RVC (Redneck Crankcase Ventilation)

[blkfordsedan]

Don't laugh too hard, it actually seems to be working! After the problems with excessive blow-by that I'm experiencing, I had to come up with some way try to keep as much oil as I could out of the air intake tube, throttle body & VAF meter housing. It's already captured about 2 oz. of oil after 100 miles. At this rate, I think I need a Mason Jar to make it between oil changes. Total investment was about $25.00. The parts are as follows:

1) Oil/Water separator w/glass bowl, manual drain cock and 1/4"NPT connections (made for small air compressor). $6.99 at Harbor Freight

4Ft) 1/2" heater hose from Autozone

1) 1-1/2" conduit hanger
1) pack of adhesive backed foam rubber grip strips
2) 1/2" hose barb X 3/8"NPT brass fittings
1) 1/4"NPT X 3/8"FPT X 90D steel elbow
1) 1/4"FPT X 3/8"FPT X 90D steel elbow
1) 1/2" barb X 1/2" barb X 90D plastic elbow
(ALL above from local Home Improvement store)

Hopefully, the blow-by will improve with a few oil changes. I think it just has some crap built up in the ring lands. At least I can monitor the progress (or lack of) based on the visual sight glass.

[drddan]

:shock: That much in 100 miles?

[perucho]

$25 doesn't sound so cheap considering you didn't get all the parts at the same place. Good idea though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BLUE-OIL-CATCH-CAN-TANK-240SX-S13-S14-KA24DET-SR20DET-B-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem3ca6c95345QQitemZ260496249669QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

[blkfordsedan]

$25 doesn't sound so cheap considering you didn't get all the parts at the same place. Good idea though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BLUE-...Q5fAccessories

Actually, $25 is pretty cheap considering that the brass pipe fittings & elbows are about $3 to $4 each. $18 is a great deal for the Ebay can.
I may have to invest in one for the added capacity! At least I can always take mine off and install it on my garage air compressor.

[sc72]

blow-by

Thats an inventive idea that you have there,has the blow-by been comming on slowly or did you just buy the car lately,good luck with getting the crud out of the ring lands.

[anomoly40]

Did that to my SRT4.

[blkfordsedan]

That's an inventive idea that you have there,has the blow-by been coming on slowly or did you just buy the car lately,good luck with getting the crud out of the ring lands.

It was fine about 3000 miles ago. I decided to run the new Pennzoil full synthetic with "hyper cleaning" additives. About 1000 miles into it, all hell broke loose and it started filling the air intake tube with oil. Not sure what's exactly going on. I'm hoping it just had some crap break loose and clog the top rings, but, it does have 147K miles. It runs excellent - last tank was 48.3 MPG, no noticeable loss in power and no exhaust smoke at all. The regular PCV system is working but it just can't keep up with the crankcase pressure. Common sense tells me it's just getting tired. I had the head off it about 25K miles ago and the cylinders looked good. I still need to do a compression check and try some different things before I decide to pull the engine. This will at least help control the "mess" until I figure something out.

[sc72]

It was fine about 3000 miles ago. I decided to run the new Pennzoil full synthetic with "hyper cleaning" additives. About 1000 miles into it, all hell broke loose and it started filling the air intake tube with oil. Not sure what's exactly going on. I'm hoping it just had some crap break loose and clog the top rings, but, it does have 147K miles. It runs excellent - last tank was 48.3 MPG, no noticeable loss in power and no exhaust smoke at all. The regular PCV system is working but it just can't keep up with the crankcase pressure. Common sense tells me it's just getting tired. I had the head off it about 25K miles ago and the cylinders looked good. I still need to do a compression check and try some different things before I decide to pull the engine. This will at least help control the "mess" until I figure something out.

Evidently that Pennzoil really knocked some crud loose.I have never really had any respect for that brand of oil but it sounds like it worked well,maybe to good.Compression test would be good and how about a leak-down test for the valves.Ya know as small and hard as carbon is i wounder how the bearings are holding up. Those particles are alot smaller than the oil pump screen.Let us know if the engine does come around.It should still be in good shape at 147k not that many miles. Good Luck

[Joe Dirt]

nice work!

[blkfordsedan]

Evidently that Pennzoil really knocked some crud loose.I have never really had any respect for that brand of oil but it sounds like it worked well,maybe to good.Compression test would be good and how about a leak-down test for the valves.Ya know as small and hard as carbon is i wounder how the bearings are holding up. Those particles are alot smaller than the oil pump screen.Let us know if the engine does come around.It should still be in good shape at 147k not that many miles. Good Luck

