Hello, I am looking for some advice on an engine situation that is stumping us!

I have a freshly remanufactured GEN2 engine from SCCA Enterprise that has 2 race weekends on it.

During the last race weekend, I noticed an occasional hiccup in power delivery, and noted the oil pressure gauge going from 0-60psi rather erratically while in high-G corners. As soon as I experienced this, I immediately limped my car to the pits. With no G-load, the oil pressure was in the normal range of 40-80psi.

A CSR services my car and was trackside that day, so he checks the oil and sees that it is within the middle-good range on the dipstick. He adds another liter and says I should be good to go. So I drive the car over to my trailer and let it sit while I wait for my next race. After it cooled down a bit, I checked the oil to see if the “cold” level was much different on the dipstick. I was surprised to find thin aluminum flakes on the dipstick oil. I checked it 4 or 5 more times and found aluminum on each try. So, I went over to the CSR and asked if he could check it out for me. One of his techs looked at the metal flakes and seemed pretty alarmed! The owner of the company seemed pretty unfazed by the finding, but I insist that they drain the oil to see what else is in it. There is some aluminum that is visible, but not very much. He says that amount is normal for a brand new engine and says to run the final race.
Anyway, at this point I am starting from 26th place, having only 4 laps completed over 2 sessions and the last one I did not complete a single lap.
I start the final race, and run one lap and someone takes me out from behind! LOL!

So, That was my race weekend. Anyway, I review the video of the race and it shows my oil gauge dropping to zero at the apex of right hand turns. Left handers seem to drop it to around 10psi. The engine felt a bit down on power after I found the aluminum, but they put it on a dyno and said it runs strong. They won’t give me a dynosheet though. My first thought was a problem with the oil pick-up, which lead to some starvation in the heads. The CSR thinks it is the oil gauge shorting out….. Any thoughts or ideas on this?? Thanks in advance!!

If you have not done it yet, call SCCA Enterprises and talk to them to get a read on the aluminum flakes. I have had three rebuilds over the years and have never seen that.

DaveP

Thanks Dave!

I did get to enterprise and they wanted the CSR to take the lead on the work. The CSR thinks it is nothing of interest. Enterprise said they would stand by the product, if it is an actual failure.

My problem now is that the CSR is saying the car is fine and that it was just the oil gauge. They feel that since it ran well on the dyno, that the car is OK. The video scares me, because it shows the oil gauge dropping to zero at predictable times. (the apex of each turn) Then the needle bounces back up as soon as the car straightens up.
So, basically, the CSR will not take any steps further on the issue. Naturally, I want to be sure......

My plan so far is that when I run the October NJMP, I was going to grab a sample of the oil for a BlackStone Labs analysis and see what is floating around in there.

And they still will not give you the dyno sheet?

so far, No.

But it just may be because they did not keep a copy. I need to get another email out to them to see if I can get a copy.

It was pointed out to me by another of our SRF brothers, that the dyno may not be that important to show if there is a problem. For one, the car is on level ground and not under any G-loads. Secondly, it is rumored that engines run strong right before they blow! The reason I wanted the dyno was to at least push the motor to redline a few times and see if there is anything that comes up. If there was oil-starvation, my understanding is that it would hit the heads/camshaft first and that the aluminum would come from there.

My fear is that I will lay out the cost for a race weekend, and the engine either blows on the first session..or I spend the whole weekend back in the pits with the CSR!

At the very least, if you haven't, I would change out the oil and filter. Warm up the engine a bit before you dump the oil, empty it, and then pour in a couple of pints of cheap oil to flush things out. You should also empty out your oil cooler. Put in new oil, run the engine and then look for aluminum flakes. That gives you half a chance of not getting flakes blocking the oil channels to the bearings (if you are not still producing new flakes).

DaveP

Thanks again Dave! I will ask them to do that.

Unfortunately, I do not have the car to work on myself. But the shop is reputable, so I will ask them to attend to it. It is just that they seem to be looking in the wrong direction. I need to use subliminal messages to get them on track!

You can buy a filter cutting tool. You can cut filter open to see if it is full of metal. Cost of the tool and 5 min. If you see or CSR can see metal then pull it. You also seem to let all know where you stand so if it blows I think you will find they will work with you to correct them problem.

I totally agree with what tonyrn99 says! Nothing subliminal...

DaveP

Do you know for sure it's AL? You can send off your oil sample for a spectrometer analysis. There are several aviation companies that do this. I know I wouldn't fly an engine that's making metal... I agree with your caution and I feel a refund or a make it right transaction in your future.