Installed Oil Separator and.....

[Cannons]

I installed a oil separator inbetween the PCV valve and the intake manifold. That all worked fine but my questions are, what is the purpose of the hose on the passenger side that plugs into the plastic piece right before rubber elbow? The other question is, I Tee'd off the oil separator and plugged the passenger side valve cover hole to it. The engine kinda make a slight and quiet belt slipping sound. When I unplug it from the valve cover it hisses out the vacuum. It appears the crank case is holding vacuum when the Oil separator is plugged into both sides. I am basically putting vacuum to the crank case and its holding the vacuum.

 

[type911]

Any Pics?

 

[Cannons]

I didnt take any. There are 4 Holes involved, 2 in each Valve cover, one in intake and one in air tube.

 

[Taz]

I installed a oil separator inbetween the PCV valve and the intake manifold. That all worked fine but my questions are, what is the purpose of the hose on the passenger side that plugs into the plastic piece right before rubber elbow? The other question is, I Tee'd off the oil separator and plugged the passenger side valve cover hole to it. The engine kinda make a slight and quiet belt slipping sound. When I unplug it from the valve cover it hisses out the vacuum. It appears the crank case is holding vacuum when the Oil separator is plugged into both sides. I am basically putting vacuum to the crank case and its holding the vacuum.

You F'd up.

You don't connect the oil catch can to both sides. You connect it IN LINE between the PCV valve and the vacuum port on the intake manifold. That's ALL you need to do.

The hose on the passenger side, between the cam cover and the air inlet tube is there to allow METERED air, i.e. air that has been read by the MAF meter, to enter the motor to replace the air that is being drawn out through the PCV valve on the other side. That hose stays in place.

T-

 

[SVECobraR]

where do you get the oil serperator from?

 

[COBRA90GT]

where do you get the oil serperator from?

Any hardware store such as Home Depot. Look for 'em in the air compressor aisle. Can put together a "kit" yourself for under $15. :beer:

 

[Cannons]

You F'd up.

You don't connect the oil catch can to both sides. You connect it IN LINE between the PCV valve and the vacuum port on the intake manifold. That's ALL you need to do.

The hose on the passenger side, between the cam cover and the air inlet tube is there to allow METERED air, i.e. air that has been read by the MAF meter, to enter the motor to replace the air that is being drawn out through the PCV valve on the other side. That hose stays in place.

T-

The point of the oil separator is to remove the oil vapors from the air and not allow any into the intake. If I keep the one installed on the passenger side head, isnt it going to allow the engine to suck oil vapors in from there? When I took the hose off it was oily inside both fittings.

 

[SVTRocket]

where do you get the oil serperator from?

I got mine from Steeda for about $70

It collects aerated oil from going into your intakeand does work.

I hoped this would prevent some of the smoking I get on occasional start-ups. It may have helped some, but it hasn't gone away completely.

 

[Taz]

The point of the oil separator is to remove the oil vapors from the air and not allow any into the intake. If I keep the one installed on the passenger side head, isnt it going to allow the engine to suck oil vapors in from there? When I took the hose off it was oily inside both fittings.

Red, I think I know the point of an oil separator. I've been running one for quite a while. For some reason, people tend to make this whole thing a lot more complicated than it really is.

The way the PCV system is designed to work, is air ENTERS the passenger side cam cover and EXITS the driver side cam cover. If you just left the passenger side open to atmosphere, you wouldn't see anything come out - Ask the guys who run breathers if their right side breathers get oily. They don't.

But with a catch tank, you don't want to leave that side open by throwing a breather on there. The reason is that you'll throw off your A/F ratio by allowing unmetered air into an otherwise closed system. Instead, you leave the passenger side hose in place. Since the air that passes through that hose travels toward the cam cover, away from the air inlet tube, it's okay to do this.

Just ensure that you check your PCV valve regularly - the "rattle test" works fine - and replace it periodically, same as any vehicle with an unmodified PCV system. The reason this is important, is that if your PCV valve stops opening when it should, crankcase vapors CAN backflow through the passenger side hose into the air inlet tube.

People who have defective or plugged up PCV valves will find oil in their passenger side hoses, and they will tell you that crankcase vapors exit through there into the air inlet tube. Yes, in their cars that's true, but not in a car where everything is working correctly. If their PCV valves were functioning properly, that wouldn't be the case.

I have a very large catch tank, so I don't need to empty it very often - just when I change my oil, but if you have one of those little Steeda "air compressor" type oil separators, you may need to empty it quite a bit more often - probably every 500 miles or so - to avoid filling it up and sucking oil though it into your intake manifold.

T-

:thumbsup:

 

[jd93gt]

Taz is right... Think about it Red, if air/oil mixture is coming out of the driver's side valve cover through PCV valve and into the intake manifold to be burned off in the combustion chamber, then it has to get into the crankcase somehow. That tube that runs from the intake to the passenger side valve cover is how it gets in. When air leaves the crankcase, you have to have air come in to replace it, otherwise you have a vacuum in the engine and that will pull oil up into places it isnt supposed to be.

You have 2 choices... replace the stock tube on the intake, it wont hurt anything, air is just getting into the crankcase, no oil is coming from this side. Or you can install a breather filter, while it looks good, it doesnt help the situation. Because before with the tube, it was metered air getting into the crankcase, with a breather filter it's unmetered air, unaccounted for by the computer. '

Also what kind of oil/air seperator are you using. It has to have significant volume in the catch area otherwise it's useless. If you're using one of the small inline air compressor filters, this wont work, as there's not enough volume to catch the amount of oil in the air... this is why alot of guys use "catch cans"... hold alot more....

