I have used a catch can for seven months and on inspection of the can I had aprox three table spoons of dark brown oil in the can.
at the same time I decided to clean my grs intercooler the snoot boots had a layer of clear oil in them and the left hand end tank had a clear oil in it.
I installed the catch can and intercooler at the same time.
I would like to ask you guys if it is worth keeping the oil catch can or is it a waste of time.
the catch can is fitted to the pcv and the grey intercooler tube.

 

Well, even though your intercooler had some oil on the inside, that is still better than having all 3 table spoons of the oil from the can in there, right?

 

thankyou for the reply.
when i had my stock intercooler their was only a small trace of oil in the intercooler and the stock one had been on for three years. sorry to ak I am just confused.

 

Having a catch can on any FI car is a good idea. I had one on my suped up 1.8T and I had to dump it out weekly. I always had oil blow by into the intake...which is a common problem for at least the Audi/VW guys....

 

If nothing else, the catch can is good for catching moisture and preventing it from condensing in the oil pan.

Just make sure you have some kind of filter material like stainless steel wool in the catch can or it isn't doing much of anything.

 

It's doing it's job even if it's just a bit. If you want something more efficient, do a bit of research on an oil separator. My friend referred me to it, and I'm still doing a bit of reading on it myself.

 

I am of the belief that all OCC are not created equal. For one to work at it's best the intake of the OCC should have a tube that goes to the bottom of the can. It should also have some filter material at the bottom to help retain the oil from returning to the system. A lot of the OCC available to purchase just come with a intake and exhaust port at the top of the can without any filter material. IMHO I do not think these do a very good job.
I use the one from GTT tuning and have it plumbed inbetween the PVC and gray hose and it does a very good job.
Steve

 

Or get an air/oil separator that is designed to do the job. Search for a thread on the $15 OCC...

 

You can also get very inexpensive and generic OCCs off Ebay, that look amazingly exactly like some of the aftermarket boutique OCCs for a savings of $100.

Definitely stuff the can with some steel wool or a couple of copper scrubies or something similar, it will be more effective.

Also, the dealership told me that some cars throw codes with a catch can installed, he did not know what codes though. Not sure I belive that story about throwing codes with a properly installed OCC.

 

and if you install it wrong (like i did... oops) you can blow a valve cover gasket :P :D course it was =hooked up like the diagram said, but i think a line got pinched, or possibly it was purely coincidental, but yea, ive had mine for 5 months, and there is almost nothing in the can.

 

Here is a Pic of my BSH OCC on my R53... Its internally baffled with Aluminum Mesh, and its welded shut, top and bottom so I don't have to fear of the can separating and leaking oil (my Ebay can did this) all over my engine bay.

 

This company makes nice catch cans http://www.saikoumichi.com/faqs_page.html

 

Similar to ours, one thing important that is mention on their FAQ, is line size. R53 uses a 3/8" inlet and outlet. Also, the can size will have to be unique as MINI didn't give us alot of space to work with