Why did the Chevy dealer cut out the PCV valve?

[Oro_O]

This is from my mom's 2007 Equinox, LT V6 AWD. After taking over the oil changes a year ago, I noticed it using oil this week. Quite a bit. We dug into it today and found that the last time it was in under warranty for chronic air/evap OBDII codes, the dealership just cut out the PCV valve and used GOOP to install a straight-through piece of plastic tubing. No kidding.

This is what was installed in lieu of a PCV valve. The picture is on a mechanic's mirror as it's on the back bank and you can't visualize it directly:





My dad ripped out the tubing before I got a picture of it as installed (he's impatient). Here's a picture of the casting on the rocker cover; it may not be clear but there's a lot of crystallized sealant in the tube. Also, the replacement PCV valve we bought is way too big to fit, and there's no grommet in the casting to accommodate anything.



The opening is 5/8", and none of the parts catalogs or images I can find show a 2007 V6 Equinox looking like this or a PCV valve small enough to fit this. We have had this car since new so it's not like it's been hacked or by anyone other than the Chevy dealership.

I could fit a grommet and other maker/model PCV valve to it, but am baffled why this is rocker/valve cover is different apparently than any other shown for the year/make/model. Maybe that's why the dealership said "stuff it" and just "pulled a Clinton" and lied about fixing it a few years ago when it was last in?

 

[pbm]

That's very unprofessional if done by a dealer.....I'm sure they would deny it ("pull another Clinton") if confronted.

 

[Mark_Walk]

I have an 02 Chevy Trailblazer, which was the first year the Trailblazer was made. That model year, and I think only that year, came with no PCV valve. It has a straight tube from the valve cover to the air box.

 

[Oro_O]

Originally Posted By: pbm
That's very unprofessional if done by a dealer.....I'm sure they would deny it ("pull another Clinton") if confronted.


Oh for sure. That's why I won't even bother. And it was several years ago. But we have had this car since new so we (my dad and I) know exactly when/where it was done (Sunset Chevrolet, Puyallup WA).

OTOH, opening the front rocker cover showed impressive cleanliness for 5k Jiffy lube changes after 100k miles:

Sunset Chevrolet Bites but Jiffy Lube is cool with me

 

[Kira]

An '01 Chevy Camaro w/3800 series II V-6 I worked on for a neighbor had recurring "air leak via the PCV system" code. The owner sold it before I could get my hands on it.

The dealer service desk fellows (good guys, I think) said replacing the PCV valve and wee tubing involved would cure the ills. I'll never know.

I swear by all that's holy that car companies weaken specific parts to generate dealership visits. After hearing the OP's tale I'd bet $ that Chevy specified shoddy materials for these parts.

 

[Oro_O]

Originally Posted By: Mark_Walk
I have an 02 Chevy Trailblazer, which was the first year the Trailblazer was made. That model year, and I think only that year, came with no PCV valve. It has a straight tube from the valve cover to the air box.


The I4 on this model is also straight-through from what I can research, but the V6 is supposed to have a conventional PCV valve. This engine is also supposed to be made in China but inside the rocker cover it says "Made in Mexico" so I'm a little confused.

I had to respond because my family is from Danville, KY. My grandfather grew up there, and I used to visit there as a kid. My great-grandmother's house was about 6 or 8 down from the football field I think on Grant St. I recall hearing the games from her porch. I grew up around Louisville, though.

Now in another coincidence, isn't the Trailblazer also the Isuzu Ascender? Because I also have an Acura SLX, which is underneath a last-generation Isuzu Trooper, which was replaced with the Ascender/Trailblazer. Other than poor oil ring design like the Saturns and Toyota 2.4 I4s, a great truck/SUV.

 

[The_Eric]

It could be that there was a nipple on the valve cover that looked like a PCV valve, but in reality was just an orifice. GM has several engines equipped with this configuration.

 

[Oro_O]

Originally Posted By: The_Eric
It could be that there was a nipple on the valve cover that looked like a PCV valve, but in reality was just an orifice. GM has several engines equipped with this configuration.


Yes. the front valve cover has a pressed-in straight-through vent tube that pipes into the intake plenum. I at first mistook that for the PCV valve and took off the front rocker cover for that reason. Which revealed shockingly clean heads:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forum...59/Re:_This_is_what_happens_if_yo#Post4077959

But that back hole pictured is supposed to be a PCV valve on this engine. But the dealer took it out, and the spec'd "299" PCV valve we got at O'Reilly's is 3/4" OD and the casting itself is only 5/8". These engines are reportedly made in Shanghai, China but inside the cover it says "Made in Mexico." I can't figure out why they'd cast covers in Mexico to ship to China to assemble and then mate to a Japanese Aisin transmission to ship back to the US for final assembly. Something is odd here.

 

[The_Eric]

You know- it just hit me... The older 3.1/3.4 engines had something similar, but it was a molded plastic tube (with a molded on rubber seal at the end) that went from the rear valve cover to the air intake duct. Where did yours lead to?

 

[Oro_O]

Exactly, it runs from the back of the rear bank across the top of the cover and distributor to the intake, where it joins it just behind the airbox.

So it appears to me their must be an adapter that goes in the hole and the PCV maybe sits fully outisde the cover? Odd.

I need to find a site with a good parts diagram. I checked Gmpartsdirerct and it does not picture or list any pcv system at all in the diagrams or partrs list.

 

[The_Eric]

Okay so now that we're on the same page, no there is no PCV at that location. The PCV or orifice equivalent is on the front valve cover.

It's really common for that breather line to stop sealing to the valve cover, or get damaged when someone is removing the intake duct. What you saw is probably just someone's poor attempt a repair. Now last I knew, that piece is sold as a group of tubes (taped together) and called a "manifold"...

 

[asand1]

One valve cover should have a straight through hose and nipple, while the other cover will have a metered orifice. Our '08 Uplander doesn't have a PCV valve.

 

[punisher]

Originally Posted By: Kira


I swear by all that's holy that car companies weaken specific parts to generate dealership visits. After hearing the OP's tale I'd bet $ that Chevy specified shoddy materials for these parts.


Wouldn't be very smart on the part of corporate to do something like that. In a perfect world there would be no dealership service departments to do any sort of work under warranty, or even out of warranty for that matter.

Cars come in because:
1) Engineering did not do their job.
2) Customers invented new and exciting ways to use their vehicles in ways engineering couldn't imagine.
3) Bean counters.
4) Some supplier didn't make their parts to spec.

Bean counters are the most dangerous of corporate people. The GM ignition switch fiasco is living proof. Over time, I noticed there was less and less redundancy in systems, fewer items were "overbuilt". As engineers, and bean counters, learn more and have a better database, computer models, stuff is being cut closer to the bone.

What you perceive as "shoddy" is an attempt to have the cheapest part make it through to the last day of warranty without costing corporate anything.

 

[Mark_Walk]

Originally Posted By: Or
Originally Posted By: Mark_Walk
I have an 02 Chevy Trailblazer, which was the first year the Trailblazer was made. That model year, and I think only that year, came with no PCV valve. It has a straight tube from the valve cover to the air box.


The I4 on this model is also straight-through from what I can research, but the V6 is supposed to have a conventional PCV valve. This engine is also supposed to be made in China but inside the rocker cover it says "Made in Mexico" so I'm a little confused.

I had to respond because my family is from Danville, KY. My grandfather grew up there, and I used to visit there as a kid. My great-grandmother's house was about 6 or 8 down from the football field I think on Grant St. I recall hearing the games from her porch. I grew up around Louisville, though.

Now in another coincidence, isn't the Trailblazer also the Isuzu Ascender? Because I also have an Acura SLX, which is underneath a last-generation Isuzu Trooper, which was replaced with the Ascender/Trailblazer. Other than poor oil ring design like the Saturns and Toyota 2.4 I4s, a great truck/SUV.


Cool....Danville is a great little town. Yes, the Ascender, Trailblazer, Envoy and Rainier are all the same SUV. The Ascender had a better warranty than the others, even though its the same vehicle.