Valvecover Breathers....?

[89ShelbyGuy]

Hey guys, well in my prior post i was talking about the oil splash sheild that goes between cam cap 1 and 2......

I have one of those mr.gasket chrome twist on valve cover breathers. I am having problems with when i am in high boost times its blowing the oil threw that filter on the breather and coming out on my nice looking triple show chromed valve cover...its not much, but enough to where i have to wipe it up every time i drive her hard...

Anyone have any ideas on how i can elimnate this problem, or does anyone know something else i can use for a breather that won't blow the oil by..?

Thanks..

Tom

[89ShelbyGuy]

I just kinda relized something. On my PCV set up, i have the pcv going to a little catch can....but i never hooked the line from the can to a vaccum source...i kinda just pointed it to the ground.....Would you think this would be contributing to the breather blowing out so much oil?(Not THAT much oil) Does the pcv always have to be hooked up to vacuum source??

Tom

[mcglsr2]

i'm not exactly sure, other more knowledgeable folks can chime in - but the other side of your catch can should go in between your air filter/air box and turbo.

[black86glhs]

i'm not exactly sure, other more knowledgeable folks can chime in - but the other side of your catch can should go in between your air filter/air box and turbo.

I was under the impression that it went to manifold vacuum. That is if your not using the exhaust to scavange the vapors. I may be wrong too.

[turbovanman²]

The stock setup or similiar should be like this- you have the 3 way rubber tee-one side to the vc, other side to the pcv valve going to vacuum, the other side to either a breather or air box etc. If you have this and blowing out oil, you have too much blowby.

[Chad T]

If you just want to replace the breather with a regular chrome cap Jegs has one for $10 that's almost an exact match for the '86 GLHS cap.

[mcglsr2]

I was under the impression that it went to manifold vacuum. That is if your not using the exhaust to scavange the vapors. I may be wrong too.

The stock setup or similiar should be like this- you have the 3 way rubber tee-one side to the vc, other side to the pcv valve going to vacuum, the other side to either a breather or air box etc. If you have this and blowing out oil, you have too much blowby.

here's my understanding of the setup - this comes from the vacuum routing on my CSX (TII setup with a 2 piece intake manifold), i would imagine others would be the same or similar:

starting at the valve cover, there's a rubber 3-way "T" - #1 is connected to the VC, #2 goes to the airbox (or compressor intake pipe if the airbox is long gone), and #3 is where the PCV is attached. the PCV has one connection coming off of it. this connection, #4, goes to the intake manifold. in this hose, there is one more T, and a connection is made to the vapor canister to TB hose. this may be a little hard to visualize, so here's an image:



as i understand it, the catch can goes in between the PCV and airbox/intake pipe, as i have drawn it. this is where i used to see oil, so this makes sense to me as this is where i want to "catch" it - so it doesn't get sucked into my turbo. this allows the vapors to recirculate per factory intentions, but not any oil. does this make sense? am i missing something here?

[turbovanman²]

Nope, you got it, that's how I have mine as its too stinky to have the catch can intake open,

Too much blowby, lol!

[bfarroo]

I always thought that the catch can went between the PCV and intake to reduce oil vapor into the intake which can cause detonation. I guess on a forced induction motor the PCV is closing when in boost and the vapors are going to the air box where the air filter should reduce any oil vapors.

[black86glhs]

Nope, you got it, that's how I have mine as its too stinky to have the catch can intake open,

Too much blowby, lol!

+1 Scott, your dead on. It goes to vacuum, just not manifold vacuum. I had it mixed up.

Take a look at the breather element on a 98-01 escort zx2. It is a small canister with a type of foam inside to catch the vapors. I might look into adding this to the pvc line to help keep the vapors down going into the intake. The hose connections look close to the same size as ours.

[mcglsr2]

okay, thanks guys. i've been meaning to do something about this for a while. time to hit up eBay for a catch can.

[puppet]

I always thought that the catch can went between the PCV and intake to reduce oil vapor into the intake which can cause detonation. I guess on a forced induction motor the PCV is closing when in boost and the vapors are going to the air box where the air filter should reduce any oil vapors.

This is 100% correct. Catch can should be first in line after the valve cover nipple. The draw on the can comes from the PCV and/or the air box, turbo intake, atmosphere or exhaust evac set-up.

In the above diagram:
Replace the triple nipple location with a straight hose to the VC nipple. Where it says "air box" from the catch can (on the right) that's where the triple rubber hose fitting should go. One side of the triple nipple stays with the PCV the other side of the nipple goes to the air box ... or whatever.

[mcglsr2]

This is 100% correct. Catch can should be first in line after the valve cover nipple. The draw on the can comes from the PCV and/or the air box, turbo intake, atmosphere or exhaust evac set-up.

In the above diagram:
Replace the triple nipple location with a straight hose to the VC nipple. Where it says "air box" from the catch can (on the right) that's where the triple rubber hose fitting should go. One side of the triple nipple stays with the PCV the other side of the nipple goes to the air box ... or whatever.

puppet, i updated the original diagram (post #7) based off what you said here. what you described here i labeled as placement #2. did i understand what you said and draw it correctly?

if so, what's the different between placement #1 and placement #2?

[puppet]

That's it .. placement #2. Now the catch can is separating the contaminates out of the crankcase air before it goes to the intake manifold too.

[mcglsr2]

i'll end up mounting the catch can on the strut tower or something - i'm assuming that the length of hose between the v/c to catch can to tripple nipple (lol) doesn't matter?

[johnl]

Scott - thanks for the drawings. Eliminates a lot of verbiage.

[turbovanman²]

#1 is correct, I didn't see #2 before.

[BadAssPerformance]

Gatorade catch can FTW!!!!

[mcglsr2]

^ lol

#1 is correct, I didn't see #2 before.

simon, i updated the image based on puppet's post. so it seems you can run the setup either way - #1 or #2. i really don't understand how the PCV stuff works (i do in theory, but not as it actually sits in the car) so it's time to head out to the garage and figure this thing out.

on catch cans - there's a whole slew of them on eBay. i'm looking at the ones for around $25 (link here) and i wonder if these are okay? the one at FWD is nice but i just can't see paying that much for a catch can. thoughts?

and i sort of hijacked this thread, sorry about that OPer

[crazymadbastard]

Gatorade catch can FTW!!!!

HAH! finally something ghetto on your ride!
everything else is perfect!