Helping a Berg 5 breath

[TomJ]

Hi All,

Has anyone out there with a Berg 5 suffered from oil blowout even with a breather box? This is happening during a spirited drive on the street.

I have a -6 breather up to a fast fab custom breather box on the firewall.

It would be great to hear if anyone has any other experiences or suggestions.

Cheers

Tom

[ESH]

This is happening during a spirited drive on the street.

You surprise me Tom. 

[Donny B.]

Yep!  I solved the problem by running a line from the original breather to a catch tank over the ring gear housing.  I have a drain at the bottom of the catch tank to the ring gear housing so any oil drains back into the tranny.  I also vented the top of the catch tank and ran a line from there to a breather with baffles in my passenger side wheel well.  That breather has one of those small K&N filters on it.  I personally believe you could just get away with a line from the transmission breather to the ring gear housing.  Then it would just pump the oil from the front to the ring gear.  When I was driving long distance (especially when the tranny was cold) I could pump out a quart of oil in a few hundred miles.  I have a friend that had the same problem and he ran a line to the drain plug on the side of the tranny.  He just tapped the plug for a barbed fitting.  You have to pull the fitting to remove the plug but that's a small price to pay for not losing gear oil.

[Bill Schwimmer]

Next time you have the trans. out, plug the breather in the intermediate housing & drill & tap for a barb in the ring gear/ diff area on top of the trans case. Put a k&n  filter on that.  The 5th gear in the nose cone,  basically works as an oil pump & it pumps oil out the vent hole in the housing. My trans has not leaked thru the breather on top.  hope this helps    Bill

[TomJ]

This is happening during a spirited drive on the street.

You surprise me Tom. 

You know me well Mat.

[TomJ]

Yep!  I solved the problem by running a line from the original breather to a catch tank over the ring gear housing.  I have a drain at the bottom of the catch tank to the ring gear housing so any oil drains back into the tranny.  I also vented the top of the catch tank and ran a line from there to a breather with baffles in my passenger side wheel well.  That breather has one of those small K&N filters on it.  I personally believe you could just get away with a line from the transmission breather to the ring gear housing.  Then it would just pump the oil from the front to the ring gear.  When I was driving long distance (especially when the tranny was cold) I could pump out a quart of oil in a few hundred miles.  I have a friend that had the same problem and he ran a line to the drain plug on the side of the tranny.  He just tapped the plug for a barbed fitting.  You have to pull the fitting to remove the plug but that's a small price to pay for not losing gear oil.

Thanks Donny, I have the -4 breather on the nose cone blanked off and just the -6 on top of the box up to the breather. I have just got -6 to -10 adapters today and was planning to change the pipe between the box and breather. The catch can sounds like a great idea and I especially like the drain plug idea.. Let's see how the -10 pipe works..

Cheers

Tom

[TomJ]

Next time you have the trans. out, plug the breather in the intermediate housing & drill & tap for a barb in the ring gear/ diff area on top of the trans case. Put a k&n  filter on that.  The 5th gear in the nose cone,  basically works as an oil pump & it pumps oil out the vent hole in the housing. My trans has not leaked thru the breather on top.  hope this helps    Bill

Thanks Bill. So basically you only have the breather on top of the box? I have the -4 vent on the front nose cone blanked and only have the -6 on top of the box. As just replied to Donny I have just got some -6 to -10 fittings today and will test changing the pipe between the box and breather from -6 to -10. This may help with the misting..

It sounds like there are a few different options that people are using, it's just strange as the box previously was only breathing from the front and it never had a problem, this box is rebuilt with a quaife and behaving a bit different!

I will report back next weekend when I get her out again for blast.

Cheers

Tom

[Fastbrit]

Bill is right - that's all you need. Trust me (and him).

[TomJ]

Bill is right - that's all you need. Trust me (and him).

Thanks Keith!

[nicolas]

..., this box is rebuilt with a quaife and behaving a bit different!

Cheers

Tom

what do you mean by 'different'. if only the quaife was added?

BTW. i think the oilspill isn't too bad, you should be able to find oil quite easily where you are. i think they stock a barrel or two there

[TomJ]

..., this box is rebuilt with a quaife and behaving a bit different!

Cheers

Tom

what do you mean by 'different'. if only the quaife was added?

