This is usually the point where I pipe up about cavitation in oil and fuel pickups
So do you have a a screen of some sort on the end of that pickup hose to prevent cavitation?
G
Hi G!
Nope, no screen at the end of the pickup. How would one prevent cavitation?
Cheers!
/Anders
this is my take on it
at the end of your oil pickup with the suction of the pump you get a low pressure area
with that lowered pressure the temprature at which the liquid turns to vapour is lower
so, you get bubbles around the end of the pickup tube where the liquid boils
as a result you get that vortex effect, similar to what happens whan you pull the plug out of your bath or sink
so even though the pickup is under the oil or fuel, you get vapour in the system
you can fix it with a higher head hieght of fuel/oil but your tank is low so this is probably not achievable
now if you put a screen on the end of the pickup, all the other stuff still happens, however it appears you don't get the vortex
I've found with cars if the pickup screen falls off the oil pump you lose oil pressure when you get off idle
and with bikes, if the pickup screen falls off the pump, it still shows pressure but performance drops off significantly
the added considerations are, that you are at Bonneville which is 4000 feet above sea level and as the day goes on
the air gets thinner and your vapour point gets lower. Also, it gets hot at Bonneville, 40°c or hotter.
We run a car at lake Gairdiner in South Australia. we ended up putting a fuel safe foam block in the tank to prevent cavitation
It got to 53°c during the week
After sitting in the queue for half the day, the car, with an aluminium body, was too hot to touch, but ran fine
G