Shopping for new catch can, opinions between these

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Johnny248

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Shopping for an oil catch can for one of my vehicles. Looking to spend a little less money on this one, but still want something effective. I want to stay with an actual catch can and not a homemade air line separator deal. I'm looking at these two on eBay. They are essentially the same can but use a different style baffle setup.

The first one uses a filter and screen. This is similar to my expensive brand can that I have installed on my Ram, however there are a couple of differences. First, my RAM can has two chambers machined into the top of the can. There is a small divider that separates the input and the output. Both of these small chambers have stainless "filter" material in them, and then there is a perforated screen that holds the "filter" in place. The idea is that the "filter" catches the oil vapor and prevents it from just sucking in and blowing out. Then the oil drips down into the lower can for storage and drainage. Below is a picture of my expensive can internals for comparison.




Here is a picture of the first eBay can below. From what I can tell in the picture, there are not two chambers in this, and it appears to use some plastic type of "filter". I'm ok with both. If I choose to, it should be very easy for me to replace that plastic with some stainless scrubbing pad(not steel wool, but the bigger ones that you can buy at the store for scrubbing pots etc). Link to complete eBay listing - http://www.ebay.com/itm/380723822662?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649



And below again is a picture of the second can that does not use the filter and screen setup. There are a couple of staggered offset baffle plates that route the flow around a few times. Idea is that these steps catch, and allow the oil to drip down into the can. Link to complete eBay listing - http://www.ebay.com/itm/310754585677?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649




So, I know that the filter material style can (at least the one I own now) does a very good job at collecting oil. I would think that the first eBay can would have good results collecting oil. Maybe not as good as the chambered one I own, but pretty close. I can see how the second eBay can would also do the job. While my first guess would say the filtered can would do a better job, I just don't have any experience with the second style can to know for sure. I am confident that a layered baffle style can *could* also be effective.

What do you guys think? Play it say and get the filtered can? go baffled? buck up and spend more money on a USA CNC can like the first picture? lol I'm comfortable spending ~$40, but not looking to spend $100 or more on this particular setup, however I prefer some sort of separation design other than a simple empty can.

Thanks!
 
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I just use the cheap Ebay cans without a baffle in my turbo Genesis Coupe. The key is to put them in a cool location. I have mine next to the radiator in cool air. One for the valve cover vent and one for the PCV line.

I also take out the site tube as it just gets black from oil and does no good. I use different hose too as the clear vinyl will collapse when it gets hot.

cheap can
 
I could be wrong ... but were you the one that used to post catch can pictures on TCCA? I remember they were pretty interesting looking haha.
 
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To me, the inlet and outlet are too close together. Unless there is an internal tube connected to the inlet. The vapors need to cool and pass through the filter material to condense the oil before flowing to the outlet rather than flow across the top of the catch can " hoping that the oil drips down."
 
Actually there should be little liquid oil from the PCV side. That should be vapor that gets condensed. From what I have seen over the years is the PCV side is at least 50% water and most of the rest is lighter hydrocarbons, very little actual oil.

The valve cover side is almost 100% oil and IMHO could be recycled back into the oil pan if there was a lot the is caught.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
I could be wrong ... but were you the one that used to post catch can pictures on TCCA? I remember they were pretty interesting looking haha.


Not sure what TCCA is, so I'd say no. lol
 
Originally Posted By: SHOZ
Actually there should be little liquid oil from the PCV side. That should be vapor that gets condensed. From what I have seen over the years is the PCV side is at least 50% water and most of the rest is lighter hydrocarbons, very little actual oil.

The valve cover side is almost 100% oil and IMHO could be recycled back into the oil pan if there was a lot the is caught.


There is a PCV Hose going from one valve cover to intake manifold just after the throttle body.

There is another hose that runs from the other valve cover to the intake tube in front of the throttle body.

