All ain't peaches'n;cream in the Land of Lightnings... :(

Tex Arcana

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Well, I went and did an oil change yesterday, and I didn't like what I saw, so I took some pics for your amusement:

This is what it looks like under the intake boot:
PICT0004.sized.jpg


Lots of oil and gunk. WTF?? I've heard of Lightning's having oil infiltration problems, but like *this*??

It's even crawling up the blower case...
PICT0009.sized.jpg


This is the driver's side PCV vent, that runs to the boot:
PICT0008.sized.jpg


Another angle:
http://viral-humanity.info/gallery/albums/album01/PICT0010.sized.jpg[/img[

Even making freakin' stalagmites:
[img]http://viral-humanity.info/gallery/albums/album01/PICT0014.sized.jpg

Good shot from the boot back to the driver's side valve cover and PCV vent:
PICT0019.sized.jpg


Here's how the throttle body looks:
PICT0033.sized.jpg


And the intake boot:
PICT0037.sized.jpg

PICT0039.sized.jpg

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Effin' mess, I'd say.

So, I'm gonna try to get the dealer to clean this up, under the extended warranty, including pulling the blower and intercooler and cleaning them. If they don't, I'll end up doing it myself, dammit.

And, no matter what they do, I'm installing these:
PICT0021.sized.jpg


This is how it'll look installed (this is passenger side):
PICT0024.sized.jpg


The fit will be better, and it'll be mounted to the firewall. The second one will go on the other side, for the same reason. I'm also going to stuff steel wool into the lines just upstread of the valves covers, to help filter any oil mist as soon as possible.


fake edit: oh, yeah, check this out:
PICT0027.jpg

WTF?? Looks like they cut out that hole with a freakin' plasma cutter!! Does everyone else's fender hole look like this??
 

02JoeGhost

Boost it hard
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I have never seen an oil mess that bad on an L.You should have seen my throttle body before i cleaned it and pout the oil seperator on. Took a whole can of carb cleaner. Good luck with the dealer.If they dont do it no big deal just do it yourself that way you know it will be done right
 

I'D WIN

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It looks like somebody put in more than 6 quarts of oil the last time the oil change was done. There is nothing else to it, I promise you that!

When YOU do the oil change, only put in about 5-1/2 quarts and leave it alone.

The oil seperaters will help out a lot but what you have there is somebodys mess up!

I have seen this 2 other times on a vehicle and it was the same problem both times-to much darn oil!
 

lightninmike

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guess nobodys ever checked that huh, its your own damn fault for not watching it unless you just bought it then disreagard the above
 

I'D WIN

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You SHOULD also check your plugs and CHANGE them, you probably flooded the engine with oil.

After which, give the engine a good bath and use some cleaner.
 

chuchomula

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Mine look pretty much the same. I cleaned most of it out, but not the intercooler. How hard is it to get to the intercooler? What do I need to take off to get to the intercooler?
 

Tex Arcana

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I'D WIN said:
It looks like somebody put in more than 6 quarts of oil the last time the oil change was done. There is nothing else to it, I promise you that!

When YOU do the oil change, only put in about 5-1/2 quarts and leave it alone.

The oil seperaters will help out a lot but what you have there is somebodys mess up!

I have seen this 2 other times on a vehicle and it was the same problem both times-to much darn oil!

*I* was that "somebody", and I put in EXACTLY 6 quarts; I also did not top it off, because it never needed it.

From the research I've done, this is a common problem, not only in Ls, but in any boosted vehicle. So, if I do the separators right, and the other tricks up my sleeve, with a nice cleaning, it should be under control. Also, the line from the snorkel to the driver's side valve cover is supposed to ahve a check-valve, so it's possible it failed.
 

Tex Arcana

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ChrisNelson said:
Holy S***! Do you ever open your hood?? How did you miss that?

Back in ... erg, last summer, I popped the boot, and saw some oil pooling in it. Since then, I've autocrossed it and raced it, and also moved to a new house. So I've been just a little bit BUSY!!
****you.gif
 

Tex Arcana

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I'D WIN said:
John,

Did you get everything figured out and cleaned up?

Figured out: pretty much, based on alot of research and everyone's help here and at TALON. Cleaned up: hell no, because I had an autocross today, and I want to see if I can strongarm the dealer into cleaning up the mess--including the blower and intercooler. If I can't, I'll at least get a new PVC valve, fresh air tube and maybe snorkel as well. THen I can get togetehr with some of my other Lightning comrades, and pull it down and clean it.

As far as the separators: One will go on the passenger side, before the tee, so it's filtering the flow to both the blower and the lower intake; the otehr will be on the driver side, flow direction TOWARD the snorkel, and perhaps with a check valve past that, to help prevent the backflow (tho, I am thinking that's not such a good idea, since all indications are that under boost, the PCV air flow actually reverses); also, I"m going to stuff steel wool into either the tubing just upstream from the valve cover ports, or directly into the baffle boxes in the valve covers themselves, to act as a pre-filter.
 

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