 

[Taz]

...

Also what kind of oil/air seperator are you using. It has to have significant volume in the catch area otherwise it's useless. If you're using one of the small inline air compressor filters, this wont work, as there's not enough volume to catch the amount of oil in the air... this is why alot of guys use "catch cans"... hold alot more....

Thanks, Jesse. That's a very diplomatic way of stating the problem. I wasn't going to mention it (it may come as a surprise to everyone, but I sometimes have difficulties being diplomatic), but I agree the Steeda and similar oil separators really are too small.

The guys I know who were running those little oil separators have switched to larger catch tanks, because the little ones just weren't completely effective.

Naz! If you're reading this thread, how big is the tank you're running? Mine is 500ml (approx. a pint) in size.

T-

:thumbsup:

 

[type911]

can someone post some pictures of the parts and set-up. It might make for a good how too article.

 

[RoyWoods]

Thanks, Jesse. That's a very diplomatic way of stating the problem. I wasn't going to mention it (it may come as a surprise to everyone, but I sometimes have difficulties being diplomatic), but I agree the Steeda and similar oil separators really are too small.

The guys I know who were running those little oil separators have switched to larger catch tanks, because the little ones just weren't completely effective.

Naz! If you're reading this thread, how big is the tank you're running? Mine is 500ml (approx. a pint) in size.

T-

:thumbsup:

Do you all think I'll be ok with my inline air compressor filter as long as I check it "regularly" (e.g. a minimum of every 500 miles, which for me, would be about once every 6 months)? Last night, I went to Lowe's and bought/installed all my stuff before seeing this thread. :mj:

Suppose, after your initial install of your catch can you get 400 ml of fluid over the course of 3,000 miles, is it safe to assume that you won't achieve 400 ml of oil until another 3,000 miles passes? Or is it completely variable based on driving conditions, etc.?

What did you all use for a larger "catch can?"

 

[Taz]

Do you all think I'll be ok with my inline air compressor filter as long as I check it "regularly" (e.g. a minimum of every 500 miles, which for me, would be about once every 6 months)? Last night, I went to Lowe's and bought/installed all my stuff before seeing this thread. :mj:

Suppose, after your initial install of your catch can you get 400 ml of fluid over the course of 3,000 miles, is it safe to assume that you won't achieve 400 ml of oil until another 3,000 miles passes? Or is it completely variable based on driving conditions, etc.?

What did you all use for a larger "catch can?"

Roy, I'm afraid it may be a container volume issue, as Jesse said, so some oil mist is going to get through one of those little oil separators, regardless of how often you empty it. FWIW, I've read accounts of people installing a second Steeda separator inline with the first, after discovering that one wasn't getting the job done, even when it was kept fairly empty. These folks said that running two of them in series worked much better than one, but still wasn't 100% effective.

You shouldn't accumulate anywhere near 400 ml in 3K miles. I typically see around 25 ml over that interval (Just up to the bottom of the sight tube on the side of my tank). Probably, how tight your engine is will determine how much you get more than anything else, but driving style may also be a factor. I maybe wrong, but I can't imagine even a really loose, motor that's constantly beat on blowing anywhere near 400 ml out the PCV valve in only 3K miles. If it does, then a 500 ml tank won't be large enough to support it, because you need the chamber volume to precipitate the oil mist.

My catch tank is a "Cusco" brand part. Check eBay Motors. It's full of PCV catch tanks of various shapes, sizes and price ranges, and you can get a suitable tank for $20. Just make sure you buy one with 9mm fittings, not 15mm. I paid quite a bit more for mine (maybe $60), because I wanted (1) an integrated sight tube, and (2) a billet aluminum tank.

T-

:thumbsup:

 

[RoyWoods]

can someone post some pictures of the parts and set-up. It might make for a good how too article.

This is what I used as a guide: http://www.omslaw.net/tech/catchcanmod.htm. Obviously, you'll probably want to substitue a "catch can" for the inline air compressor filter, as well as the appropriate fittings.

Thanks for your help Taz (yet again).

 

[type911]

Thanks for that.

 

[RoyWoods]

Thanks for that.

Happy to help. This one is pretty good too: http://svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173161.

 

[Taz]

A couple tips not previously mentioned ...

1. the longer the hoses, the better. Not only does it give more of the oil an opportunity to condense out of the gas, but it also enables the mixture to cool down a bit.

2. I've seen a lot of catch tanks with the intake and exhaust ports directly opposite one another, or close to it. WRONG! The intake and exhaust ports should be NEXT to one another. This forces the gas to make a 180-degree turn between entering and leaving the tank, which means it's going to slam into the far wall of the cylinder. That's a GOOD thing.

Hey, Roy! Did you happen to see the photo of the catch tank setup in my car? It's at the bottom of the Intake System page on my website. Installing my CAI opened up the perfect spot to accommodate a nice BIG catch can, AND gave me a chance to run a full 10 feet of hose between the PCV valve and the intake manifold (6ft to the catch tank and 4ft from the tank to the manifold).

T-

:thumbsup:

 

[UCBeau]

Taz, what about running dual breathers and sealing off the hole in the intake tube so no air gets in that way?

 

[Taz]

Taz, what about running dual breathers and sealing off the hole in the intake tube so no air gets in that way?

Beau, I'm not going to jump into another pissing contest about breathers.
:nonono:

I'm just not up to it today, so I'll just say I'm against them 'cause our air is shitty enough already, BUT people do use them instead of catch tanks.
:shrug:

Nuff said.

T-