BTW. i think the oilspill isn't too bad, you should be able to find oil quite easily where you are. i think they stock a barrel or two there

Hi Nicolas, by different I mean puking oil after some spirited driving. My old box never did but then I didn't have the breather box in the engine bay...

p.s I am just digging a hole now in my back sand pit and some lovely Royal Purple is flowing out.. Ha ha.. Very good.

[nicolas]

thank you. i assumed you meant that a quaife changed the way it drove. it should, but not in a 'noticeable/uncomfortable' way.

i'll PM my address for the rest of the buckets content and i'll post some grass seeds for you. 

[ESH]

...i assumed you meant that a quaife changed the way it drove. it should...

It does, mostly sideways.

[glenn]

I had Gary Berg rebuild my Berg 5 and he added a second breather above the diff. No more oil leaks even with sustained high speed runs and 7000rpm shifts.

[TomJ]

I had Gary Berg rebuild my Berg 5 and he added a second breather above the diff. No more oil leaks even with sustained high speed runs and 7000rpm shifts.

Thanks Glen.

[Brian Silva]

I just had Rancho go through my 5 speed and they relocated the breather port just as Bill had mentioned. I am using the berg hose/vent setup which I coiled and have had no issues with oil carryover. Car gets driven hard as well.

[TomJ]

I just had Rancho go through my 5 speed and they relocated the breather port just as Bill had mentioned. I am using the berg hose/vent setup which I coiled and have had no issues with oil carryover. Car gets driven hard as well.

Thanks Brian, I have just installed the -10 hose up to the breather from the same place where Bill has his, it steps down to -6 at the breather box but I figure the bigger diameter pipe may help with misting. I will go out for a blast at the weekend and report back.

Cheers

Tom

[TomJ]

Hi All,

Some positive, went out for a blast today and part of the drive was a 35km stretch on the motorway at a steady 75mph.. Up through the gears too and no sign of oil..

My VW partner in crime out here Max managed to get us access to the VW dealership workshop as an engine oil change was on the to do list after finding some Valvoline VR1 mineral 20/50 locally. Oil change done and while up on the ramp we checked the gearbox oil level, it is around it is around 10mm lower than the normal level..

I have heard of some people running lower oil levels in gearboxes for race cars, is this something anyone is doing in a street car? I am tempted to leave the level where it is now...

Appreciate your thoughts..

Cheers

Tom

[Bill Schwimmer]

I would put as much oil in it as I could. 5th gear is up high & out of the trans case, if you drop the level it will have problems.

[glenn]

When I had mine rebuilt Gary Berg did some updates to improve internal oil flow.

Hot VW did a article on the updates.

http://www.glenn-ring.com/temp/Berg%205_1.jpg
http://www.glenn-ring.com/temp/Berg%205_2.jpg 

[TomJ]

I would put as much oil in it as I could. 5th gear is up high & out of the trans case, if you drop the level it will have problems.

Thanks Bill, understood, I'll top her up this week!

Cheers

Tom

[TomJ]

When I had mine rebuilt Gary Berg did some updates to improve internal oil flow.

Hot VW did a article on the updates.

http://www.glenn-ring.com/temp/Berg%205_1.jpg
http://www.glenn-ring.com/temp/Berg%205_2.jpg 

thanks Glenn, interesting.

[Bruce]

Next time you have the trans. out, plug the breather in the intermediate housing & drill & tap for a barb in the ring gear/ diff area on top of the trans case.

This is the cure.
Take a look at a stock 4 speed nose cone to see the path of the vent hole.  At one point, it chokes down to about 2-3mm in dia.  The important thing about a trans breather is you DON'T want high flow capability.  If you do, you just push oil.  Instead of using the ¼" fitting that Berg supplies, use the smallest you can find.  1/16"NPT if you can.  I found a 1/8" steel fitting then I welded the end shut.  I drilled it 2mm then put the hose on to go up high.  Make sure any oil in the hose can drain, ie. no low spots.
With this, I can cruise at 110+km/h for the entire duration of a tank of fuel without any oil leakage.

[TomJ]

Hi All,

I was around 400ml low in the box and filled her up to the correct level.

Just been out for a night time blast and happy to report no signs of oil. 

So the current set up is a single breather above the diff (-6 to -10 adapter) then a 2.5ft -10 pipe up to the breather box were it steps down to -6 into the fast fab breather box..

Thanks everyone for your advice and if it does puke again I will let you know.

Cheers

Tom