I'm being careful not to blame the oil. I guess if I was a Pennzoil fan, I'd say "look at all the carbon & sludge that accumulated using Motorcraft oil and all it took was 3000 miles of Pennzoil to clean it out!" It all depends on how you look at it. I will say, with confidence, that the new Hyper-Cleaning additive that Pennzoil advertises does appear to be very effective. I did use a Purolator Gold oil filter when I added the Pennzoil, so I feel a little better about the bearings. I will not be using it again in anything I own, but I would consider it if I had a new car. I've toyed with the idea of adding some Diesel fuel, Seafoam or Rislone to try to clean out the rings but I think I'll leave it alone for now. I did add a can of Restore and after another 300 miles there is not much more oil in the glass reservoir than is pictured above. The oil film mist on the outside of the engine is improving. It appears to be getting better. The current tank of gas is on track to average around 49 to 50 MPG and it runs pretty strong. This weekend I plan on a compression check. I also want to remove the valve cover and hook an air hose up to the spark plug adapter so I can pump air into the cylinders and listen for air leaks. Then I want to pull the rocker arms & shafts off, replace any weak lash adjusters and re-torque the head. I wonder if a slight leak in the head gasket would push compression into the oil passages in the head that feed the rocker shafts? I put a new head gasket from FMS in it when I assembled it about 1-1/2 years ago. It was not a MLS gasket but rather an OEM style and I never have re-torqued the head. Just a thought.

[kyleeeee]

there are only 2 reasons why oil is coming out of the pcv system . The pcv system or the oil control rings . there is no other possible cause . The pcv system could be restricted with carbon and gunk, but from the pics you sent,it looks like you have replaced it all . At idle and cruise, the pcv system uses vacuum from the engine draw the nasty contaminanated crankcase vapors into the intake , at wot there is no vacuum in the engine so it is drawn the other way through the intake .these vapors must be drawn out of the crankcase or engine damage will result and all of the engine seals, front and rear main seal and valve cover will begin to leak oil . since most people dont do wide open throttle very often and the volume of vapors is low , oil does not build up on the intake tube . When the oil control rings fail the high pressure of combustion blows past the oil rings into the crankcase this elevates the positive pressure in the crankase and causes seals to fail and a geiser out of the oil fill tube of vapors .A compression test will tell you nothing as the top ring of the piston is stil doing its job. The bearings are still ok but wont be for long if you keep driving it, crankcase vapors are full of acid that will damage the babbit material , a cyllinder leakdown test will tell you anything since the compression ring is still ok thick oil products do seem to help temorarily ie rislone stp because the allow the oil control ring to seal against the cyllinder better .This also has nothing to do with the cyllinder head . the number 1 reason oil control rings fail is due to overheat of engine . the rings loose their tension once they over heat .for rings to seal they need friction that is why you cross hatch the cyllinder when you install new rings .When synthetic oil is used on and older engine, some people say that the stuff is so slick that the rings lose their friction , against the cyllinder , why it does not come back after the oil is changed is not known, but a re ring job with a quick bead hone on the cyls should fix your concern if the cyllinder wall is not to damaged

[blkfordsedan]

No offense, but I don't really follow your logic. I don't think the bottom rings (oil control rings) are bad and I don't think they are really intended to provide much seal against cylinder pressure, but rather to control the oil film on the cylinder wall. They scrape off the excess oil and channel it back through the oil drain holes in the bottom ring lands. There should always be a microscopic layer of oil between the cylinder wall and piston ring face. Pure metal-to-metal contact would self destruct. The cross hatch angle helps determine how much oil is retained on the cylinder wall. 45 degrees is close to optimal. Any flatter will cause too much oil to be retained and can cause the rings to basically hydroplane. Too steep of an angle will allow the oil to drain away too quickly and leave too thin of an oil film, resulting in cylinder scuffing.
Cylinder pressure works it's way behind the TOP compression rings to actually force them against the cylinder wall and increase the seal. That's why you use repeated compression hold-back (free deceleration) when breaking in a new piston rings. It's also why gas porting is effective in helping to increase ring seal on race engines. The top rings need to be able to float in the ring lands to develop a seal under cylinder pressure. If the top ring lands get packed with carbon (which I suspect is the case with me), the rings can not expand outward and the gas pressure can not get behind them, then you loose your seal against cylinder gas pressure. If they are doing their job, the oil control rings should not see much gas pressure during combustion. In my case, I have no oil burning during combustion and no exhaust smoke. To me, that indicates that I don't have a problem with oil control. All I have is excessive pressure buildup in the crank case that is forcing oil vapors out. It seems to me that it has to be the compression rings that are leaking. If the rings will not seal against combustion pressure and let it leak into the crankcase, then it stands to reason that same would happen during a compression test. (At least that's the logic that I'm using). Here is a link to a website that details ring design & function.

http://www.riken.co.jp/e/piston/b/b_2.html

It doesn't really matter anyway......there is no way I'll ever do a ring job on a B3 when I can buy a low mileage B6 or B8 for $250. I'll put new rings in a B6 first!

[FB71]

blkfordsedan, you are correct.

[blkfordsedan]

Jim, do you think there's any chance at all that a leaking head gasket could push pressure into the valve train via the oil feed passage and not blow compression into the cooling system or give any noticable signs of a leaking head gasket? I know I'm grasping at straws, but I seen some strange things happen before.