I've seen the oil collect in the pcv->manifold hose. I've seen very little evidence of any oil coating the intake tube/throttle body on the other hose.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny248
SHOZ said:
Actually there should be little liquid oil from the PCV side. That should be vapor that gets condensed. From what I have seen over the years is the PCV side is at least 50% water and most of the rest is lighter hydrocarbons, very little actual oil.

The valve cover side is almost 100% oil and IMHO could be recycled back into the oil pan if there was a lot the is caught.


Quote:
There is a PCV Hose going from one valve cover to intake manifold just after the throttle body.

There is another hose that runs from the other valve cover to the intake tube in front of the throttle body.


That line is used as a vent for fresh air to enter the crankcase to replace the air withdrawn through the PCV valve. If you have oil in this on a naturally aspired motor then there is quite a bit of blowby.

Quote:
I've seen the oil collect in the pcv->manifold hose. I've seen very little evidence of any oil coating the intake tube/throttle body on the other hose.


This one I use to have an auto drain on and the stuff comes out yellow. It will evaporate off of concrete and leave no stain.

Here's a picture of what I collected from both cans on my turbo. The 1/4" layer of oil on top came from the valve cover side. The rest of the yellow watery gunk is all from the PCV side. This is after about 5k miles.

Y8lqE7I.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Originally Posted By: SHOZ
That line is used as a vent for fresh air to enter the crankcase to replace the air withdrawn through the PCV valve. If you have oil in this on a naturally aspired motor then there is quite a bit of blowby.


Some oil vapor blowing through that line is normal at WOT (there's minimal to no intake vacuum, so blowby will flow through both the PCV line and the fresh air return. That said, I've never found a lot of oil to settle out in the intake near my fresh air return, as any vapor coming out of there is blowing into a fast moving air stream (at or near WOT) and getting burned off just fine. As a result, I only run a catch can on my PCV line, not the fresh air return.

My can is just a cheap ebay hollow can stuffed full of stainless steel scouring pads. It collects a good bit of oil (even with the inlet and outlet next to each other) and keeps the tube from the can to the intake pretty oil-free. Having the can mounted below the PCV valve and intake, as well as long-ish lines and good airflow past the can probably helps as well.
 
The fresh air supply line should not need one unless the engine is turbo or SC. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Well, this is what I ended up doing. I know I said I didn't want the air line deal, but I was at HD today and saw it and grabbed it. One thing about this one is that the drain will not turn off. It is supposed to turn to open/close but at least under vacuum it does not close. I put a vacuum cap on the drain and will decided if I will exchange it or not. I'll monitor it for collection





 
UPDATE:

I am starting to see a small amount of oil in the bottom of the container, so all is good.

Another note. I have another one of these seperators, and I took apart the drain valve. If someone is going to use one of these, they will need to either simply use a vacuum cap as I did, or replace that valve with either another sort of open/shut valve or just plug it. The way it works is there is a plunger that sits in the valve that seals against an o-ring. When you turn the drain valve lever it pushes up on the plunger to allow the drain to open. This is totally fine when under pressure because it is pushing down on to the plunger. When vacuum is applied it pulls the plunger up into the open position. So there is nothing wrong with the drain valve, it is simply designed to work under pressure and not vacuum.
 
Originally Posted By: wtd
Here is mine mounted in my Mustang.
001_zps5e3c9fa3.jpg

Here is how much oil was in it after about 250 miles.
048_zps322b1416.jpg


Wayne


If you had it in a cooler area instead of over the exhaust manifold you would collect a lot more gunk. But 250 miles isn't much. The more humid it is them more non oil you collect.

This is what you need to post inside the img brackets to get pictures to show up.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/waynetd/001_zps5e3c9fa3.jpg
 
This is where they recommend mounting the can but I would like to mount it somewhere else since it's almost impossible to take the bottom off the way it sits.

I just copy and pasted the IMG link that is on the photobucket website that usually works for showing the picture but didn't on this website for some reason. Thanks for fixing that.

Wayne
 
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