the first time I've ever ran into this problem at this track...ran the track with DOHC ZCs and B16As before...

 

I experienced the same thing 2 weekends ago... similiar scenario w/ my B18C1 in the hatchcrap (hard left turn while accelerating in 1st gear). I thought the smoke was being cause by oil being forced back thru the upper valve cover vent that feeds back into the intake? I can't really see how it would be indicative of oil starvation as it looked like I was burning oil...?

Anyone else have firsthand experience with this?

Christian

 

Sounds like you're getting oil forced into the intake through the PCV system maybe? Overfilled? This happens on neons *gasp!* a lot.

 

hmmm... could be an overfill issue. I normally run my oil a little high to keep from having any oil starvation issues. All things considered, I'd rather have a little smoke than a spun bearing

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Driven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">oil pressure remained constant during the transition (per gauges).

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gauges react too slowly to reflect a quick and sudden loss of oil pressure.

but I would put my money on blowby being thrown back into the intake mani , do you run any type of oil catch can ?

 

no catch can, and not an overflow problem.

I checked the oil before, it was just under full (could have expanded though and pushed up)

I checked AFTER, burned a lot of oil

At one point, the engine hesistated. But, the car ran fine on the way home, strong with no power loss.


hmm... Mr cortez, i hear you make baffled pans... price? I should get one just in case.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Driven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I checked AFTER, burned a lot of oil

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have you done leakdown/compression check ? I would suspect you're getting some blowby , the windage system may be the culprit...

yes , I baffle pans , yes there is quite a wait untill I catch up on backwork

its a trapdoor design , 125 if you ship me your pan.

 

quick thought/question:

did it drop out of vtec at all during your sessions? that is a fairly good indication of oil starvation in a vtec equipped car.....

good luck

todd

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Todd Reid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">quick thought/question:

did it drop out of vtec at all during your sessions? that is a fairly good indication of oil starvation in a vtec equipped car.....

good luck

todd</TD></TR></TABLE>
never.

but, i have a chipped ECU.

the plume only happened at one turn, which was a bit odd to me. There were other sweepers (not as fast or high g-forces) that it would not do it on. I eventually just drove around the apex to avoid the bump and went slower around the corner to prevent as much smoke.


I'll do a leakdown/compression check in the next few days.

 

For me at least there was no drop out of Vtec (thanks for the suggestion though!). Car was pulling hard in 1st and 2nd and definitely on the "big" cam... I still suspect that it wasn't so much an issue of oil starvation as it was of too much oil and centrifugal force for the breather tube to handle.

BTW, Todd, PM me if you still want that big rear sway bar... sorry I forgot to get back with you on shipping price.

Christian