Oil level and dipstick

[CASwede]

Hello group,

 

The car I recently purchased (Zetec ZX3 including Raceline wet sump) was dripping oil two days after I got it home. I found the oil was actually coming from the bottom of a catch can from the PCV valve. The hose is loosely stuck in the can through an over-sized grommet, and I expect I either have a pinhole in the bottom of the plastic can, or its from the weak seal of the hose entering the can.

 

The dipstick I have reads that the oil level is spot on middle. However, the prior owner appears to have made a mark just below the "low" mark on the dipstick.

 

So, how accurate are the dipsticks? Would the Raceline sump throw the dipstick measure off if it's a stock Ford dipstick? Plenty of power. No misfire. No smoke. So I expect I'm probably just overfilled with oil. Anyone else have this issue?

 

I'll thank you in advance for this, and future questions. New owner, so I'll probably be a pest for a month or so.

[DavidL]

The hose to the catch can should vent to atmosphere, so should generally not make a tight seal. I made that mistake when I added a catch can to my X-flow.

[CASwede]

Ahh, I guess that would make sense to avoid pressurization.

 

And today after running the car a bit, I noticed that indeed oil is coming from the cam cover. I'll look around here for potential causes. Hoping I don't have piston ring issues...

[Pe7e]

Hey, Swede, I'm a Zetec newbie myself, but I have read that if a Zetec is leaking, it will be from the cam cover, so it looks like you're on the right track. And you have an advantage on me - my engine has a tube holder stuck into the dipstick port.

 

Pete

[James A]

Raceline, on their website has a dipstick "calibration" procedure, but I have found the stock dipstick to be pretty accurate in terms of the full and add marks.

Now to Zetecs and oil leakage, if you overfill a Zetec oil will flow out of the block breather (especially in right hand turns), the one under the headers, and if that is venting to a catch can it will quickly fill the catch can depending on how it is plumbed. I get little or no carry over from the cam cover breather but at one point would leak a pint or two every 1/2 hour out of the block breather to the catch can. I re-plumbed the breather so the hose goes straight up and then over to the catch can so what ever flows in to the hose can flow back in to the block.

But then, I bought a CFM breather that bolts in place of the PCV apparatus and plumbed that to the left side of the cam cover. So now any carry over goes in to the cam gallery and flows back to the block and the cam cover vents to the catch can. This set up works great!