I have a Vortech V3 unit on a 2006 rev-up engine and I am running the 2.87 pulley. After my last track day I noticed the smell of the gear oil used to lubricate the unit and it appears to have a leak in the "greenish" color seal around the input shaft in the back of the unit. This is the shaft that the cog belt drives.

Has anyone with a V3 had this issue and if so can you please let me know what caused this? I assume the seal is blown. Is this a rebuild issue?

Thanks for your help.

 

No one? This is usually a chatty groups of lads here. At least I could have been told to search first!

Anyway, I pulled the blower and it is the rear bearing. I guess I will need the 77k one...

 

hmm the V3 oil is red.... but seems like you figured it out anyhow.

Vortech rebuilds are cheap. I'm sure they would be interested to know what happened as track days should be standard fare

 

Yep, the oil is red, but I had already cleaned the blower and the car frame by the time I took the pics. The oil has a very strong sulfur smell, so I wanted to get it off before it made the garage smell horrible.

I think I will order the 928 high speed seal kit but I have not been able to confirm whether it fits the V3 units or not. The site only reads V1 and V2 and searching here has been inconclusive. I plan on calling them in the morning.

 

Did you figure this out? Having the same issue and it's coming from the vent. Called Vortech and they said if you are tracking the car it's sloshing out and said just keep an eye on the level. I'd like to get something that would prevent this as the car is nearly 100% track

 

mine spits out fluid from the brass valve up top.. couldn't get it to stop so I wrapped it in teflon tape and it's been a lot better about spewing over my engine bay. I figured a small amount of boost was leaking into the compressor where the gears and fluid are.

 

UH OH, you DID remove that brass plug and install the vent that came with the kit, right???? Once installed int he car you MUST install the vent or the case will over pressuize and blow the seals out.

 

I bought the kit used.. What vent are you talking about

 

from teh dealer, the V3 units come with plugs on the housing. When installed for the 1st time, the plug is replaced for a vent.

It musta been done, otherwise the unit is leaky before you bought it.

 

ah yeah mine is spewing out of the vented plug, I found this..

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39...vent-plug.html

 

Ok as long as that vent is in there.

If pressure is high in the crank causing it to vent the MOST LIKELY cause is overfull fluid.

 

The issue with mine was twofold. It was spilling oil out of the breather on the fill plug and the rear shaft seal was walking off and letting the oil out. It was coming off due to over-spinning although I suspect the seal seat was not machined as well as it should have.

The solution for the spilling out the breather hole is to fill the unit with less than 4 ounces. After pressing Vortech tech help on the issue they they tell me that for road racing in particular you need just 2.5 to 3 ounces to compensate for the oil expanding at temperature. More than that amount and it barfs it out.

The rear input shaft seal was tricky. Got the bearings and seal kit from 928 Motorsports, and it worked fine for a week but then it blew the seal out again. I used a high temp RTV to press in and try to better hold the seal, lasted a week, blew again. Darned seal.

I took the blower part again and noticed that there are pre-threaded holes around it as if to hold a retainer. I talked to Vortech about it and they claimed that no such retainer existed. So I made one. Pics below:



I pressed in the seal with some high temp gasket sealant around it, bolted in the retainer and I have not lost a seal or drop of oil since. About 20k miles and plenty of track time since then...

I think I will sell the retainer to Vortech!

 

Damn dude, I'm impressed!! If I ever have this issue I know who to talk to !!

 

I'm just blowing out internal seals, pushing oil into my engine.


Just heard of larger drain hose, most likely the culprit. Or the 21+psi, lol