i guess it just stopped catching oil. i was thinking bad PCV? anyone else have this happen? car has about 36k.

 

Yeah mine doesn't do anything any more either. I got 10,000 on mine. I think when the rings seated after break in it stopped passing so much oil. I am not worried about it. Runs great and is quiet and does not smoke and for that, I don't ask any questions. If it aint broke, don't fix it.

 

$20 cc?

 

The oil that gets caught in the OCC's have nothing to do with the rings or the cylinders, it has to do with the valve/cam cover and the PCV valve. It is used to catch oil that passes by the PCV valve and that is it. There is a good chance that the PCV valve is no longer opening if the OCC is no longer collecting any oil.

 

My $20 OCC is still working just fine. I have noticed a need to tighten down the fittings and clamps on a regular basis though, the engine vibrations can work them loose...

Dusty

 

yes it's a $20 one. i'm in iraq right now, but my wife is trying to get a new PCV and she went to autozone and they told her that there is no pcv or that we dont need one or some sh%@ like that. i saw that modern performance has one for like 6.99 but i dont feel like paying the shipping. maybe napa or carquest, i dont know. it just sucks not being able to do sh%@ myself. anyhoo thanks for the help.

 

I got the 20 dollar one too. I've checked it many times. I have upgraded the hoses too cause the first ones collapsed months ago. I have found there is definitely air moving through the line, but it seems for the most part, devoid of any oil. I do get rather minute amounts of oil still, but nothing like I did when the car was new.
As far as the statement about rings having nothing to do with it, believe me when I say rings have almost everything to do with it. Excessive crankcase pressure (exaggerated in turbo cars) caused by malseated rings causes an overabundance of oily vapor exiting the crankcase via the pcv. The only other things that cause excess oil venting from the pvc are high rpm operation that fills the top end with excess oil before it can drain back into the pan, overwellming the built in baffles in the valve cover, and/or high rpms combined with a lot of lateral "G's" during hard left turns that throws the oil to the right hand side of the engine where the pcv valve is located. I do not believe these engines to have the drain back problems a lot of older v-8's had, and that combined with the water thin oil everybody now uses, lessens the oil accumulation in the valve cover area even more. I believe a lot of the oil I got initially was from the high boost pressures and new, not yet fully seated rings. I believe the oil I get now is from my very occasional high speed highway blasts which explains the lesser amount.
My guess Kickbutt, is your wife drives the car very easy which will cause very little oil to be caught. True? Then you probably have no problem. Good that she knows to keep an eye on these things though.
You stay safe. Our prayers are with you guys. I was there once too for Desert Storm. Mostly at King Kahlid AFB in Khamis Mushayt. 8.5 mos was enough. Glad to be out now.

 

i just remembered a trick they taught us in high school auto shop to check the PCV: pull the hose off the PCV with the car running and look for fluctuation in RPMs. i can have her do that i suppose.
Pressure cooker: thanks for thinking of us out here. cant really say where i'm at, but as you know it really doesnt matter, it's all just a giant sandbox out here.

oh yeah and the thing about her driving easy, I can hope, but she is more of a boost junkie than I am (love ya baby)

 

Oily vapor? I have never heard of such a thing. Water can change from a liquid to a gas and back to a liquid, but I've never heard of oil being able to do such a thing. Oil burns and there are gases from the combustion process that are removed through the PCV and the turbo creates oil blow by past it.


You can also shake the PCV valve to see if it's stuck or not, that's the most well known way.

 

Oily vapor most certainly exists. Think about it. The oil in the oil pan is constantly being whipped into a fine mist by the crank and rods. That area below the pistons is not sealed from the top of the motor where the valve cover sits. It is open via large oil drain back passages and such. If you have excessive blow by from the pistons, that oily fog is pushed up to the only place it can go- the valve cover and pcv valve where it exits the engine. That oily fog/vapor whatever you would call it is the reason for the elaborate baffles and screens used in some valve covers. It is an attempt to separate the oil from the air before it is vented either outside on the old cars or back into the intake as is the more environmentally friendly way of modern cars. That in itself is a concession to the fact that the baffles will not have seperated all the oil and other harmful pollutants and is a last ditch effort to burn it though the combustion chamber. Now how much vapor is being pushed through the pcv is directly affected by how much blow-by the rings have.