Clean your darn Catch cans fellas

[ceedawg]

Thought I blew my Engine and I do have a RRE catch can.

Started my car yesterday morning,it was 19 degrees here in NYC. Let the car idle then poof I smell oil and see nothing but blue smoke coming out the exhaust. Motor has less than 2k miles since rebuild. Did it just decide to fail? Ah crap..
Lift up the hood and see the dipstick is up an inch with oil pouring out like hot lava.I'm like what the heck! I loosen the oil cap and I hear a big gasp of air come out of the cap opening and the smoking stops . Mmmmm! No oil coming out of the dipstick pipe now. I close the cap and the car starts smoking like hell again. Loosen the cap car stops smoking. Put my hand over the opening and I can feel a little air pressure. Mmmmmmm!

Now I have a catch can. I call up Alex (boostdriven) and he says to take one of the catch can hoses off the valve cover and blow into it and I cant push air through.I take the other side off the catch can and I could blow air through the hose freely.He says there is my problem, the catch can is blocked up.
I left the hoses on the valve cover and detached them from the catch can. Drove the car and the ports and rings must have been full of oil. Reved the motor ,drove the car and it all cleared up.Smoother idle, freer reving, car felt like a beast.

Moral of the story,check your pcv valve if you still have it or if you have a catch can setup, make sure your hoses to it are clean and gunk free as well as your catchcan.

Check and clean that baby just before the cold season comes every year. That stuff that builds up in it will have you amazed. Mind you I always drained my catch can but like cholesterol it does not keep the sludge from building up in the hoses (arteries) and catch can. Anyway I ordered the bigger Calan catch can but still I will say one should always clean out the hose and can yearly regardless of drain intervals. Just my thoughts

 

[dsmcrzy]

It is amazing what builds up in the lines. I have a calan V3 and I love it. I disconnected my vc lines to get them out of the way for the turbo swap so they have just been hanging down. You wouldn't believe the gunk that has dripped out.

I still need to clean out my catch can from the spring/summer but it hasn't gotten high enough in the sight window to see it.

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[GST with PSI]

Started my car yesterday morning,it was 19 degrees here in NYC.

It probably wasn't dirty, it was probably frozen.

It's commonly known that catch can lines are prone to freezing in subzero temperatures. The condensation in the lines begins to collect and ice up, leaving you with a blockage.

Building up a solid blockage (that's not ice) would be pretty rare I'd think, unless your lines are tiny.

 

[ceedawg]

It probably wasn't dirty, it was probably frozen.

It's commonly known that catch can lines are prone to freezing in subzero temperatures. The condensation in the lines begins to collect and ice up, leaving you with a blockage.

Building up a solid blockage (that's not ice) would be pretty rare I'd think, unless your lines are tiny.

yes I agree that can happen for sure. And thats what I thought could happen as well after noticing the blockage because of condensation.The side of the catchcan where I first disconnected the line looked like it was blocked up with yellow greasy vaseline.

I'm gonna go -10 with everything when I get the Calan can. Even still I think cleaning everything out thoroughly , hoses and all with kerosene yearly just like an aftermarket fuel filter would be a good thing to do. Just draining the catchcan in my opinion is not enough at least it was not in my case. Maybe with a whole new setup it will not be like my present catchcan setup with smaller lines.

 

[92AWDHX40]

I'll be running dash 10 too when I get my Calan can and valve cover fitted.

 

[oneslowwdsm]

Hmm yeah I do have some goop built up in mine and was thinking of cleaning it. Would you just run a hose through it? Unfortunately, Calan lost my business when I needed a can to get my car running however he was month behind and I bought one of Gambles catch cans instead. It is -12 with 2 fittings welded off the valve cover going into the can. Needless to say, I never have crankcase pressure issues

 

[ceedawg]

Hmm yeah I do have some goop built up in mine and was thinking of cleaning it. Would you just run a hose through it? Unfortunately, Calan lost my business when I needed a can to get my car running however he was month behind and I bought one of Gambles catch cans instead. It is -12 with 2 fittings welded off the valve cover going into the can. Needless to say, I never have crankcase pressure issues

Wow a month behind! Im hoping that wont be the case with mines so far I have the lines drped towards the ground ,drove he today she pulled fine but I can smell the noxious fumes so hopefully we wont be waiting more than the 4 to 5 weeks. Thank God its not my daily driver.

 

[oneslowwdsm]

Yeah this was a while ago though. I believe 2 summers ago.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

Recirculated cans fill less than vented cans. Vented cans are a no go for me because of this reason.