This past weekend Gina and I went out to Grattan for two days of driving, plus camping in the infield. It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately it only really ended up being one day of driving. The first day Vera was doing great, feeling very stable and consistent, and I was putting down times in the 1:40 range with a best in the 1:38s. I was far from fastest out there, and was mostly leaving it in 3rd still, despite there being 3 places where I think 2nd could have helped. Probably the best session to watch would be the second one, where I got a bit sideways after the "jump" at about 13:15 through a few consecutive corners.
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LoginThe second day was a bit rougher. First... a few too many beers the night before convinced me to skip the first session in order to sleep some more. Oops. I felt much better after that though, and was getting ready to go out in the second session when the low oil warning light came on. Sure enough, oil level was low, so I had to add about 2 1/2 quarts of oil to get it back to the full line (I don't know that it was full at the start of the first day, honestly I forgot to check since we were camping at the track and I was busy making breakfast etc before the track went hot), but then when I went out, about 2 or 3 laps in I started getting a sporadic misfire above 6000 RPM or so, bad enough to flash the CEL and cause power to be cut. The CEL was P0302 - misfire rotor 2, and sure enough the plugs in that rotor (especially the trailing) were wet with oil. Cleaned the plugs, reinstalled them, and went for a test-drive and wound it out (on public roads, so I couldn't pin the throttle for too long)... no problems, no misfires, and the power felt fine. However, when I went out on track again the misfire was back on the second lap. At this point I decided to pack up & head home, I didn't want to risk any further damage from a misfire or potentially a damaged oil control ring before driving the car 2 1/2 hours home. When idling leaving the track, I noticed that there was white smoke coming out of the exhaust that smelled very oily. However, winding the engine out on the way home getting onto the highway etc, there was no misfire.
Well, I made it home fine, and this morning I pulled the intake apart and found a bit of oil in the intake system. The accordian tube before the throttle had some trapped in it, and there was a stream running down into the airbox that stained the air filter and dripped out of the hole in the bottom of the air box.
All of this seems to point towards accidentally pouring oil into the PCV system when refilling the oil; the coils are the BHR kit with only 6000 miles or so on it, with new plugs and wires at the same time so I think its unlikely that they would already be failing. However, its possible that the blow-by is increasing, causing more oil to be forced into the intake at high speeds. I know the 04's and 05's are prone to PCV issues - did this extend all the way to 09? Anything else I should check or consider?
I plan on installing a catch can in the line too, does anyone have a suggestion for which? I'm leaning towards one of the compact baffled mishimoto clones (like $20 vs $120, and they look identical inside and out), and changing the plugs before the next track day at Waterford on Aug 23rd.