Oil Separator Maintenance

[bottlerocket]

Has anyone had the oil separator apart, cleaned it? Wondering if someone wants to post a picture tutorial?

Have 2500 trail miles on my stock LTX and no issues. Just wondering if stock guys are having issues or just the MPI guys with relocation issues? Was thinking maybe I would try to clean mine in the fall when I do my oil change? Is it a good idea to mess with it or leave it alone?

I wouldn't leave that oil in there all summer, IMHO change it now.

 

[NOS-PRO]

I'll be checking mine tonight....ripping it apart.

Yup, going up one last time

So, if this is correct, the bottom hose is the drain?

 

[shagman]

I'll be checking mine tonight....ripping it apart.

Yup, going up one last time

So, if this is correct, the bottom hose is the drain?

got my parts today. might dive up saturday morning, ride and go home. what time will you be there.

 

[NOS-PRO]

I'll be checking mine tonight....ripping it apart.

Yup, going up one last time

So, if this is correct, the bottom hose is the drain?

got my parts today. might dive up saturday morning, ride and go home. what time will you be there.

I will be leaving home around 3am, get up there around 8am UP time. Staying thru Sunday

Very cool!

 

[YamahaTim]

I'll be checking mine tonight....ripping it apart.

Yup, going up one last time

So, if this is correct, the bottom hose is the drain?

No, the bottom one is not a drain, it's not really a drain, it's just more of a relief for the oil, when it builds up crank case pressure. The two that run in line with each other, and then the other one is to blow off.

 

[Amer Kovac]

No, the bottom one is not a drain, it's not really a drain, it's just more of a relief for the oil, when it builds up crank case pressure. The two that run in line with each other, and then the other one is to blow off.

Hi there. thanx alot for all the really great posts, helping me alot. I had problem today with my oil separator probably frozen. I have a 190 MCX kit on my viper and the oil was coming out of the air intake. it eventually sucked the oil trough the turbo and inside engine so it died. i didnt see the oil spill at first so i tried to crank it again, but found out cylinders were filled with oil.
After reading some posts here i took in inside warm garage, took down the turbo, was filled with oil. then got off the oil separator, it was filled with water. i cleaned it with breake cleaner. i can se the ball valve inside down in one of the hoses, but is it supposed to be all loose and making rattling sound when you shake it? I thought it maybe was supported by a spring?again, is it supposed to make rattling sound when you shake the separator ?

 

[Martens199]

Yup mine rattles too. When i first took it out and shook it the rattling was more dull. It was filled with oil and crap. Cleaned with brake clean much better now. The ball can actually move freely. Which makes the rattle.

 

[yamahaguy]

Hi there. thanx alot for all the really great posts, helping me alot. I had problem today with my oil separator probably frozen. I have a 190 MCX kit on my viper and the oil was coming out of the air intake. it eventually sucked the oil trough the turbo and inside engine so it died. i didnt see the oil spill at first so i tried to crank it again, but found out cylinders were filled with oil.
After reading some posts here i took in inside warm garage, took down the turbo, was filled with oil. then got off the oil separator, it was filled with water. i cleaned it with breake cleaner. i can se the ball valve inside down in one of the hoses, but is it supposed to be all loose and making rattling sound when you shake it? I thought it maybe was supported by a spring?again, is it supposed to make rattling sound when you shake the separator ?

The reason you pumped out the oil is because the water was frozen and the ball check could not vent crankcase pressure therefor it vented via the separator drain line and pushed your oil out. A easy fix for that would be to install MPI's air/oil separator relocate kit. When its installed the separator drain line is relocated to the stator cover side and above the oil level(that's the important part) so in the event of a frozen ball check next time you would not push the oil out. The kit was designed to help with loosing oil when the sleds on its side and works very well for that, its just a added bonus that it also corrects pumping oil out in the event of a frozen box. You still need to clean the separator box from time to time just like everyone talked about on here.

 

[Mtnviper]

Just a heads up guys, even if you have the separator drain relocation mod it's still very important to clean/maintain your separator box, probably even more so.
When the tank freezes the vent path is blocked causing the oil tank to pressurize. As the tank builds pressure, it's looking for an escape path. With a sled that has a stock separator drain, the path of least resistance is to push the oil back out through the separator drain and in to the air box.
With the separator drain relocated to the mag cover and a frozen separator tank, that path of least resistance not longer exists and the pressure can continue to build until it reaches the point where it could blow a hose or effect oil pump scavenge function.