Puking oil out of this vent... Options

[jcwells]

Hey, all...

I took my teener out to a SCCA autocross event yesterday. Added 1/2 qt Brad Penn overfull to make sure that I had enough. I've got a tuna-can. Drove 100 miles to Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR), car running like a top. Made my first three runs, everything working great (I'm slow, not the car).

Third run complete, parked back on grid to get ready for fourth run. Look underneath, see a puddle of oil forming near the drivers side rear. Dang, what'd I break? Closer inspection shows that oil is dripping from above the tin, not below. Poking around inside, I see that one of the oil vent hoses has come loose, and the vent had puked out about 1/2 cup of oil onto the engine tin. I had some oil on my rear tire, so I bagged my last run, and headed home.

Here are some pics of what I've found:

I've got a Raby oil ventilation/recirculation box mounted on the firewall:


Here is the vent that the hose popped off of:


Here is the end of the hose that popped off:


Here is a picture of the hose:


Closer inspection of the hoses plumbed into the ventilation system shows that each of them are quite soft and gooey. It seems to me that these hoses are not up to the task of handling oil vapors. The hoses aren't more than two years old.

So, here are some questions that I'd like to ask:

• What type/spec of hose should I be using to handle this duty?
• What type of connectors/clamps can I use on new hoses to positively lock them on to the vent nipples?
• Vendor sources for these?

TIA for your help on this!

John

[jcwells]

Hey, guys...

Sorry, was offline for a while...

Thanks for the collection of responses. Allow me to respond to a few;

Racer Chris - If there's enough pressure inside the rocker box to pop a hose you have more problems than a little extra oil in the sump. Crankcase pressure will not exceed 5" H2O - ever, in a healthy engine. That's only about 0.2 psi by the way.

I don't think that I had an overpressure issue. If you look at the end of the hose, it's degraded pretty bad from oil exposure. It *barely* fit on the vent connection at the head end at all. The breather hose from the oil fill tower to the box is in exactly the same shape. It pops off of the oil tower when I pull the dipstick to check the oil level! Sneeze on them hard, and they fall off.

r_towle - 1/2 quart overfill is fine for an autox...when you turn hard corners, you fill up the heads with oil so your breather system needs to be really tight...

This is what I had always read about T4 oil levels and autocrossing. This particular course had a number of high-g turns at high revs. The hoses originally (when I got the car last August) fit nice and tight. Not so much, now!

The Cap'n - There's water hose, good for water, fuel hose, good for fuel, can be used for water in a pinch, and oil/vapor hose, used for oil, and for oil vapor. You have water hose, not good for oil. Replace it.

That's the plan. I'm soliciting advice for what to use, and how to connect it. SirAndy's suggestion of the OEM cloth covered hose sounds like the most obvious solution. I see that he is using standard hose clamps to connect. Any suggestions for vendor sources outside of the local neighborhood Porsche dealer?

brant - nice to see another colorado guy around
wow those are healthy dyno numbers... (what altitude)

you should join up with our colorado gang some time.

was it a pca Autox?

Thanks! The dyno numbers come from Jake Raby's engine dyno at Aircooled Heaven. He did the testing of the engine for the previous owner, after the engine was built at DTM Engineering in Atlanta. The only credit that I can take is that I bought well!

I've done a few drives with some of the Colorado guys, including the recent one when the former Phoenix 914-6 GT (Jon Bovey) was in town. I've been to a handful of Ferg's Coffee and Cars events in Louisville too.

I've been doing the SCCA autox events for the last couple of seasons, and I try to do the local PCA events as well. I'm hoping the schedule is clear for the one this weekend at Front Range airport. But I gotta get these stupid hoses fixed first!

Tom_T - PS - I just added your L80E's pic an your VIN listing, to my "inspiration photos file" for my 73 914S/914-2.0's resto!

Cool! My car was local to your area with it's first few owners. It was originally sold by Bozzani Porsche/Audi in Monrovia. I have no idea if the dealer still exists.