Well FML first track day disaster.

[Marticus]

Welp it looks like I can't catch a break, spent the last year or so getting the car running as best I could and after dealing with a load of gear box issues I finally felt ready to get on track.

Drove 150 miles to the track and first session went great, car ran well nice and quick.

Half way through second session. Low Oil pressure warning!

Limped back to the pits, but by the time I got in the car was not sounding healthy at all.

Left it to cool down a bit and turned it on, and everything quietened back down...

So I limped the few miles back to the hotel, and everything sounded normal, but getting recovery to take me back and will see what kind if damage has been done.

Really hoping I haven't spun a bearing. Not sure what get hit first with low oil pressure.

Sorry for the rant, pretty bummed right now

[Jons1001]

Wishing you best of luck its nothing serious mate. Been following your posts and know you've put so much work into the car, fingers crossed.

[Marticus]

Wishing you best of luck its nothing serious mate. Been following your posts and know you've put so much work into the car, fingers crossed.

Thanks for the kind words, im feeling a bit more positive today, will drop the oilpan this week and see what there is to see. Did see a S3 motor for sale online. But more than I can afford at the min.

[pudding]

Hopefully just a momentary loss of oil pressure from the oil sloshing about during hard cornering.

That is why BMW M cars have baffled sumps and scavenge pumps.  MK7s are even worse than MK5s for oil surge. You often see Golf Rs belching out clouds of blue smoke on track from overwhelmed PCVs.  Anyway, hopefully nothing serious.  Look for brass coloured shavings in the next oil change and then you'll know for sure.

[Marticus]

Hopefully just a momentary loss of oil pressure from the oil sloshing about during hard cornering.

That is why BMW M cars have baffled sumps and scavenge pumps.  MK7s are even worse than MK5s for oil surge. You often see Golf Rs belching out clouds of blue smoke on track from overwhelmed PCVs.  Anyway, hopefully nothing serious.  Look for brass coloured shavings in the next oil change and then you'll know for sure.

Yeah the warning came up after a flat throttle left hander. Not so much a turn but enough g forces to push everything to the outside, and with flat foot at 5k rpm..well let's say I'm not hopeful.

The rattling noise and smoke coming out of the valve cover around piston 4 leaves me thinking there is a 0% chance that there isn't damage done somewhere.

With that said, the engine was running quiet when I was taking on and off the truck, so I'll do and oil change and drop the pan, and search for glitter.

But I'm leaning towards trying to keep this motor limping along for now if possible without too much investment, and building up a CDL motor for track work, which I'm guessinging would mainly involve things like a baffled sump. balance shaft delete, maybe oil cooler etc.

[pudding]

Hopefully just a momentary loss of oil pressure from the oil sloshing about during hard cornering.

That is why BMW M cars have baffled sumps and scavenge pumps.  MK7s are even worse than MK5s for oil surge. You often see Golf Rs belching out clouds of blue smoke on track from overwhelmed PCVs.  Anyway, hopefully nothing serious.  Look for brass coloured shavings in the next oil change and then you'll know for sure.

Yeah the warning came up after a flat throttle left hander. Not so much a turn but enough g forces to push everything to the outside, and with flat foot at 5k rpm..well let's say I'm not hopeful.

The rattling noise and smoke coming out of the valve cover around piston 4 leaves me thinking there is a 0% chance that there isn't damage done somewhere.

With that said, the engine was running quiet when I was taking on and off the truck, so I'll do and oil change and drop the pan, and search for glitter.

But I'm leaning towards trying to keep this motor limping along for now if possible without too much investment, and building up a CDL motor for track work, which I'm guessinging would mainly involve things like a baffled sump. balance shaft delete, maybe oil cooler etc.

Aaaaah bugger, the noises don't sound too promising.

I would definitely look into some baffled sump options and maybe an external oil cooler as well and you should be good!  You might benefit from a catch tank as well.  I wouldn't use one on a road car, but they definitely have their place on track cars.

[OllieVRS]

Check the oil for glitter, if it's fairly minimal the damage may not be too bad.

It's very important to measure the oil pressure to see if what happened was just 'oil sloshing about'. Get an oil pressure test kit, let the car get fully warmed up and measure the oil pressure at idle, 1000 RPM, 2000 RPM and 3000 RPM.

If at any moment during the test the oil pressure drops below 1 bar (14.5psi) you've got a serious oil system problem to solve, so that's when it's time to turn the engine off and investigate.

I can help you figure out what the issue is if you can report back the previously mentioned oil pressure numbers.

[Marticus]

Check the oil for glitter, if it's fairly minimal the damage may not be too bad.

It's very important to measure the oil pressure to see if what happened was just 'oil sloshing about'. Get an oil pressure test kit, let the car get fully warmed up and measure the oil pressure at idle, 1000 RPM, 2000 RPM and 3000 RPM.

If at any moment during the test the oil pressure drops below 1 bar (14.5psi) you've got a serious oil system problem to solve, so that's when it's time to turn the engine off and investigate.

I can help you figure out what the issue is if you can report back the previously mentioned oil pressure numbers.

Thanks for the suggestion and offer, I'll check into it for sure, but want to assess potential damage first as that will decide what I do next and if I keep the engine.

I had planned for oil temp and pressure gauges at some point, so that will be a higher priority now I guess.

[Marticus]

Well after a few evenings spread over the last couple if weeks I finally managed to get the stripped bolts out and the oil pan off.

What greeted me was not pleasant.




So, based on that I'm fairly certain at this point I'm going to need a rebuild or swap. Or both because the weather is changing here, the Mrs has been patient but that's coming to an end, and we will need the car back up and running.

So in an attempt to make lemonade out of this situation I've narrowed my choices down to:

A: buy the cheapest possible replacement motor, drop it in and hope it works while I rebuild this one for higher power and better longevity on track.

B: spend more money on a CDL motor and drop it in, sell this motor if possible, and hope that the new motor is in good condition, and try to build it up over time.

Advantage of CDL motor is obvious, disadvantage is gambling on an unknown motor long term..

[mjmallia]

I would say option A to get the car going again.

[pudding]

Oh no! I guess that confirms it. I like parmesan shavings, but not bearing shavings 

It's a tough call regarding what to do.  Repair it to make do, or repair it to last and get more out of it.  Neither is going to be especially cheap, least of all the CDL option, but in for a penny, in for a pound. Depends on your long term plans I guess.

[OllieVRS]

Personally I've pulled a big chunk of metal out of my engine and it's still running to this day. I changed the connecting rod bearings (in situ) but the metal chunk wasn't from them. Still a mystery.

If you haven't already ordered a replacement engine I still recommend doing an oil pressure test, you don't need a whole in-cabin oil pressure gauge setup, just a cheap test kit from Amazon to screw in directly into the engine. Your engine may still be fine, provided nothing else is obviously wrong (audibly or visually).

This is the 1cm long shard I found in my sump in Aug 2021, after low oil pressure:



There's still a little hope