I should say: How much oil should an OCC catch?

I installed my BSH oil catch can about 12K miles ago, having perhaps about 2 years in use. I only drive about 5,000 miles per year, mostly in-town but with an occasional highway road trip. I routinely check the dipstick in the can and it's mostly dry. At the last oil change I removed the OCC drain plug and got a couple drops out. I shined a small LED light into the can and saw the bottom was covered with a shiny coating of oil, but there wasn't much.

For those of you with OCC's, what kind of 'output' do you get?

2007 MCS, auto, 31K miles

 

I also drive about 5000 miles a year, in the winter, I get about a cup of oil/water mix every two weeks. The only time I don't see much in the catch can is in the summer, when the under hood temperatures are much higher.

Dave

 

More info needed.

What year car
How many miles on the car
Did you block off the passenger side port
How long is your average drive
What climate do you drive in (colder collects more moisture)

Mike

 

How Much Oil Can a Catch Can Catch if a catch can can catch oil ? BAHAHHAA

 

Fun Knee

I did not block the passenger port and it is still connected to the original hose.

 

That's why you aren't catching much oil. You have to block off the PCV line from the passenger side of the head cover to the throttle body, or the catch can won't do you any good. Alternatively, I've heard of people putting in two oil catch cans one on each PCV line.

Dave

 

I fitted a cheapo oil catch can off flee bay. Looks real good but looking inside there was no gauss or filter so i made my own separator/filter using the the mesh from an old Cafetiere and added some tubing. Without a filter or gauss the can is almost useless.

I've also blocked off the engine vent that goes into the inlet manifold.

Its winter here in England & its very wet. Well I drained the can after about a month as it was 3/4 full, mostly water. I guess it was about 1/4 of a litre. I have also noticed that my exhaust tail pipes are cleaner which is nice, but im starting to now see a small amount of rust forming on the inside of the pipe. Anyone else noticed the cleaner exhaust pipes?

Tab

 

OK, thanks. I reviewed the BSH installation instructions again and there was no mention of doing this. So basically, the OCC has been doing SQUAT for the last two years :<(

I started reading threads about the PCV delete. Looks like the Peugeot caps 0361.S4 (or Audi 036131510) might be the way to go .

 

And they cost less than £2.00 each, u will need x2 of them

Tab

 

I'm still in the process of fixing a problem with my OCC install, but the following is what I've come up with so far. I'll start a new thread in a couple weeks --- after I put some more miles on it.

My original OCC install consisted of the catch can connected to the line feeding the turbo inlet, nothing else. This means the hose from the valve cover to the intake manifold is still in use. After several months of driving with the OCC, there was still no oil showing on the OCC dipstick. After seeing several online posts with pics of their catch, I did some research.

According to the Bentley manual, the line to the turbo is used when manifold pressure is “under load”. The line to the intake manifold is used during “deceleration or idle”. Since most of my driving is not under load (I use a lot of cruise control), the OCC wasn’t getting used. So, the question is, should I cap the manifold line, or route it to an OCC? Because of cost and ease of installation, I took the cap option. Bought two vent caps from my local Audi dealer, part number 036131510, removed the hose, and installed them. Didn’t take long to catch oil in the OCC. Peugeot also sells them as #0361.S4, and ECS Tuning sells them online, all for about $10 each. Hard part is figuring out how to remove the hose without breaking it. Once you see how the vent cap is designed, it’s pretty easy to figure out.

After a couple tanks of gas, I noticed crankcase oil level was down a quart. This is the first time this has happened - this engine hasn’t burned oil in the 20K miles / 2 years I’ve driven it. First guess is crankcase pressure is forcing oil past the valve stems into the combustion chamber. This implies the vent plugs I just installed messed things up. So, I ordered a Dual Boost Tap, bought some hose and a “tee” fitting, and connected the other valve cover outlet to the existing OCC. While in there, I disconnected the turbo air inlet hose for a quick look. Worst fears realized --- oil puddle in the air chamber!

Made a couple calls about turbo repair / replacement. One shop that knows Garrett turbos, told me that high crankcase pressure can cause oil to “backflow” thru the turbo oil drain line, and cause the symptoms I’m seeing. Resolve the high pressure issue, and the oil consumption problem will go away. Then there’s an oily mess to clean up --- from the turbo outlet to the intake manifold. This is several months after the initial OCC install. I’ve created the very mess the OCC was installed to prevent!

After reading some of the various threads on OCC’s, oil consumption, and bad smells, it’s my guess that they have a similar problem --- 2 vent caps installed, or a dual boost tap adapter connected with the plug installed.

I still don’t understand how this adapter can read boost when it’s connected to the crankcase / valve cover vent line. Maybe if installed at the manifold end of the hose and then plugged, but I don’t know what’s happening inside that “control box”. So much to learn ---

 

Do you think the optimal solution would be to run 2 OCC's? I really don't do any hard boost driving, either, and am just looking for a good anti-carbon buildup solution.

 

I think that the 'ultimate' solution is to use water/meth injection. But now you are into $1000+ for parts, plus a tune to get it setup properly. This will keep a clean intake system clean (not reduce the buildup that already exists). I don't have first hand experience with this (cant justify the expense right now), but have read in several posts that this seems to work well.

2 oil catch cans has been done by some people, and logically it makes sense that it would be a step up.

Have fun,
Mike

 

I have a BSH oil catch can, with the dual boost port blocking off the PCV line to the throttle body. My MINI uses less than a quart of oil in five thousand miles. I suspect that most of the oil lost is caught by the oil catch can, as it looks like the oil catch can has caught about a pint of oil in the last five thousand miles.

Dave

 

Sure, two OCC's would be ideal, IF you can find space to install a second one. That's why I used a "tee" connection, that and the Bentley manual explanation about "toggling" the two vents so both are not in use at the same time.

I definitely will not block off either vent again. Maybe it's just my driving habits that caused the problem, but time will tell --- just added the tee a couple days ago and haven't tried it yet.

And, as mentioned earlier, a good WMI system is also a great build-up preventer, just really expensive.

Have fun with whatever changes you install ---

 

Use seafoam as directed to help as well...wouldn't hurt

 

alot if your breather system is messed up( a thousand threads on this)
alot in wet /cold weather conditions
not so much in hot summery conditions