Catch me if you can

"razorbeamteam" (razorbeamteam)
02/04/2019 at 21:50 • Filed to: None

I recently installed a catch can after I spent a weekend cleaning my oily upper intake. I’ve only had it on about a month and have probably driven the truck no more than 100 miles in that time. I pulled the can tonight to see what I had collected.

The answer is... not oil. I think this is water or possibly coolant. It smells almost like fuel, and anodized finish is coming off the can. It could be a mixture of oil, coolant, and water. It has been insanely cold in Chicago over the past month. I’m hoping it’s condensation and not coolant. It doesn’t have a greenish tint, if anything it looks like beer.

In other news, I figured out the shop swapped the positive and negative on the coil. Great work there boys. I switched them back and hooked up the MSD and now it’s running great except for a little bit of a funky idle.

DISCUSSION (12)

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > razorbeamteam
02/04/2019 at 22:37

I’m going to guess H2O condensate from combustion, the water that they tell you to always get your engine good and hot to avoid accumulating. I’ve asked a couple of guys I know who ought to have a good idea.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > razorbeamteam
02/04/2019 at 22:42

given the super cold temps I could imagine a lot more moisture before everything is heated up. If you dip paper in it, gas will completely evaporate, oil will still leave a spot

MM54 > razorbeamteam
02/04/2019 at 22:43

Looks fine to me (I put a catch can on my crown vic years ago), it will catch a bit of oil, a bit of fuel, and a lot of water condensation (the colder it is, the more water there will be).

razorbeamteam > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
02/04/2019 at 22:54

I dipped a paper towel in it and held a lighter to it and it and it just stayed wet. I think it’s mostly water.

razorbeamteam > MM54
02/04/2019 at 22:55

Yeah I mostly drove it to warm it up and driver around the neighborhood a few times a week.

razorbeamteam > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 22:56

That make sense, I’ve mostly been driving it around the neighborhood a few times a week to warm it up.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > razorbeamteam
02/04/2019 at 23:50

I got two replies. This first one is from an original old guy that I correspond with who is in Tennessee. He’s into his 70s and has a storied and colorful background. And a colorful — and direct — way of putting things:

Interesting- - - -dumb, but interesting just the same. He’s created enough vertical drainage to keep the blowby from his worn out engine from putting oil into his intake. He’s obviously got mor e blowby than the PCV can handle, as that port is supposed to draw air INTO the engine, not vent blowby. After he drives it a while, especially at highway speed, the can will fill with oil. Right now he’s just catching condensation from running the engine short trips in extremely cold weather. The temperature under the hood is probably keeping it from freezing.

And this one, from a very good friend who runs a full service auto shop. He’s an expert diagnostician and also a smog guy:

That’s a modified PCV system. The idea is it is supposed to catch liquids from the crankcase rather than letting them go back into the intake. Mostly a wasted effort and surely not smog legal. I would fail that for tampered PCV off I was trying to smog it, unless there was an EO number to go with it, which I doubt there is.

The only time it might help is in reducing the carbon on the back of the intake valves in a GDI engine. With port fuel injection there is plenty of gasoline washing the back of the valves.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > razorbeamteam
02/05/2019 at 07:39

Just don't drink the water.

razorbeamteam > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/05/2019 at 09:10

Interesting, and I hesistatke to correct your older friend, but that is the port (the blue cylinder on top of the valve cover) which vents the excess crankcase pressure. Air is pulled by vacuum from the intake, all I did was add a can along the same routing.

We don’t have smog here , or at least not as comprehensive as you have it out there. The truck is old enough that it doesn’t have to be tested, but I’m curious why it wouldn’t pass. All I’ve done is take the stock PCV routing and add a can to the mix.

Either way, I appreciate you getting some outside opinions here. It doesn’t sound like either of these guys think anything is amiss with the water collecting in the can though.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > razorbeamteam
02/05/2019 at 11:48

Good morning. My Original Old Guy pal is unafraid to say w hat he think s and even though I wind up disagreeing with him sometimes, I never tell him that. I think his input is always valuable. The one bit he said that I would take to heart is that once you get to driving any distance and warming up the engine thoroughly, the can will fill with oil. If I’d just gotten that admonition from that guy, I’d wanna check his theory. Also, this was a bit of a score, because he said, Interesting . Your setup piqued his curiosity, and that is an accomplishment. Boys need men and men need older men and I’m real happy to have this guy on my team, even if he is a grumpy old so-and-so much of the time.

razorbeamteam > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/05/2019 at 12:19

Agree with you there. Older guys just tend to know more. I’m at an age where I have the inexperience of youth but beyond where I think I know everything. I have been proven wrong more than I have been right by disagreeing with my dad in similar situations. Hopefully I can get some longer drives on this setup to see how the results change.

After taking apart the upper intake and going through 3 cans of brake kleen, I just wanted some insurance against having to do it again . Hopefully if it does fill with oil, it doesn’t make it into the intake or I at least remember to empty it regularly.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > razorbeamteam
02/05/2019 at 14:16

Nothing wrong with trying it out and seeing what happens. My old pal would enjoy hearing what happens with it.