Oil Catch Can.

[Ultra_Joel88]

That's exactly what I'm saying.

What is an air filter? Only a few layers of cotton gauze, stainless steel mesh or foam tightly woven. There's no difference here. Hot, dense, moist air goes in from the crank case, and the droplets of oily air are trapped in the fibres of the home-made filter.

Sure some is going to get through, but it should cut it right down.

I originally had it vented to the atmosphere, however it looked a bit ****ing stupid at a rolling road day because there was a load of white smoke coming from the breather filter in my engine bay. Looked like my engine was on fire.

Tell you what, I'll take a picture of the inside of the can tomorrow, its been on for around 2,000 miles so there should be a bit of stuff in there, but there wont be a lot.

If its clean as a whistle, I'm wrong, if there's a decent amount of gloop and shite in the bottom and coated in the filter, its obviously working, and you're wrong.

How does that sound?

 

[Toxic]

it may work yes but tbh venting to air would be a better solution. it would give a cleaner air mixture and the temperature of air would be slightly cooler, something oil burners love. what you really need to do is check your intake and see if the catch can is doing enough to keep the intake clean.

 

[devonmikeyboy]

So you had a load of smoke comming from a proper breather filter but put some dishwasher scourers in a pair of tights and everything is filtered? Looking inside the catch can don`t tell you shite, you need to take the pipe off thats leading to your air inlet put the car under load on a dyno and watch all the shitty air that comes out of the catch can which your putting straight into your air inlet.

 

[Ultra_Joel88]

Well I did have it vented to the air, but as I said there was a lot of white smoke coming from the breather filter which came out of the catch can, I'm talking a couple of lit cigarettes worth, the smoke was white, and constant when the engine was idling

Is this normal?

 

[devonmikeyboy]

The breather filter is at the end of a pressuresed system so yes you will get some smoke comming from the filter and the more load the engine is under the more smoke is produced. I have reread some of my comments and sorry if i came over a bit strong, at the end of the day it`s your car. The way i look at it is tuning companies have been putting filters on these things for years for a very good reason and so what if you get some oil fumes comming from the breather filter that`s what it`s there for it doing it`s job. You don`t drive around with your bonnet up ( well i bloody hope not anyway ! ) and nobody is going to be in your engine bay when your driving so nobody even see the dam thing 99.9% of the time. When you have a catch can with a breather filter attached which doesn`t smoke a bit when under load that`s the time to worry.

 

[Ultra_Joel88]

It's ok don't worry.

Its just I've read a bit about the crankcase vent needing positive ventilation or something? And people have told me that its better to vent back to the inlet on the turbo intake rather than to block it off completely?

So these people must be talking bull shite in other words?

I'm not a mechanic, but I do understand a bit about engine tuning, and I've seen the oily shite that clogs up intercooler pipes, and I'm looking to prevent this as

a) its extra cost and time to clean it when it does clog up
b) it causes a drop in performance

I've turned the EGR down via VAG COM, so this should help a bit, I'll look into fitting a breather filter onto the catch can. Thanks for your advice, and setting the record straight, as I was a bit confused as to the best method.

 

[bbewekim]

If venting straight to air, which i can see to be logical... however why isnt it like this from standard? (my old mk2 ford fiesta was vented to air mind) is there a specific item to buy to block the inlet hole off? will it effect the drive of a standard map at all?

 

[CrispDust]

Mines VTA at the moment, and even though the vent pipe is carried down below the fuel filter, i can still see faint whisps of smoke on occasions, when I sat at lights.
Basically there is a shite load off stuff venting from that cam cover and I dont want it in my inlet tubes or crudding up the turbo vanes.
If it could be tapped straight into the inlet manifold like normally aspirated cars, then OK but of course the turbo pressure rules that out. Unless a one way valve is fitted....
bbewekim - VTA is not standard as it fooks up emmisions levels.

 

[Ultra_Joel88]

... And on the PD130 the inlet can be blocked off using a 25mm plastic cap.

