A while back I had posted a question about a neoprene insulated metal tube that ran from side to side of the engine in front of the throttle body on my 2002 Dakota.. It appears this is part of the crankcase ventilation system. It connects a hose that runs to the back of the driver side head to the same thing on the passenger side and tees to the PCV valve on the oil filler tube and the air filter housing. My question today is regarding crankcase ventilation filter elements. When I looked at a Chrysler schematic I see the metal tube, hoses and what it calls a filter element on each side where the hoses connect to the connections at the back of the head. If these two things are considered filters, it would seem that at some point they would need replacement. I found one YouTube video where a guy was replacing the part and he called it a PCV but the PCV valve is on the oil filler tube. I don't see anything about replacing those filter elements. The hose & tube assembly is supposedly Chrysler# 53032090AB and the filter element is Chrysler# 53030850AB. I have not tried taking either of those rear connections apart so I haven't really seen what all is involved. Can anyone enlighten me?

The two places at the back of each head are #3

 

I took the two pieces out today. They are basically hollow tubes with a cone shaped part on the inside of one end. That cone shaped part has an orifice of some set diameter in it. From what I understand the crankcase can get over pressured if those orifices clog. The elbow attached to the back of the engine appears to be rubber but the other parts of the complete crankcase ventilation harness are more of a rigid plastic. I had to apply a little heat to get the more rigid material tube off of the two parts. The end in the rubber elbow came off fairly easily. The orifices were not closed but may have been partially so I soaked the two parts in mineral spirits and then scrubbed them internally with a Q-tip, rinsed them out, blew them out with low pressure air. I found no cracks in the tubing harness so I reinstalled the two parts. The replaceable parts are $3-$9 each and I could not find them at the local parts stores so figure $17.50-$20 for two with shipping added in. The complete harness can be bought online in the range of $90 - $120 and it includes the two "filter" parts and the rubber elbows. I guess it's one of those things that should be checked every so often as they apparently cause oil leaks, vacuum leaks, high idle and by affecting the vacuum it can affect fuel mixture and performance. I have no idea how clogged they would have to be to cause that. Here is a link to a video of a guy with a RAM with a clogged breather filter (totally different kind) that caused his rear main seal to leak bad. Better safe than sorry and I never even knew they existed.

 

The PCV system is supposed to keep a light vacuum on the crankcase. It helps keep contaminates out of the oil, helps with ring seal, and also has some emissions application or other. If the system gets plugged up, it allows pressure to build in the crankcase, and yeah, that is just really BAD for seals and gaskets.

 

Yes, it was the only thing that helped me because the intercooler was just clogged. But then I had to renew the intercooler after a while, because it was too overheated and could burn out in general, and it was necessary to install an intercooler system to prevent this from happening. That's why it's good that I found Banks 25980 and thanks to that I was able to normalize the heating. By the way there are a lot of them, if you need it look at best 5.9 cummins intercooler upgrade https://boostyourengine.com/best-5-9...ooler-upgrade/ and there are many of them, by the way, as a universal can also normally stand. So you need to read carefully before picking one up.

 

Huh??