waddisme

Any way to check before paying for track day? Accumsump busted and dumped all my oil. Drove about 100 yds with zero oil pressure. Have driven about 100 mi since and it seems to be doing OK, no unusual sounds etc. How many miles before I can cut up oil filter and look for metal? Any other things to check? Motor is a forged aluminum LS2 if that matters.

sperkins

I think 100 miles is enough to cut it open and check.
I wouldn't think you've done any damage with only going 100 yards.
I lost oil pressure in my old engine once (on track at WOT) for longer than that and it ran great for years afterwards.

flink

I'd run it. I had a friend who lost pressure in his BMW engine and ran it flat out for over half a lap before he noticed. He replaced the rod bearings but said the old ones looked fine.

I'd cut open the oil filter and have a good look in there for flakes of bearing bits.

froggy47

Oil analysis? $25.

blkbrd69

+1 Blackstone

RaleighSS

Think it all depends on the conditions .. Like others said you may be lucky but hard to tell if one bearing is scorched and "weaker" .. If ya do not notice any noises now I would blackstone it and run her ..

Not to hijack thread but I run Accusump also ... how did it fail? Under what conditions?

waddisme

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

Was just driving home from golfing. Tank wasn't even hooked up as repl coil from Canton had gone bad again. It looks like bottom just blew out as threads are ripped.

Going to send sample off tomorrow to Blackstone as I have my report from last summer to reference. Didn't think of that. Going to do oil filter just for peace of mind before hooking oil cooler back up and adding more oil. Had just changed oil less than 100 mi before tank blew.

Bill Dearborn

I doubt you had any damage. A long time ago I was driving my BB Corvette to the store and along the way the pressure gauge dropped to zero due to the oil pickup falling off the oil pump. Drove it two miles (including a steep hill) to get home. There wasn't any damage to the engine. As long as you aren't beating the hell out of it the oil film will protect the vital parts for quite a while.

Bill

stevensa

I would feel pretty good after 100 miles with no unusual behavior.

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

I would agree. A quick cut apart of the filter and strain the oil through a fine filter you can see if there are any particulates floating around in there....of course a major change in oil pressure would let you know something was wrong too.

We lost an oil pump drive belt on a W.C. car a number of years ago and the car went 5-6 seconds with no pressure...only had minor surface damage to the mains and it was spinning 7-7400 RPM when it happened.

Ramo7769

Is it me or are these Accusumps causing more harm than good? I will monitor my oil pressure on the track (I have a stock '99 FRC) and I will run an oil cooler. But all these stories about accusumps dumping oil have me too spooked to try it.

Bad Karma

I am beginning to question as well. Love to hear more opinions.

waddisme

Definitely issues with the EPC set up. I have gone through 2 coils although Canton says they are bullet proof and are rarely a problem. If I repl mine, it will be with manual valve.

RedLS1GTO

I'm an engineer by trade, specifically in the field of manufacturing and quality of metal parts. After seeing the way the Accusump is constructed with those threaded end caps, there is absolutely no way I would ever put 1 in my car.

The Moroso accumulator is a WAAAAAAAY better design.

Apologies for the continued hijack.

varkwso

Son #1 I lost oil cooler line on my 99 FRC with 120,000 mile engine in turn 1 VIR, immediately shut it down. After repairing the fitting, again, it lasted till Hog Pen on a parade lap. Rods came through everything.

RX-Ben

What is wrong with the threading the end caps and how is the Moroso held together?

RedLS1GTO

A minimal number of fine internal threads in aluminum on a diameter that size is not strong to begin with. I don't know the thread size offhand, but by eyeball alone, it looks wildly insufficient for the stresses that they see. If you have ever used an aluminum bolt for anything, you likely know how fragile the threads are. Add varying pressure, heat, vibration, tolerances and variances within the original manufacturing, wear to both the cap and the tube threads during rebuilds, and overall fatigue and it's no wonder that they blow out over time.

Even if they had the cap thread on the outside it would be a much stronger design. At least with that method, any expansion (even if it is very slight) would actually push the "tube" threads tighter against the cap as opposed to expanding them away as happens with the internal thread. As it is now, you have pressure trying to expand the "tube", you have heat expanding and contracting the 2 pieces ad different rates, you have very fragile aluminum threads, and you have a fairly substantial amount of pressure pushing straight out on the cap. I honestly can't believe that more of them don't come apart.

The Moroso that I have experience with is held in place with a big snap ring with a fairly large channel to seat it. With pressure, heat, expansion, vibration, etc the snap ring stays exactly where it should.




When I was looking for a picture, it looks like they have actually changed to an external thread design like described above which IMO would be a much better design than the internal thread. I have not seen 1 of these apart so I can't speak to it with much intelligence but it does look like it has a pretty beefy cap with a substantial threaded area.



Again, I have not personally tested any of this and my only personal experience with an Accusump is inspecting 1 that blew apart just as the 1 did here. I have however worked with multiple Moroso accumulators and from my experience, they seem like a very well designed and constructed part.

RedLS1GTO

OP... if you get a minute can you try to measure the threads on yours? How many? What depth?

I am just curious to see what the math says.

RX-Ben

Thanks for that. Any idea what the difference is in the Moroso to explain the fact that it is 4" longer?

SouthernSon

Although the retainers on the moroso may be stronger, I suspect that even with relatively few threads the accusump has quite a bit of bearing surface considering the diameter.