TortugaGS

Hi everyone! Im hoping to get some help understanding my PCV system. The little oil seperator is making a mess. Its been a little oily since i got it, but lately the oil has made its way to my garage floor. There is also a silver can with a couple of hoses attached that is behind the supercharger. Im not sure what it is or if i should be draining it.

Please help me understand what is normal and what, if anything should I do as maintenance. Any other info is greatly appreciated!

Car is a 2010 GS with the dry sump engine. ECS 1500 kit.


Im not sure what that silver can behind the supercharger is, other than its tied into the PCV system. Should I be draining it?

The little oil seperator is making a mess! How do I service this?

whowon

The silver can is the oil catch can, and yes it should be emptied periodically.

DOUG @ ECS

Where is the hose with the blue separator coming from?

TortugaGS

Thanks! Ill get it drained asap.

That hose goes to a connector next to the throttle body but just loops back around to one of the dry sump tank hoses. Doesn't appear to connect to anything else.

TortugaGS

Any other info on how I could get the oil seperator to stop puking oil would be greatly appreciated. Or if thats even normal.

Kingtal0n

The longer an engine runs like that without proper pcv and pcv maintenance, the more sludging and dark oil percolating baffles and lines with sticky carbon blow-by fragments and pushing oil out of the engine through every seal and orifice.

Once its run for a while with percolating blow-by it can be difficult to clean up. You may remove most carbon from the oil by an oil change however much of the deposit forming carbon products are lodged in the piston rings gradually accumulating. Blow-by carbon also circulates into engine oil and adheres within orifices.The darkening gradual gold tan coloration is indicative of carbon staining, products from engine oil mixing with blow-by gas leaving deposits to stain materials and clog orifices.

To protect the engine you must remove the blow-by gas. This is #1 what the pcv system does for your engine. protects the engine oil and protects the orifices like lifter orifices from clogging due to accumulated circulated blow-by carbon products of combustion. It has other far reaching benefits but the main one is the longevity and reliability comes from PCV concept.

My advice is return the engine to OEM pcv , get all new oem lines and parts its not much and put it all back even the OEM air intake box. And along the way you will need to clean out the baffle systems from oil or it will still have oil inside it kinda leaking out from previous problems. Rinse out the valve covers, intake manifold, clean up all the oil, clean everything on the engine to do the job you know remove the leaves and twigs and rinse and wash the engine and WD40 some stuff etc... Your job is moping up all the oil and cleaning every surface for future inspections.

Next start un-doing the sludging by running seafoam in the oil and gas, or marvel, or atf, or whatever you believe in. De-sludging has a tipping point, a point of no return. If you run long enough without proper pcv for the rings eventually so much carbon is deposited around the engine that when you run some powerful sludge removers it will free up so much carbon goop that immediately clogs an orifice and kills the engine permanently metal goes everywhere and you trashed the block. This is why I spend so much time stressing important of PCV and measuring PCV on every car forum.

If you need me to show you OEM pcv figures and diagrams and how to hook it up optimally
just remember to know whether pcv is working or not you either need alot of experience and intuitive knowledge about the behavior signs of pcv working in action such as particular fan shapes pattern of oil in specific locations where it belongs, or, you need to measure the crankcase pressure. Collect data. Crankcase pressure target is around 0.8"Hg minimum but for performance you can go 1.5" to 3"Hg in wet sump applications for improved oil control.

DOUG @ ECS

If that's coming from the side of the throttle body then you are getting boost threw there. That needs to be capped off, you are pressurizing your crank case which is going to cause all kind of problems.

TortugaGS

Thank you for your help Doug!
So i traced the lines and this is what i have, hope it makes sense..

Catch Can- one hose goes to a plug in the valley under the intake manifold, the other hose goes to the intake manifold.

Dry sump oil tank- one hose goes to a y split and goes to each of the valve covers, the other hose goes to the little breather thats puking oil.

I dont see any other lines connected anywhere.

Does this sound like its routed the right way?
Thanks again!

TortugaGS

I also just drained the catch can, there was some oil, not much.

This was after i drained it, but there wasnt very much in there.

Kingtal0n

All forced induction setups require pressure testing to find leaking including at the pcv valve.

'Inspect' (listen and feel) all lines and fittings during the test to find leaking
OEM chevrolet pcv valve is typically not suitable for forced induction

TortugaGS

I appreciate your help, but the problem Im having my vent to atmosphere line is spitting out oil. It has an in-line oil seperator but it leaks oil. I dont know if thats normal, or if my catch can setup is optimal or not for my setup. My PCV system in not OEM, but even after reading several threads, im still not sure if its setup correctly as I bought the car this way. The car runs great otherwise, im just tired of cleaning up the oil is leaks from the seperator.

Kingtal0n

If you are pressurizing the crankcase it will blow oil from every orifice

TortugaGS

I may have made my leak sound worse than what it actually is. I kind of made it sound like its leaving a trail of oil, which its not.
Over the course of a few weeks, the oil seperator will spit up small amounts of oil and just make a mess. Its more of a few drops after a few weeks rather than a continuous drip leaving puddles every day.

Kingtal0n

Yeah that is called blowing out oil. blowing out oil droplets is a sign of bad piston rings or improper PCV.
Crankcase pressure causes oil seepage and leaking. droplets and spray.

The solution is what I already posted. You can Measure the crankcase pressure with appropriate tool to ensure correct pressure setting once you think you've fixed it. You can fix by pressure testing and finding leaks and by correcting the PCV system back to OEM for a forced induction car (Copy any forced induction PCV like Nissan Skyline or Supra) with a added PCV valve suitable for forced induction such as 1998 toyota supra twin turbo.

Kingtal0n

There is two types of engine oil leaking. Oil dripping, and oil blowing. Oil dripping is a liquid oil leak, like a broken sensor or forgotten oil plug.
Oil blowing is droplets of oil, being blown out in a gas.

You have oil blowing, pressure is forcing oildroplets out of the crankcase because a piston ring is broken or INCORRECT PCV.
What you want is oil sucking. Pulling droplets of oil back into the engine with a vacuum, pulling oil out of rear main seal and taking oil out of the valve cover. With suction the oil no longer leaves the engine easily. With no suction it just blows droplets everywhere now you clean it up. Unfortunately it blows droplets into the ring packs and combustion chamber directly, oil accumulates light hydrocarbons leave and rings become sticky stuck over decades. All seals inside facing the crankcase pressure are akin to this philosophy

TortugaGS

Thanks for your help Kingtalon, ill look into your suggestions. My main concern to making any change to my car is allowing oil to enter the intake manifold, weather it be on the form of droplets of vapor, as I understand that means lowering the octane rating.
Ill continue to read threads and hopefully figure it out.

Kingtal0n

Your engine is not very advanced from the factory in terms of PCV. I would not be alone in suggesting that the engine PCV system leaves something to be desired.

It's mechanics and owners are not exposed to the type of PCV monitoring and control that other types of engines are, there is little information about crankcase pressure measurement. In order to learn PCV properly there are engines outside of Chevrolet engines and look how it is done properly on those more advanced engines and how their technicians measure the crankcase pressure. Then apply what you understand back to yours, making yours an advanced PCV engine better than Chevrolet gave you. Here is example

Tech Tip: MINI PCV System Diagnostics And Measurement Of Pressure (import-car.com)

You see that vehicle has an OEM control valve to control the crankcase pressure directly. You can see that engine models have their own crankcase pressure specification.

And that
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You can measure at the oil cap or valve cover orifice where it goes tothe air filter

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Here is another example from cross platform- An (old) aircraft and noticed oil blowing behavior so decided to measure the crankcase pressure

Crankcase pressure measurement - Vintage Mooneys (pre-J models) A community for Mooney aircraft owners and enthusiasts

Its the thought process of oil spraying out of some gasket, seal, or orifice on the engine. The same force moving oil into your catch can is also pushing on every other gasket and seal. Oil should never leave an engine, the internal oil reservoir is meant to be as sterile and sealed away as much as possible. Leaking isn't just a way out it is a way in. Think, clogged lifters from a paper cut.
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Maybe you have time to read papers which published content about the crankcase pressure
Characterization of Crankcase Pressure Variation during the Engine Cycle of an Internal Combustion Engine (sae.org)

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Word for Word this is not mine I Swear

Quote:

The intake helps evacuate blow-by gasses by pulling a slight vacuum on the crankcase. Since the PCV valve is closed on the other end of the system, there is no fresh air source. This is generally enough to properly evacuate the crankcase of blow-by.

Crankcase, Under Pressure — Damond Motorsports


It is that simple

TurboLX

You may want to read THIS. Hot Rod just published an article that I recently wrote about PCV systems that specifically talks about proper ventilation on supercharged engines.

TortugaGS

Ill give that a read right now. Thank you TurboLX, I appreciate your help

TortugaGS

That was a great read, I appreciate that! It looks like the main problem I have is i need to route the hose that has the little breather to the intake tract pre boost. I may have to just get a whole new catch can setup.