Pcv Catch Can Installed

[hot37shot]

I read the thread but still am not convinced this product is that great. If you guys are so worried about a "dirty" engine, then maintain it the way you are supposed to. Change oil( not 5k but 3-4k miles), keep all filters clean, and routinely use a good injector cleaner( like seafoam or what I like, techron from chevron). If this product is so great why hasn't GM installed it on everything? So far I think ill save the money for a tune !

Shawn

[BigBlueLB756]

do what YOU want to. It's OK.

[DaveH71]

GM or any other vehicle manufacture hasn't installed them because its just one more thing to warranty. The average person doesn't even know how to check there oil let alone empty a pcv catch catch can that needs to be done about every few months. For example, ever wonder why we don't have cabin filters anymore? Yes its not a needed part but it does serve its purpose. It will keep your fuel mixture cleaner as well as your intake. Many people also say it will help with mpg but i haven't experienced that yet but i didn't buy it for that anyway.

 

By the way Hot37shot, i like your truck alot, looks nice and clean and i love the color.

[kdixer]

It stands to reason that the oily fumes from the crankcase have lubricating qualities. I mean it is not like it is spitting out oil that you would never consider running in your engine. And unless you have an abnormal amount of blow by, I cannot see where it would really trash up the intake.

[DaveH71]

Yes but those lubrication qualities are not needed in the intake tract nor is any kind of oil or dirt which will build up over time. Dont believe me, take a look at any older car with a functioning pcv system. Behind the throttle body and inside the manifold there will be buildup, more depending on the age of the car. It was there on my 98 S10 and also on my 94 z28, and its there on every other car to. Pcv has nothing to do with blow by, if you had blow by that oil would be getting burned in the cylinder, hence the reason for oil loss from blow by. The pcv's source is the crankcase/heads, and coming with that oil is condensation and any other dirt being sucked up from the crankcase/heads. Over time it will build up in the intake tract and on any sensors/throttle body/valves/ etc in its way back to the combustion chamber.

[cujo8]

Pcv has nothing to do with blow by, if you had blow by that oil would be getting burned in the cylinder, hence the reason for oil loss from blow by.

 

Actually the PCV system is needed to counter act the pressure build up from blow-by gasses that enter the crank case. During the combustion process the air/fuel mixture is ignited in the piston chamber during the power stroke of the 4-stroke cycle. The Blow-by or Piston Blow-by happens when the high pressure gases made during the power stroke leak past the piston rings back into the crank case. If these gases are not vented the crank case could crack or some of the engine seals may fail.

 

IMO having some oil getting into the intake is not so much a problem as to where it goes after that, which is into the cylider head and then into the piston chambers. This oily combustion byproducts will gum up your valve train and hinder the combustion process, by diluting the air/fuel mixture with oil vapor and other combustion byproducts. It is my belief that by installing an oil catch can system into the PCV line that your engine will run better, stay cleaner internally over the long run, and reduce exhaust emmisions. If this keeps your engine cleaner internally then you won't need to use SeaFoam later to clean up the built up combustion byproducts.

In the old days the engines just vented these combustion pyproducts to the atmosphere out a valve cover breather cap. Later they added a PCV system that routed the byproducts up to the Air-Cleaner where it would get suck into the carb and then burned in the combustion process. Anyone that has had one of these Air-Cleaner PCV systems has had to clean the oil out of the air-cleaner from time to time, especially once the engine has manu miles on it. The car manufactures didn't route these PCV system oily gases back into the engine bacause they wanted to, they did it because the EPA mandated that they do this to reduce engine emmisions.

I bet the EPA would love it if all vehicles had these PCV oil catch can kits installed if they could guarrentee that they would be emptied in timely fashion in an enviromentally friendly fashion, since this would help reduce exhaust emmisions.

[mhenshaw]

I love blue.

 

 

 

Yours looks really good. Is that a water seperator? Do you have a parts list? How much oil do you catch?

[DaveH71]

Pcv has nothing to do with blow by, if you had blow by that oil would be getting burned in the cylinder, hence the reason for oil loss from blow by.

 

Actually the PCV system is needed to counter act the pressure build up from blow-by gasses that enter the crank case. During the combustion process the air/fuel mixture is ignited in the piston chamber during the power stroke of the 4-stroke cycle. The Blow-by or Piston Blow-by happens when the high pressure gases made during the power stroke leak past the piston rings back into the crank case. If these gases are not vented the crank case could crack or some of the engine seals may fail.

 

IMO having some oil getting into the intake is not so much a problem as to where it goes after that, which is into the cylider head and then onto the piston chambers. This oily combustion byproducts will gum up your valve train and hinder the combustion process, by diluting the air/fuel mixture with oil vapor and other combustion byproducts. It is my belief that by installing an oil catch can system into the PCV line that your engine will run better, stay cleaner internally over the long run, and reduce exhaust emmisions. If this keeps your engine cleaner internally then you won't need to use SeaFoam later to clean up the built up combustion byproducts.

In the old days the engines just vented these combustion pyproducts to the atmosphere out a valve cover breather cap. Later they added a PCV system that routed the byproducts up to the Air-Cleaner where it would get suck into the carb and then burned in the combustion process. Anyone that has had one of these Air-Cleaner PCV systems has had to clean the oil out of the air-cleaner from time to time, especially once the engine has manu miles on it. The car manufactures didn't route these PCV system oily gases back into the engine bacause they wanted to, they did it because the EPA mandated that they do this to reduce engine emmisions.

I bet the EPA would love it if all vehicles had these PCV oil catch can kits installed if they could guarrentee that they would be emptied in timely fashion in an enviromentally friendly fashion, since this would help reduce exhaust emmisions.

