Is there a fix for pushing oil with hard driving?

[AintQik]

If I drive the car hard, hard brake, hard accel, I will get oil smoke. Quite embarrassing. I’ve read that it’s a common Viper issue where oil gets past the valve cover and sucked into the air box.

Is there a good fix? Catch can? I’ve done some searching but can’t seem to find something definitive. Many performance shops I find are out of business. Chevy guy, 1st Viper so some of these things are very odd and new to me. Car is an 00 GTS.

 

[GTS Dean]

This has plagued many a Gen 2 owner since 1996. It still vexes me to this day. I have tried many, many things to fix it lately and it is much better, but not done yet. I am actively engaged in SOLVING this issue.

I can tell you that it is NOT coming from the valve covers, it is coming from copious amounts of oil getting pushed/siphoned out of the crankcase vent port behind the t-stat, up thru the orifice in the tee feeding behind the throttle bodies and filling the plenums. When you accel or turn, the oil sloshes and fills the cylinders with oil causing smoke. When you decel, the oil sloshes forward, past the throttle bodies when they open during downshifts and fill the airbox with oil that drools out the bottom.

A catch can on the valve cover vents catches NOTHING - been there, done that. The best thing I've done so far is installing a LARGE catch can between the block vent and the tee to the intake manifold. I have to drain and pour it back in every track session, and periodically on the street based on how I drive. This keeps the intake DRY unless the can overfills.

More news to follow as the story develops...

 

[AintQik]

Thank you! I’m going to look at the motor when I get home this week and see if I can figure out exactly what you are referring to. This is terribly aggravating and it is occurring on the street. I can’t imagine this car on a track!

 

[ACRric]

Don't confuse this with overfilling of the crankcase. Mine used to smoke like a smoke bomb had gone off until I realized I had too much oil in it, Your drive must be level and oil level on the line or below or it will smoke like crazy on deceleration and sitting at the light. Had no problems after I paid attention and I brake this 2001 really hard.

 

[AintQik]

I’ll take a look at that and ensure. I’ve actually not done an oil change yet.

What do the dedicated track cars do? Dry sump?

 

[GTS Dean]

They at least do the 10qt pan that I believe yours came with from the factory. You should have 3 ribs cast into the rear of the pan to confirm. IPSCO sells a trap door baffle kit for either the short or the deep pans. WELL worth the modest cost.

 

[AintQik]

Dean, I’ll look into that. I’m not surprised, but so many fewer suppliers for Viper stuff, I have a lot to learn. I build a lot of LS motors, this car has been a dream of mine for a long time. I hope I can continue to find support and info here. I call places like Rowe and they are closed.

 

[GTS Dean]

I've been in dialog with a PhD ME on this. One simple improvement he suggested is getting full port area flow in/out of the engine on the makeup air side, so I split the valve cover vents back to my airbox instead of going thru the tee and into one port, which just about doubled the cross section area. I did this in about 20 minutes last night and will test a couple different driving situations to see if it is pressure, or vacuum that is contributing most to oil accumulation.

 

[ISMarco]

Everything Dean has said, I've experienced too. It's most problematic under heavy braking at the track.

Big catch can at the crankcase vent is the best thing I've found so far. It's not a perfect solution, and the can fills up fast.

The valve cover vents don't seem to release much oil.

If there's a better solution, I'm eager to find out

 

[Bob Woodhouse]

What happens as understood from years ago and talking with SRT engineers, is under heavy braking the oil travels to the front of the pan, gets on the timing chain and climbs it. There must be enough air velocity up there at high rpm that sends oil vapor through the breather system. Back in the day I just lived with it since it doesnt hurt anything and running a quart over full was cheap bottom end insurance at the track. Yes, anything you choose to do with oil pan baffling and or the swinging sump upgrade will help. I like the suggestions here on slowing the breather air velocity by doubling the tubing or increasing the sizing. When you slow the velocity the oil vapor tends to drop out.

 

[GTS Dean]

The chain oiler is a .032" pinhole off the main oil feed galley to the camshaft. It shoots a 50+psi stream directly on the uphill chain side and the sprocket flings droplets off at the top. The lower sprocket is several inches above the windage tray (like the B-RB big blocks) which extends all the way to the front of the pan. I don't feel even under extreme negative G braking that enough other sump oil ever gets on that sprocket to matter much. If you run the trap door baffles, only the front-most portion of the sump could slosh up the outer corners of timing cover.