Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Maintenance Spun bearings

Originally posted by eepals:

---

Originally posted by Alan Coles:

---

It is my understanding that none of these vehicles have any sort of Accusump system, but I don't know for sure, perhaps someone else out there could add to this.

---

By the looks of a picture I saw, the Bondurant Contours, had a Accusump mounted in the area where the stock cabin air filter is.

---

Originally posted by rkneeshaw3.0:

---

Originally posted by eepals:

---

Originally posted by Alan Coles:

---

It is my understanding that none of these vehicles have any sort of Accusump system, but I don't know for sure, perhaps someone else out there could add to this.

---

By the looks of a picture I saw, the Bondurant Contours, had a Accusump mounted in the area where the stock cabin air filter is.

---

And the plot thickens....
DA-DUM!

---

OK, force me to do the work, and find some answers to my own questions.

Just got off the phone with Boundurant's "Shop/Facilities Manager", we've talked on a few occassions over the past number of years on other items. (I was very close to buying one of their XR4Ti cars many years ago and also looked at their Contours last year).
Only one of their first Contours was fitted with the Accusump (#12 I believe). They then went to a larger custom oil pan and additional drain back and then didn't need the Accusump (this is likely where the improved 3.0L heads came from). This was all done by Roush and Boundurant don't know anything more than that it was done. I was able to find out that they did have a problem with spun bearings but not after the above fixes.

So, I'll pass the torch on to anyone who has a contact in Roush's R&D department. They'd be the ones that have the detailed info but I doubt that they would be at liberty nor inclined to divulge it.

The above would tend to indicate in an anecdotal fashion that aleast some of the problems with spun bearings are due to insufficient oil supply in the pan under extreme conditions, as has been stated by many over the years. One could surmise that a street vehicle that is run with a low oil level at some point in it's life could also suffer sufficient bearing damage to fail at that point or, if the damage is somewhat less then that necessary for immediate failure then, you could have an accelerated wear issue that would lead to bearing failure at a later point even if the oil level, driving style, etc., were well within spec at the time of failure.

Unfortunately , I don't think this helps at all in explaining the rash of 3.0L failures (Taurus and Escape), as they have both increased pan capacity and improved oil drain back. So I'm still on the fence regarding putting a 3.0L in when the 2.5L is pulled out this winter.

Regards, Alan

Originally posted by Thinkmoto:

---

Well there are alot of words being said , but no numbers being posted.
What is the I.D. of the oil passageways?
What is the pump displacement?
Is the oil pump variable or fixed dispacement?
What is the choosen RPM, GPM, PSIG at a given time?

Considering the pressure is not constant we'll need to choose a given pressure at a given RPM.
Oh and considering the passageways aren't straight as an arrow that adds to the mix. And then theres viscosity, tempature.......


Well just to give you guys an example of what we're dealing with depending on the I.D. of the passageway......
PSIG loss goes up so does the GPM(flow)

on a .098in hole @ 1FPS the PSIG loss is 2.271261 & .0237GPM

But as I.D. increases PSIG loss decreases at a much lower rate and flow increases.

on a .236in hole @ 1FPS the PSIG loss is .394316
& .1366 GPM

These are for a known GPM of a fluid with a viscosity of 155SUS and a specific gravity of 1.0

These numbers obviously don't take into account tempature,viscosity,Id roughness and bends etc.


I don't know what kind of pressure drops everyone is thinking and hoping to see at a given distance,but it's not a whole lot. There is probably more variance between pumps from given times of assembly. The thing to test here would be the pump alone on a test stand to see a baseline at a given RPM.

The worst thing is that there is some Ford engine engineer with a big fatty file with all this info collecting dust somewheres......more like probably shredded years ago

---

Originally posted by Dan Nixon:

---

Practical solution:

1) Let the revs drop on right handed offramps. (High RPM + long right hander = minimum pan volume).
4) Keep 6.0 quarts of high V.I. synthetic in sump.

---