aggravation

So I go to pressurize the intake again today to try and locate any leaks.



I hear the familiar sound of air moving into the intake but it sounds like I have the regulator too low so I check and sure enough it is bottomed out showing no pressure of course there is some pressure but it isn't enough to even register so I tweak it up a touch so now it shows aprox. 5 psi while flowing. I don't know how much pressure is accumulating in the intake because it's escaping like it always did when I've tried this before but I'm thinking it if the leak magically stopped it would settle around 10 psi.

So, on with the leak hunt....

This time I noticed air escaping from the intake vent tubing that is part of the StageIII kit so I plug it thinking that might be why I was unable to get the intake to hold a set amount of pressure.
Then a few minutes later I notice a small drop of oil is coming out around the two vent tube stubs on the passenger cam cover...no big deal I'm thinking.
You can still hear the air entering the manifold and it sounds like it's filling a big empty tank like it always does but then something new happens, I hear a burbling sound from the front of the engine?!? I'm looking around...nothing...could it be air and water moving in the crossover bridge? I hope not!
I loosen the oil fill cap and a notice slight bit of pressure escapes and the burbling sound stops and the sound of the big tank being filled changes it's tone, it too almost goes away....

So I unplug the air supply and stand back to scratch my head and HOLY ****!!! The HORROR!!!!!



Apparently the oil exited the Vortech Blower, looking at the highest point of oil on anything in my previously oil free engine bay it seems to have come from behind the pulley:



So once you stop shaking your heads in disgust at the moron.... give me your hypothosis.
Is my problem limited to having forced oil from the blower, a seal on the pulley shaft I'm guessing, or do I need to look for other similar problems in the engine?

Once I pulled the air supply from the intake the output regulator on my air compressor settled at 25 psi...but the tank had emptied to that level as well, once I turned on the compressor the tank filled and the output regulator showed that I in fact set it to 40 psi!!! Now I don't think the internals of the engine ever saw that high of pressure because the air was always flowing but if there are any engineers in the room they might want to venture a guess as to what pressure conditions I may have created.

I'm off to buy some cat litter to clean up the Porsche/Exxon Valdez

AO

We'll just call you Cptn. Hazelwood!

Seriously though... Call Tim and ask him. 40 psi is pretty high. I doubt you did any real damage, but am surprised about the leak. It should have blown the dip stick.

BC

The seals on the blower are relatively easy to do. I wouldn't worry too much. But for next time (though I probably would have made the same decision) maybe limit the test pressure to 30.

aggravation

Yea, the first thing I looked at was the dipstick but unfortunately when I re-installed it I used two O-rings of slightly different size because the one felt too loose and bolting the tube in with those two really sealed it up tight...
Second thing I thought was I blew out the main seal in front but the whole top of the oil pan's leading edge is clean as a whistle.

Seems kind of weird that so much oil could move up into and out of the blower housing since the housing drains back to the same compartment that held the pressure that would have moved the head of oil up and out of the seal. I would have thought it would be equal pressure on both the oil feed and the oil drain...plus the drain is much larger ID than the feed....

Oh, well, fluid dynamics is not my forte says the man with the oily kitty litter scoop in his hand.

By the way, I should point out that the Vortech blower was my old blower from a previous owners install, Tim didn't sell me the blower. I just wanted to mention that in case it turns out the blower shouldn't have failed under 38 psi (took a close look at the regulator and it's dead on 38 psi)

rgranvold

I too had oil leakage problems (only from the basic pressure added by the blower itself and not any sort of pressure tester). To summarize, oil dip stick o rings - one on top for the dip stick and one where the oil dip stick tube inserts into the oil pan and a faulty oil return hose. Yours could be the oil dip stick o-ring on top of the dip stick tube. YMMV.....