Emptied my Catch Can WTF!!!

DaveysFR

Active Member
May 28, 2008
526
5
Northern Ireland: Limavady
Emptied my catch can yesterday, and the amount of crap that came out of it shocked me...all this only after 2 weeks and 450 miles :scared:

DSC00466.jpg
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The plastic lid is off a large 1 litre spray paint tin so the catch can was bound to of been nearly full. Check your cans regularly guys.
 

RobsCupra

Active Member
Oct 21, 2008
336
1
Wrexham
Jesus! :blink:

Mine got fitted friday... But I do 400 miles a week so if thats anything to go by I've got to get into a routine of checking it!!
 

warren_cox

Back from the dead
That is some manky looking sh1t.

To think that has been floating about in your engine bay previously is not a pretty thought.

Someone posted on another forum that these catch cans are another useless placebo effect product and we were wasting our money. All I can say is I'd rather that be out of my engine than in it.
 

ZBOYD

Looking up at the stars!
May 19, 2001
9,468
15
Cheshire
www.seatcupra.net
After seeing that I've just set a rolling reminder on my iPhone to check it every 2 weeks on a Saturday for the rest of time!!! An average for me is about 250 miles a fortnight so I don't expect to see that much, but it will be interesting to see what comes out of it.

Maybe worth regular checking of the oil level at the same time, as some of that oil would normal go back into the engine and now won't be. So checking your levels more often is never a bad thing.

They reckon most of the moisture in it would be normally burnt off thru the exhaust, but its the state of some exhaust valves that concern me. They look absolutely terrible after not a great deal of miles. The catch can doesn't solve that problem entirely but its got to be going some way to help.

Borrowed image from Vortex http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4181184
fsi%20intake%20valves.jpg
 
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fozzybear

middle aged speed freak
Feb 4, 2006
317
19
halifax,west yorks
i would check as well that you haven,t had a leak and water hasn,t got into your catchcan with all the rain we,ve had,as there shouldn,t be that much water mixed with oil......a small ammount yes but not as much as you have..
 

warren_cox

Back from the dead
What on earth is a catch can?!

Function:
The purpose of a catch can system is to collect/vent the blowby vapors inherent as part of the combustion process. The factory setup sucks these oily vapors directly back into the engine exposing them to everything in their path.
Removal of these vapors is especially important on direct injection engines. Port injection engines have detergent enhanced fuel passing over the intake ports constantly cleaning off the intake valves. Direct Injection does not allow for this as the injectors spray right into the combustion chamber. Over time these oils harden and cake to the intake valves causing drastically reduced head flow, cold start misfires, greatly increased knock retard and of course a nice expensive bill to clean it all out.

In the short term getting these vapors out of the combustion path reduces knock retard by not allowing oil vapor to mix with the air fuel mixture. In addition the more free flowing lines allow the engine to rev easily giving a more responsive feel to the engine as a whole.
 

DaveysFR

Active Member
May 28, 2008
526
5
Northern Ireland: Limavady
i would check as well that you haven,t had a leak and water hasn,t got into your catchcan with all the rain we,ve had,as there shouldn,t be that much water mixed with oil......a small ammount yes but not as much as you have..

Cheers mate, will do, although it hasn't rained much in Northern Ireland in the past two weeks since fitting, but my engine water levels are at optimum levels as is my engine oil on dipstick.

Although the weather has been very cold here at night of late around 4 degrees celcius so maybe that would create excess condensation from the colder dense moisture laiden air entering the engine and catch can???

I will keep an eye on it.
 

Al

Active Member
Aug 29, 2005
7,331
9
That is some manky looking sh1t.

To think that has been floating about in your engine bay previously is not a pretty thought.

Someone posted on another forum that these catch cans are another useless placebo effect product and we were wasting our money. All I can say is I'd rather that be out of my engine than in it.

That other person would not happen to frequent the Golf forums by any chance? If so, I still have not seen any evidence from him to back what he says although I would be very interested to see it.
 

fozzybear

middle aged speed freak
Feb 4, 2006
317
19
halifax,west yorks
that,s a more likely situation if you say it,s been colder in the evenings,as to the so called plecebo effect,:whistle::lol:.....of course this will be better for your engines,though i will say some countries like the hotter climates will benefit more,and if theres one thing the americans are good at it,s aftermarket products that actually work,though i can,t say the same about their cars other than BIG isn,t always BETTER........
 
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