 

[ChrisGTL]

If venting straight to air, which i can see to be logical... however why isnt it like this from standard?

The world leaders arnt really bothered about 100% performance, they are more inclined to use systems that reduce emissions. Re-cycling the gases was the first steps in reducing harmful pollution, then came along EGR's, CAT's & DPF's.

Euro 5 engines may have a 'SCR' - Selective Catalytic Reduction, a system that injects urea onto the exhaust so it turns the NOx into Nitrogen and Water (both completely non-harmful)

I think they have missed something here, its not our cars doing all the polluting, its bloody China & USA!

 

[ChrisGTL]

... And on the PD130 the inlet can be blocked off using a 25mm plastic cap.

Where from? Trying to find something to block my PD150 air inlet but not sure if it's 19mm or 25mm. It needs to be completely air tight and strong.

 

[olaf]

So is anyone on here running a Provent?

Looks a neater more OEM solution.

 

[Ultra_Joel88]

Where from? Trying to find something to block my PD150 air inlet but not sure if it's 19mm or 25mm. It needs to be completely air tight and strong.

BNQ, 25mm Plastic Cap I think it is

 

[CrispDust]

or rubber foot end from B&Q as you would put on end of metal chair leg. 25mm is correct one for BKD engine - tight fit.

 

[ChrisGTL]

I originally had it vented to the atmosphere, however it looked a bit ****ing stupid at a rolling road day because there was a load of white smoke coming from the breather filter in my engine bay. Looked like my engine was on fire.

Smoke like this?

http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc217/T4i80/?action=view&current=DSCF0918.flv

Did you notice any more smoke from exhaust?

 

[Ultra_Joel88]

Now that you mention it I do get a bit more white smoke at startup.

But no extra clag out the back on booting ( I have a Fabia vrs on standard map and decat and get ABSOLUTELY NO BLACK SMOKE when booting it)

And yes it smokes like that, perhaps a touch less.

 

[Deleted member 32025]

can i ask a silly question, what is a oil catch can and why are they used ?? I was advised to buy one in a thread a made to use on the breather pipe but i was unsure what they do :S

Cheers

 

[Toxic]

basically the oil breathe pipe at the top of the rocker cover dumps all its hot smelly fumes into the inlet manifold, including oil, this then clocks up the inlet manifold, intercooler and other mechanical devices. its not good for the engine. the Oil Catch candoes just as it says. it catches oil. most seem to block the inlet from where the breather pipe enters the inlet manifold and then they VTA (Vent to Air) the gases and fumes one the catch can does its job.

 

[Muttley]

The crankcase needs to breathe, so as not to resist the pressure variations caused by the pistons pumping up and down. In the olden days the oil filler cap was filled with wire gauze and vented to the engine compartment. Modern emission control means this is frowned upon and manufacturers must control crankcase emissions - basically hot oil vapour. Most do this by piping the crankcase breather from the top of the cam cover to the intake, where it can be consumed by the engine.

Job done, you would think, and this would be fine (if a little oily) were in not for the other emission control regulations which say that NOx is a bad thing. EGR is used to control NOx formation, and EGR works by releasing exhaust gas (which contains little oxygen) back into the inlet. Exhaust gas is hot and sooty. This combines with the oil vapour to form a thick sticky coating which slowly chokes the inlet manifold downstream of the EGR valve.

To counter this you can reduce or eliminate EGR, stop the oil vapour getting in from the crankcase breather, or both. The oil catch can stops most of the oil getting in to the inlet (all of it if you vent to air).

 

[Deleted member 32025]

ok I see, so basically you could just get a oil breather pipe filter and put that on ?? Do you really need a can on it as well ??

Also http://www.fuelefficientsystems.co.uk/index.php?page=egr-replacement-power-pipe-kits is this good as it is to replace the EGR valve or does this basically make more exhaust gases get back into ure engine ?? Where can these oil catch cans be bought ??

And it it a big job cleaning you inlet manifold, or even checking for the muck from the oil and exhaust fumes ??