Dipstick

[Hypo]

At the track yesterday my dipstick blew out and I covered the engine bay and bonnet in oil.

I have read this thread

http://4gtuner.com/site/showthread.php?t=9178&highlight=dipstick

What I wanted to know is will the extra breathers on the tappet cover fully eliminate this issue
or should I also be looking at some other preventative measures?

What is the major cause of this?

 

[CLuTZ]

A catch can should help- also an o-ring around the top of your stick that makes it seal nice n tight, because often the rubber has perished over the years.

 

[Dean]

Yeh Pretty common problem mate.
As above.
I think I read somewhere too about dipstick holders?

 

[DOUGMO]

i put the breather on my rocker cover and bought a brand new genuine dipstick. I think it must be vr4 engines that have the oring because my old and new ones just have a rubber stopper that jams in the tube. its pretty tight. I even bought a new genuine one for fred from mits too.

 

[JAP63]

What is the major cause of this?

People are very quick to jump and say "your motor has blow by!"

Its not always the case, a shitty 15 year old perished rubber on a dipstick will be uselesss, replace it for a new one as Doug said, then see what happens.

 

[Entaran]

Fairly common for race teams to crush the dipstick slightly with vice grips/etc around the seal to make it tighter again.

Another thing I've seen done is to weld a ring to the dipstick tube further down and get a high tension spring between the dipstick ring end and the new ring you just welded on. It'll have trouble blowing that out

 

[SIVART]

Ive fitted a new dipstick and fitted a catch can and found it to be ok so far

 

[Liberoz]

correctly sealed dipstick wont blow out

 

[mrcyborg]

a lot of race cars will just cable tie a dipstick down or as already said fit a tension spring somewhere. the enlarged breathers in the rocker cover help lots. and removing the pcv valve and fitting a straight through fitting and run it to a catch can.

 

[Hypo]

I need recommendations for a catch can to buy or do people get them made up?

Thanks

 

[Dean]

I need recommendations for a catch can to buy or do people get them made up?

Thanks

Anything is fine.
Its purpose is simply to catch oil.
So just go for one that you like the look of.
People use Coke Bottles sometimes!

 

[DOUGMO]

for cams track events you need a minimum of a 3 litre can for our cars as they are classed as over 2.0

I had mine mad up and its 3.2 litre

 

[Missile]

a lot of race cars will just cable tie a dipstick down or as already said fit a tension spring somewhere.

Yes this is where we all need to be looking for that extra security (new O-ring etc. are the first step) on track days... I noticed that JustJDM have bought in a product (looks universal but is marketed at the evo 7-9). Picture below pretty much explains how it works:

It wouldn't be too hard to make up something similar, or cable tie it in place for track work.

 

[rob323]

Not that I ever had a problem, but I had a light spring hose clamped to the dipstick tube and hooked through the eye in the dipstick. It was light enough that the dipstick could pop out if there was enough pressure to do so, but strong enough to reseat the dipstick after the pressure was relieved. Simple and cost nothing from parts I had lying around.

 

[to4garret]

thats awesome tim!

though i have never blown my dipshit out, maybe its just tight or i need to put more boost behind it.

 

[Dean]

Thats the one I was talking about!
Whats he rip them off for? Like 100bux?

 

[YellowEvo1]

personaly I would just get a new o-ring or dipstick rather than holding it in some how. Not all the time but in some cases the dipstick blowing out is a bad sign, the dip stick blowing out is a "last defence" if you will of releasing crank case gas's. If everying fails and the dipstick doesn't blow out u might be looking at seals being blown out. I was lucky mine blew out the one and only time it did. My PCV failed and no longer allowed the crankcase to be vented properly, lucky the dipstick blew venting the case. Who knows what could have happend if it didn't...just my opinion based on personal experience.

 

[mrcyborg]

the pcv valve closes under boost anyway, otherwise you would be boosting into your rocker cover.

 

[SIVART]

the pcv valve closes under boost anyway, otherwise you would be boosting into your rocker cover.

I thought it was the other way

 

[to4garret]

I thought it was the other way

nope, one way valve, mainly for emissions, it sucks the carbohydrons out of the rocker cover under vac. imagine what would happen to the gaskets if it was open under boost