F355GTS Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 At Combe this morning having a great time, fastest car there although the serious challenge cars hadn't gone out and disaster struck, noticed falling Oil pressure and switched off immediately, on inspection the Alternator belt had come off and taken the dry sump belt with it ☹️ Hopefully I caught it in time but what is the wisdom on these things, fit another belt, start and see what the oil pressure is? or drop the bottom end and have a look? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Phillips Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Fairly common occurance for racers. ☹️ Usually the oil is still sticking to the metal surfaces - although mighty thin as a film. If you feel that you really did catch it before losing all oil pressure and nothing was overheating after you switched off then you may be lucky. I ran 2 laps at Lydden on a Cosworth engine without any scoring [did have an oil additive though] Trevor Zetec 187bhp engine for sale here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Plato Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Sorry , deleted as I was thought you had a K series dry sump system ........ Vx - I dunno ?? dave Edited by - Dave Jackson on 2 Apr 2004 13:03:06 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Wong1697456877 Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Has happened to me a couple of times. The Vx seems to be able to survive moments of loss of oil pressure like this. I believe Arnies survived quite a long period of loss of oil pressure. A bonus is that when the dry sump pump goes, all the oil is in the bottom of the engine splashing around. Fit a oil pressure warning light - the bigger the better, and take spare belts everywhere you go. I doubt you've done any serious damage. Edited by - Alex Wong on 2 Apr 2004 13:51:31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinfourth Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Anyone got numbers for a K series dry sump belt caterham gold pump Blatting round aberdeen wondering wether to buy a jumper or heater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Mark, You'll get around 1/2 mile on the road before it gets ugly, on the track it might be a different matter. Sump off and check the B/E caps is best option. Fat Arn Slay the K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino ferrana Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 The K-series dry sump pump belt failure is pretty rare actually. I don't know of anyone directly who has had one go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355GTS Posted April 2, 2004 Author Share Posted April 2, 2004 Thanks for the advice so far, just been to Caterham to get the belts etc (inc a set of spares for the next time!) Alex got a big light which comes on at 25psi it just started to flicker when I switched off Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355GTS Posted April 2, 2004 Author Share Posted April 2, 2004 Well there's good news and some bad news, managed ot get it started and the Oil Pressure settled at a nice 55 psi on tickover, the same as it's always done, rises when the throttle is blipped the bad news is the Alternator went pop! The whole problem was caused by a poorly spaced and fitted bottom bolt and ultimately the bolt holding the top mount to the block had fallen out! Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 I had a similar problem and the bottom lug of the alt sheared on the last race of the day. Fortunately it kept together and degraded as opposed to flinging the belt off. Started the race with charge only above 3500, ended the race with no charge at any revs. The alt shock itself to bits. I won that race I found the alt had been assembled under tension not floating on split spigot thingy. New alt and sorted installation both have been fine. I have though long and hard about a DS belt warning light since then... Hants (North) and Berkshire Area club site here My racing info site here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 My alternator split in half, thre its belt, took out the oil belt and stuffed the bearings. You have been lucky!!! 😳 Fat Arn Slay the K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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