my oil cap exploded!!!!!! HELP!!

[e30mybaby]

but it shot out into the air! there was some major pressure in there!

[Holland]

Well I can't say I ever heard of an exploding oil cap before, although exploding rear glass takes the cake.

[coreyw]

Did you wash your engine with it running? Always start the car when you wash the engine, that way if water gets anywhere it shouldn't be itll burn up before it can puddle and do bad things.

[mamzak]

Did you wash your engine with it running? Always start the car when you wash the engine, that way if water gets anywhere it shouldn't be itll burn up before it can puddle and do bad things.

Probably not a good idea to put cold water on hot metal repeatedly.

[e30mybaby]

i was told to wash it when the engine is cold and then start it after to burn it off and thats what i always do!

[trackjunkie21]

Maybe the pcv was clogged and too much pressure built up? The cap could have been weak that's why it blew off.

[e30mybaby]

so i found out the gas cap and oil cap is the same! i love germans!! anyways after awhile it started without the oil cap on! then i put on the cap then started it it again and it exploded again and dies! it will only run on 3 cyl sometimes to now! it starts ok without the oil cap on but when its on it wont start most of the time and when it does it explodes!


the last few weeks i have been burning a lot of oil and its been getting a little on the hot side!

[Jean]

What condition is the m10 in, does it smoke? It must have some crazy amount of blow by or something....

[e30mybaby]

its pretty good! i bought it with 140 and its got 170k now and the only problem i have had was the oil burning and getting a little hot! the e30 tick has gotten louder lately though! and in the last month it has started to burn a lot more!

[Dissembler]

Sounds like your PCV system is completely plugged. When the crankcase can't vent, all the extra pressure travelled through the oil passages and into the head where it found the easiest way to relieve itself - the plastic oil cap. Also explains why the car stalls as soon as you put the oil cap on, and can run with it off.

Its not a matter of the M10 being so powerful that it can blow its oil cap, its about compression. All the excess pressure in the crankcase is stalling the pistons as they travel down. The more the engine runs, the more pressure that builds up in the crankcase until the engine stalls or blows the oil cap.

Pull the PCV and see if it runs okay.

[e30mybaby]

ok ill check that!

this happens to though when im trying to start-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CqPkB2Teuo

ps-this is not me lol i just found this! and its like the last 20 sec of the video!

[LJ851]

what is happening in that vid is a backfire in the intake. it might be possible for a backfire to work its way back to under the valve cover and blow your cap off. does your car have a dist cap ? its prob wet or you are crossfiring somehow cause you sprayed water all over your shit.

[e30mybaby]

no its not wet i already checked all that!

[ttrousdell]

on the ships i worked on with huge diesels there are blast doors on the sides of the engines and on the doors are pressure relieve valves. there have been catastrophic engine explosions where the crankcase breather failed and lube oil vapors filled up the engine, ignited and blew apart the engine. i thinking you had a build up of flammable vapors

[Raxe]

Man that's crazy! So it actually shot like a gun! Wow! I haven't heard of that happening before! Did it dent your hood at all! Probably not because it was plastic! If it was metal I'd be worried about that! You're lucky!