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Anybody got any ideas what's gone on here


AG2728

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Last night I did an oil and filter change ahead of the first track day of the year. (420R dry sump).

Managed to extract 4 litres straight out of the top of the oil tank into the the extraction pump and got about another 0.5 litres from the filter housing, once the filter was removed.

Before I pulled out the finger strainer in the block for the final oil to be drained, I placed this CLEAN yellow tub underneath.

 

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After nearly having heart failure, I put my hand in the tub and thankfully realised the debris wasn't metallic.

I then emptied the rest of the old oil from the extractor through a strainer.

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This morning I sawed the oil filter in half.

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At 1500 miles, this was the third oil and filter change. That filter has only done 400 miles on clean oil!!

Any clues as to what this might be? I'm wondering if some internal gasket or similar has broken down. Whatever it is, there's plenty of it. *yikes*

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I don't think its rubber. I can crush it to dust in my fingers. The strainer was actually very clean as this stuff would just flow through it under pressure and then just congeals when left. The only place it seems to have been captured (marginally) is in the paper filter element. The filter looks intact. 

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I had a right job getting the casting sand out of my new tank, having to be chipped off when the high pressure jet wash failed to move it. It was obviously gritty and was also magnetic. Your findings dont sound like either of these.

https://www.lotus7.club/forum/techtalk/clean-your-belltank

One other strange occurrence I had on a car years ago, was a big paint bubble that had lifted on the inside of the rocker cover - I scraped it off before it had chance to dislodge.

 

What are next steps - sump / cam cover off to check for debris? New filter and run some cheap oil through as a flush or strip it?

It almost looks like a faulty filter element disintegrated?

Keep us updated on findings!! 
 

Ian

 

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No. It's the tall Raceline fabricated tank sat ahead of the engine. 
I have done 2 complete flushes with some random Shell Helix from the local petrol station tonight and left to drain. Not a sign of any debris at all.

Will fill it with he proper stuff tomorrow and see how we go (Unless it's the proper stuff that my engine doesn't like). I still have no idea what it was all about. 

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What do your learned colleagues think of it? Do you have access to oil testing?

Learned colleagues as stumped as I am.

Yes have access to oil testing but the tests are generally to tell us which kind of metal is present, in what quantities and therefore which components are failing.

In this case, I don't have metallic debris. I usually find where no metal is present that the report would just probably tell me of carbon content and that there is excessive fuel present in the engine oil. I have stacks of reports like this.

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Have you always used the same filters and for that mater the same oil...?

Yes. Always the same.

Do you think the filter is the source?

It's very much a possibility. I have replaced it with a Mann filter though today. After 3 flushes with no signs of any debris whatsoever, I am now inclined to think it was an event, as opposed to an ongoing issue.

So for now I intend to try to pretend it never happened and will drop the oil again, following a day at Oulton next Wednesday.

Andy

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