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Technical Is it normal for the engine to suck air from the oil level control rod?

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Technical Is it normal for the engine to suck air from the oil level control rod?

vladof

vladof

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As the title says, my car is sucking air through the oil level check valve. If I put my finger on it, I feel it sucking some air and then it stops, like some pressure is building up in there and as soon as it reaches a point it stops.

Is is bad or good?
 
vladof said:
As the title says, my car is sucking air through the oil level check valve. If I put my finger on it, I feel it sucking some air and then it stops, like some pressure is building up in there and as soon as it reaches a point it stops.

Is is bad or good?
Click to expand...
It should do both actualy sucking and blowing... the pistons are moving up and down... if it's too noticable perhaps your sump ventilation is blocked. Some badly worn engines spray oil from the dip stick....
 
Hmm I hope your car's nothing like my misses ex-astra - a sucking exhaust, sucking oil dip stick, and a sucking oil cap = no one knew what was wrong and she had to get rid of it as it was using 4Litres of oil every 1,000 miles... No leaks, and no smoke.
 
Tried it again just now and it wasn't blowing any air whatsoever, nor in or out.

Also removed the oil cap to see if it pulls air inside, I did feel it depressurizing when I removed but afterwords it was fine, not pulling not pushing.

Also noticed that the previous owner has put some silicone on the oil level rod to seal it. What was he sealing it for? :)

The car has Full Synthetic Selenia Oil inside, and the level has not dropped one mm since I changed it (4 months and 4000 miles ago).

Does the engine lose power if air is blown out or in the engine bay?
 
vladof said:
Does the engine lose power if air is blown out or in the engine bay?
Click to expand...
Bay or engine block? It shouldn't be blowing/sucking anything since you have the dipstick in and oil cap on. That's what the sump ventilation's for ;) But again, if it's spraying oil through the dip stick or oil cap you probably have some piston rings broken. In your case you should be just fine when you don't have any abnormal oil consumtion. Really odd though that someone tried to seal the dipstick :confused: I drove for about two days without my dipstick, after I changed the sump and oil pump.. and didn't notice any spillage or some stain on the bonnet's underside....
 
Hi neonglow. Thanks for the reply. With the cap and dipstick on, of course it doesn't suck anything. I meant when they're off. It's not spraying any oil through the dip stick although I must say that a few drops were sprayed outside the cap zone when I removed it.

The thing is I feel it sucking some air only after the engine is warm. When first starting it, I can't feel anything at all, no blow no suck. The dip stick is not a perfect seal and I can feel some air hissing when I open the bonnet after the engine is warm.

This is why I asked. :)

Davren said:
The JTD engine has a crankcase ventilation valve built into the cam cover, not sure whether your 1.8 engine has something similar.
Click to expand...

What do you mean? :) If I have it as well, it would be the reason why air is sucked through the dip stick?
 
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:D:D:D
vladof said:
Hi neonglow. Thanks for the reply. With the cap and dipstick on, of course it doesn't suck anything. I meant when they're off. It's not spraying any oil through the dip stick although I must say that a few drops were sprayed outside the cap zone when I removed it.

The thing is I feel it sucking some air only after the engine is warm. When first starting it, I can't feel anything at all, no blow no suck. The dip stick is not a perfect seal and I can feel some air hissing when I open the bonnet after the engine is warm.

This is why I asked. :)



What do you mean? :) If I have it as well, it would be the reason why air is sucked through the dip stick?
Click to expand...

Hm, that's weird... my engine doesn't suck or blow :)D) when both removed, but still it's a 1.6 liter... perhaps check the sump ventilation at your mechanic (you should have some oil outside where the gearbox is) but I've seen cars that have million miles on the clock, just imported from Italy, which sprayed oil from every vent they have and I know this is no good. As a student in Germany we had an engine built from MAHLE for a project, brand new, and it did the same thing, happened to be the oilrings again.. if you could compare it to another car you could notice some deviations in performance... which reminds me of the normal oil consumption you've mentiodned.. so it must be either the sump ventilation or ... normal dor the 1.8 :D
 
And here come my 3 favorite questions: :)

1. What are the immediate side effects?

2. Is it safe to drive?

3. What can I do to fix it? :)

Performance speaking, my Stilo was always the one that worked better than the other. Engine pulls like crazy. :)
 
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  1. If there's too much pressure in the crankcase, the dipstick could be blown out and oil could spray out (possibly why the previous owner has put silicone around it).
  2. Yes providing the dipstick doesn't blow out and spray oil everywhere.
  3. Check the valve (if fitted) and clean out the breather pipework. There's usually a brass mesh flame trap inside the pipe somewhere that could be blocked.
 
The only thing I would like to add is that in any case, air is sucked in not blown out, so at least I'm safe with that. :)

I will try to find out where it is, if this good whether (18 degrees celsius) in Bucharest holds.
 
Item #3 on this diagram from ePER is the 1.6 flame trap filter.

It's not shown as a seperate part for any of the larger engines, so either they don't have one or it's only supplied as part of a pipe.
.
 

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