Oil pump starvation issues

[brokenatcastlecombe]

Hi All,
am new here, so a bit of (short) history...... I have a 2002 V70T5, recently purchased, stripped out and bucket-seated, for a bit of fun as a track day car (certainly got some looks yesterday!).

So, took it to Castle Combe yesterday, first lap, no turbo power! Came back into the pits, eventually found that during a recent PCV system change, I had not done the clip for the intercooler pipe up properly and it had bolwn off, hence no turbo, my mistake, so fix it and go out again.

2nd lap (first wasn't actually completed as I had to exit via the pits!), off I go again, up over Avon Rise, and into Quarry. As I hit quarry, engine dies (power steering is hard to fight round that corner!), re-start the engine whilst rolling, goes OK for a couple of hundred yards, then notice oil light is on, and then hear the big ends rattling away..............gutted, in via the pits again, very slowly!

Let engine cool for an hour or so and start up again. No oil light this time, but still bad rattling (surprise, surprise!). Packed up and went home :-(

The night before, I had done an oil and filter change and an engine flush, I used Castrol Magnetec 10W/30 and oil level was checked and all good before going out on track, and still good on return.

Therefore thinking that this must have been some sort of oil starvation as I went round Avon Rise, would this make the engine cut-out? (I am more used to Ford Capri's that don't have ECU's by the way!!)

Are these engines known for this kind of trouble and if so, what can I do to prevent it happening again?

Help much appreciated,
Dave.

[kmb]

I don't have enough tech knowledge to answer your questions, but I did notice you used 10W/30 oil, I have seen a lot of posts on here where people have gone for a lot higher viscosity oil at higher temps for track use... maybe this is one of the reasons?

[Yosser]

Personally I use 10w60 for track use, as do some others. Some advise 10w50.

10w30 definitely sounds a bit thin.

That said I'd expect it to last more than 2 laps, perhaps there were underlying issues that you were unaware of.

[stribo]

I didn't have any issues a couple of years back, and I'd think I was going around corners a bit faster than you.;)
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo174/RSCougar/Castle%20Combe%202013/springaction059.jpg (http://s373.photobucket.com/user/RSCougar/media/Castle%20Combe%202013/springaction059.jpg.html)

[LeeT5]

I have a 2002 V70T5, recently purchased......

Therefore thinking that this must have been some sort of oil starvation as I went round Avon Rise, would this make the engine cut-out?

Are these engines known for this kind of trouble and if so, what can I do to prevent it happening again?


Recently purchased T5.....(stripped and then tracked)......kinda says it all really. Despite the rather thin oil change, PCV work etc....without meaning to sound like a pessimist, I very much doubt that any of your prep work had anything to do with it.
Sounds to me like your engine internals just let go due to fatigue. After all, you were 'thrashing it' around a race track!

My one and only question would be had you increased the boost at all? If so, it sounds like you may have bent a rod or two! I'm assuming it's a high mileage car?

[Mart5in]

Definitely the oil viscosity probably combined with a few other things. A few of my friends have suffered from xW30 oil, killed a Golf and an older V70 T5! It's just too thin once it gets hot.

If it's been neglected oil changes in the past, that won't help either.

10W-40 Semi synth Castrol GTX magnatec is what I use, mine is about 300hp (sometimes) and it's never missed a beat on track.
Mind you, it's FVSH and still under 100,000 on it.

As above though, if it's purely for track you'd be better with a 10w50 or 10w60 semi or fully synth.

[LeeT5]

Educate yourselves ladies.....

http://wiki.seloc.org/a/Oil_Labelling_Explained

Ensure your read the part towards the end about 'shear' point.

[brokenatcastlecombe]

Hi Lee, thanks for your reply. No playing with the boost has been done, but it had done 223,000 miles, so maybe you have hit the nail on the head with that, maybe my expectations were a little high!

[brokenatcastlecombe]

Hi Martin, thanks for your reply, all makes sense really, you live and learn! I shall use 10w50 or 60 with the replacement engine I have waiting to go in, seems to be the general consensus.