 

 

Yeah sorry i kinda worded that wrong, you are right. What i was trying to correct was the previous poster who implied you only needed a catch can if you have serious blow by which he was kind of backwards in thinking. A catch can can help any engine even if its in top shape.

[kdixer]

Yeah sorry i kinda worded that wrong, you are right. What i was trying to correct was the previous poster who implied you only needed a catch can if you have serious blow by which he was kind of backwards in thinking. A catch can can help any engine even if its in top shape.

 

 

Actually I did not say a wether a catch can was needed or not. My point was simply that the amount of oil that is reintroduced into the intake system is proportional to the amount of blow by the engine has. If you have an abnormal amount of blowby, the intake will benefit more from a catch can. Sure a catch can may very well help. But if it takes 300,000 miles for the oily blow by to cause me issues, the engine is most likely getting close to needing a tear down anyways.

 

That is not to say i will never install a catch can. But they were initially intended for motors that get ran hard at high rpm's.

 

Can anyone report how much oil has to be drained from the catch can over a cetain amount of hours of operation? That is where the proof is.

[BigBlueLB756]

I love blue.

 

 

 

Yours looks really good. Is that a water seperator? Do you have a parts list? How much oil do you catch?

 

 

Yeah, it's from Lowes; the larger size, about $24. Two 90 degree fittings and band clamps will cost about $10. Five feet of 3/8" rubber fuel line will be around $7. I made the mount out of some scrap and replaced the metallic filter element with some filter media I also had (cut it into 6 discs to fit in place of the original element). Here's a picture of it before being cut up:

 

It's got a couple of inches of accumulate in it now since being emptied about 1500 miles ago. Works for me.

[dlstewart01]

I have had my AMW catch can in operation for 5 years. before I retired and drove back and forth to work every day, I would empty my catch can every two or three weeks and would get out .5 to 1.5 ounces of oil. depending how much I would get on it. I drove 33 miles one way on a two lane country road. I sometimes did a few wfo to get around farm tractors and slow moving traffic.

 

Now I drive around 5000 a year and don't get as much oil in the can as I once did. It still accumulates though. It has been worth it to me to keep any amount of oil out of my intake.

[dewfpo]

I really wonder how this affects airflow in the engine. The ECM probably adjust to some degree but I can't help but wonder. ......

 

The PCV or fixed orifice can only flow so much air at a given vacuum. The stock hose is how long? 1-2 feet? That creates a certain restriction that the manufacturer has accounted for in their airflow measurements. Now you add 8-10 feet of additional hose but you can't change the amount of vacuum you have or the size of the orifice. Going to a larger diameter hose would help to some degree, maybe completely. Analogy : suck your favorite beverage thru a 1 foot long straw, now try to suck on a 6 foot long straw that's the same diameter and do not suck any harder than you did before with the 1 foot long straw.. Unless you make that longer straw a larger diameter (less restriction), your not going to be able to pull as much beverage thru that straw with the same vacuum.

 

It's not like a vacuum hose going to a dead end, like a vacuum servo. It would take longer to build a certain level of vacuum in that servo if the hose was extended but it would still work fine.

 

The PCV is actually flowing air thru it so making the hose longer 'could' reduce the amount of airflow to the engine under certain conditions.

 

I'm not an engineer, but it would seem to me that you would need to make sure the extended hose is a larger diameter. How much larger depends on the total length of hose. The longer, the larger diameter needed.

 

DEWFPO

[BigBlueLB756]

Would not the larger diameter hose have less velocity of air movement through it?

 

Or is the important thing to get the nasty-*ss oil out of the intake manifold and off of the backside of the intake valves?

 

You got DOD/AFM, you need one of these.

[cujo8]

I really wonder how this affects airflow in the engine. The ECM probably adjust to some degree but I can't help but wonder. ......

 

The PCV or fixed orifice can only flow so much air at a given vacuum. The stock hose is how long? 1-2 feet? That creates a certain restriction that the manufacturer has accounted for in their airflow measurements. Now you add 8-10 feet of additional hose but you can't change the amount of vacuum you have or the size of the orifice. Going to a larger diameter hose would help to some degree, maybe completely. Analogy : suck your favorite beverage thru a 1 foot long straw, now try to suck on a 6 foot long straw that's the same diameter and do not suck any harder than you did before with the 1 foot long straw.. Unless you make that longer straw a larger diameter (less restriction), your not going to be able to pull as much beverage thru that straw with the same vacuum.

 

It's not like a vacuum hose going to a dead end, like a vacuum servo. It would take longer to build a certain level of vacuum in that servo if the hose was extended but it would still work fine.

 

The PCV is actually flowing air thru it so making the hose longer 'could' reduce the amount of airflow to the engine under certain conditions.

 

I'm not an engineer, but it would seem to me that you would need to make sure the extended hose is a larger diameter. How much larger depends on the total length of hose. The longer, the larger diameter needed.

 

DEWFPO

 

That's a good question, but I don't think that the PCV system affects over-all airflow through the engine significantly. The amount of gaseous byproducts flowing through the PCV system has only got to account for a very small fraction of the total airflow, if I had to guess I would think it would amount to much less than 1% of the total airflow. With the catch can inline with the PCV line under engine vacuum, the added 3/8" hose used to hook up the catch will probably add more resistance, but it will still flow but a bit slower than the shorter stock 3/8" line. The proof that this is flowing is the oil & other byproducts that end up in the catch can. Like you, I'm not an engineer either, so all that I've said here is just my opinion FWIW.

[kdixer]

The longer air hose should be looked at as restricting the air flow of the vent, not limiting airflow to the manifold. A longer hose and some homemade catch cans can possibly restrict the flow to the point were the crankcase can build enough pressure to cause problems.