Zenrat's Flying Circus

[Rick Lowe]

It's English.  Everything English leaks oil.

Like Mater said "If there's no oil under it, there's no oil in it."

[Old Wombat]

That thing leaks oil like a Phantom!

It's English.  Everything English leaks oil.

[/sarcasm

It's a radial. ALL radials leak like a sieve!

[zenrat]

ISTR that sleeve valve radials were more prone to leaks than those with poppet valves.  Or was it that they had a higher oil consumption?
From an engineering PoV I have never been convinced that the extra complication of the mechanism and all those sliding, turning contact areas were worth the trouble.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeve_valve

The underside picture seems to show more oil leaks on the oil cooler side.  Which makes sense i suppose but you would have thought they could have got their pipe unions oil tight (says the Triumph owner...).

[Old Wombat]

My line about radials all leaking like sieves is based on experience.

In the RAN I worked on Grumman Trackers with Wright R-1820 Cyclones &, during my posting to the FAA Museum (in its extremely primitive stages) on the Sea Fury's Bristol Centaurus & the DC-3/C-47's Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasps (along with the Firefly's Rolls-Royce Griffon, the T.34 Vampire's Goblin & the Sea Venom's Ghost, among others). All of those engines, sleeve or poppet, leaked oil like incontinent ..... puppies.

Also, during oil filter changes, oil would run (not drip) into the most inaccessible areas & on the first engine run that oil would streak out along the fuselage/nacelle & ruin all the hard work that had gone into cleaning the bloody thing!

[zenrat]

So where did they leak from?  Joint faces?  Oil lines?  Breathers?  Everywhere?

[Pellson]

My line about radials all leaking like sieves is based on experience.

In the RAN I worked on Grumman Trackers with Wright R-1820 Cyclones &, during my posting to the FAA Museum (in its extremely primitive stages) on the Sea Fury's Bristol Centaurus & the DC-3/C-47's Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasps (along with the Firefly's Rolls-Royce Griffon, the T.34 Vampire's Goblin & the Sea Venom's Ghost, among others). All of those engines, sleeve or poppet, leaked oil like incontinent ..... puppies.

Also, during oil filter changes, oil would run (not drip) into the most inaccessible areas & on the first engine run that oil would streak out along the fuselage/nacelle & ruin all the hard work that had gone into cleaning the bloody thing!

Are you absolutely certain it wasn't my Land Rovers you were working on? I see uncanny similarities.. 🤪

[zenrat]

We had a bloke in the Triumph owners club who was pedantic about his bike to the point of obsession.  He once has the mudguards resprayed because the paint on the inside of them was discoloured after it was ridden on wet roads by a magazine road tester writing a feature on it.
He only rode it himself when it was guaranteed no rain.
So one day he had entered it in our bike show and put it on display in the car park.  We used to light the bonfire with a mixture of petrol and dirty engine oil and we proceeded to drip some of this on the ground under his bike.
We got someone to say to him "thought your bike didn't leak" and just happened to be standing next to it when he came out to have a look.
He just turned straight to us and said "very funny, the oil in my bike is clean...".

 

[Old Wombat]

Fred, all the oil lines (actually all the lines; hydraulic oil, engine oil, fuel) were flush metal seals (no rubber/other seals that could deteriorate) but, even on properly torqued connections (& they generally were), oil eventually worked its way out, especially from pressurised lines. Low pressure scavenger lines leaked considerably less but they still leaked. Plus, they all tended to rapidly develop leaks around the cylinder heads, most notably from the lower cylinders, where oil pooled whilst the engines were shut down.

(Oh, I forgot to mention the the Gannet's Double Mamba in the list above.)

[Nick]

I was never able to stop the very minor oil leak in my first Focus. It would announce its presence with an unpleasant burning scent when the car stopped but on investigation all that could be seen was a teeny tiny trace of smoke on the back of the engine. I applied several brands of cleaner to the engine, drained and replaced the oil to the right levels, I even changed the head gasket to no effect.

The problem finally stopped when I span the car into a tree and it went to a scrap yard 

[PR19_Kit]

ISTR that sleeve valve radials were more prone to leaks than those with poppet valves.  Or was it that they had a higher oil consumption?

Both of the above, as recounted by my Dad umpteen times, usually about Hercules and Centaurus engines.

The only motorcycle I ever owned, or rode, was a Triumph Bonneville (with a sidecar...) and my right foot will NEVER go rusty as a result! 

[kerick]

All I know is that at air shows the crews are constantly wiping oil from under the engine cowlings. All day long....

[zenrat]

Thanks Womby.

I have a theory that British motorcycles were designed to leak as a corrosion prevention measure.  A thin layer of oil over the frame (and the rider, and the  brakes, and the tyres...) would keep the winter road salt at bay.
I certainly never had a British frame rot out like my Honda Shadow did.

[NARSES2]

So one day he had entered it in our bike show and put it on display in the car park.  We used to light the bonfire with a mixture of petrol and dirty engine oil and we proceeded to drip some of this on the ground under his bike.

For one horrible moment I thought you were going to say "and lead the trail away into the bushes and then light it" 

[zenrat]

So one day he had entered it in our bike show and put it on display in the car park.  We used to light the bonfire with a mixture of petrol and dirty engine oil and we proceeded to drip some of this on the ground under his bike.

For one horrible moment I thought you were going to say "and lead the trail away into the bushes and then light it" 

 

[zenrat]

I've started painting the Tempest and then immediately paused while waiting for a set of transfers to arrive.

And i've made progress on thePushmepullyou.  I've given it to the Victorian Republican Police post WW2.

Steyr Pushmepullyou WIP 28-09-2022 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr