Buick w/ 3.8: PCV valve?

[Benzadmiral]

Hello, all,

I'm the new and quite pleased (so far) owner of an '03 Buick Park Avenue, 44K miles, the normally-aspirated version. I just brought it home on Wednesday, but thanks to rain and feline emergencies, haven't had a chance to inspect the fluids and start the learning process.

Where's the PCV valve? It has one; the manual lists a part number. Said manual also helpfully illustrates where the oil and tranny dipsticks and coolant recovery tank are, but it doesn't cover things like the PCV system (or the power steering reservoir, but I think I can find that).

Where is the little devil? How often do I need to change it? One site lists a PCV valve "kit" -- are there gaskets to be replaced too?

 

[mikeg5]

shouldnt be call your local buick place. most are push in or screw in.. follow the tubes from the intake and one will lead to the pcv valve. most are located on the top or the top sides of the motor. usually pretty easy to find. some maybe hidden under the plastic pieces they put on top of motors to make them look nicer. just one more thing to take off. pcv valve is replaced from 15k-30k miles. they are cheap so anytime under 30k miles is fine.

 

[MrCritical]

It's under the MAP sensor on the pass side by the manifold.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Do I need to remove that gray plastic cover?

(Mikeg5 wrote, ". . . under the plastic pieces they put on top of motors to make them look nicer." They get odd notions of propriety in Detroit, Tokyo, and Stuttgart, don't they? Once upon a time it was wheels that had to be decently covered with fender skirts. Then headlights modestly hiding themselves. Now it's engines.)

 

[Mudcat]

I can't help you locate the PCV valve, but you may want to consider an aftermarket repair manual if you plan on wrenching on an unfamiliar vehicle. Amazon may have a Haynes or Chilton's manual or both. Enjoy the new ride good luck.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Good advice, Mudcat. When I searched earlier, all I could find was a transmission repair manual. But I hadn't thought about Amazon, and they had it.

 

[Matt_S]

Benzadmiral, it's on the passenger's side of the motor right up next to the intake manifold. You will have to remove the engine cover. You should see a wiring harness plugged into a black plastic cap. That's the MAP sensor as mentioned above. I believe the whole cap twists off without needing to remove the harness. The PCV valve has a rubber O-ring on the bottom side and a spring on the top, so be careful when pulling off the cap. It might be wise to replace the O-ring, but the spring should be fine. The dealer will sell you the PCV valve and O-ring as a kit.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I'll give it a look this weekend. Dang, I wish the GM dealers around here would have their parts departments open on Saturday morning! It's very difficult for working stiffs to get there.

Or could I order one /pick one up from NAPA or O'Reilly's?

 

[mrsilv04]

I'd try NAPA.

 

[JohnBrowning]

If you are looking at the engine move over toward the passenger side. Now remove that ugly plastic engine cover. It unhooks in the rear but you have to remove the oil fill tube to get the front of it off. Now place your hand on the big black plastic intake manifold on top of the engine. It will be sligtly larger then a loaf of bread. Now slide your hand toward the passenger side until the manifold ends. Now stop and look directly in front of where your hand stoped. You will see what looks like a rectangle with sires comeing out of it. Under that is a round cap that unscrews. If you unscrew that cap you will find the PCV valve. Make sure you save the old o'ring's just in case the new one does not have them.

 

[Merkava_4]

From AllData:

Quote:

---

1. Remove the fuel injector sight shield.

2. Remove the MAP sensor (1).

3. Use a 16 mm (5/8 inch) socket to press the access cover (2) down and rotate 1/4 turn counterclockwise.

4. Remove the access cover.

5. Remove the PCV valve (3) and the O-ring (4) from the intake manifold.

---

Note: The o-ring may be left in the upper intake manifold after removing the PCV valve; in that case, you can either leave it there or pull it out with a pick, but don't install the new o-ring on top of the existing o-ring!

 

[kc8adu]

sires?

Quote:

---

If you are looking at the engine move over toward the passenger side. Now remove that ugly plastic engine cover. It unhooks in the rear but you have to remove the oil fill tube to get the front of it off. Now place your hand on the big black plastic intake manifold on top of the engine. It will be sligtly larger then a loaf of bread. Now slide your hand toward the passenger side until the manifold ends. Now stop and look directly in front of where your hand stoped. You will see what looks like a rectangle with sires comeing out of it. Under that is a round cap that unscrews. If you unscrew that cap you will find the PCV valve. Make sure you save the old o'ring's just in case the new one does not have them.

---

 

[JohnBrowning]

That should havread wires but I am sure hfigured it out. At least he could find it with my instruction. That drawing was nice though!

 

[Benzadmiral]

Thanks, all, until my manual gets here (and maybe after), I'll have questions. I'll give the PCV and air filter a try this week.

By the way, removing the oil filler tube (in order to get the plastic engine cover off) . . . once I've removed the cap, does the tube unscrew, or just pull out?

 

[Benzadmiral]

Never mind; I found out the tube unscrews. I finished the job (along with the air filter). All was as you've described.

One niggling concern, though. The PCV replacement, from NAPA, was slightly smaller in diameter than the original. The original had to be wiggled out, while the new one dropped in.

Is this any concern, that there won't be a proper seal or something? (I left the original O-ring in place.) The car seems to run fine with no CELs.

Thanks!

 

[boxcartommie22]

always use oem for the exact values...

 

[Benzadmiral]

Boxcartommie, I noted just after I replaced the thing that the engine seemed to have developed a steady faint rattle at idle. Working on the theory that "If you did it, undo it," I removed the NAPA PCV valve and put the original back in. Rattle gone!

So you're right. However, I think getting OEM GM parts is going to be a little tougher for me than picking up Mercedes parts was. The parts counters at all the GM dealers in this area shut their doors at 5:00 pm, and aren't open on Saturday mornings. Can I just order the parts I need online?

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

I've stopped using NAPA parts. Too much trouble with out of spec parts.

Try RockAuto for mail order auto parts. I've had good experiances with them.

 

[eljefino]

Incidentally the oil filler tube has the same quarter-turn thread as the filler cap, so if you want to leave the plastic engine cover off, you can either use just the cap or cap plus tube.