Why a clean PCV valve is so important (pics)

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@cbear: You are right, I researched it a bit and it is DOHC.

When I pulled apart the Cavalier engine and we learned how the pushrods operated the rockers to open and close the valves, and saw how varnished they were with a firm, tacky feel I dreamed up scenarios of how these rods operate binding up and slowing down the engine, robbing power.

I guess the Ecotec would not be affected as much by this varnish if it is DOHC and wouldn't have sticky varnished pushrods struggling up and down the aluminum guide holes in the block.

The Cobalt was the car I started doing my own maintenance on, and now I come here for oil research as I don't want to be stung by gumming up my engine using poorly researched lubrication.

I'll just come out and say it, I could be very wrong but I don't have much confidence in Castrol GTX.

Is it too much Group II base oil, sulfur, sodium in the additive package? I agree with the reference, "Orange devil snot". I opened a bag of driveway repair asphalt I got at Home Depot once and the bag had that orange grease on the inside of it, and stank of sulfur.

I can really relate to the OP when he said he never missed an oil change, neither did I.

If someone could talk a bit about Castrol GTX without me highjacking the thread which I worry I run the risk of doing... I am very new to all of this, but it is very interesting! Especially after Loobed comment about the PCV valve being a fixed unit would lead me more to believe it is a failure on the lubricant's part...
 
Originally Posted By: Falken
I hate to say it, but people may be ignoring the oil that was used.

Now, a stuck PCV valve would destroy any engine, and should be changed regularly and checked for operation (ticking when hose pinched). But lets never mind this for the sake of exploring and discussing.

I had a Chev Cobalt with a pushrod Ecotec, and one day there was a sale on Castrol GTX during the recession of 2007 and I stocked up for 9.99$ a 4L jug at Walmart. I totally bought into their anti-sludge claims and was very pleased with my 6 or 7 jugs I bought of 5W30.

Anyway, I changed my oil in the driveway every 6,000 km (severe service, short trips, cold weather) and changed the cartridge filter for FRAM at the same time. The oil that would come out would always look very black for the short mileage. And my fuel economy on that car was horrible. I'd get, at best, 12L / 100km. It was only on the highway for long distances that the car would get around 8L / 100km. And I suspected the oil. And changing the filter under the hood (cap style) i'd see orange metal where the filter drained back into the engine.

So now, the funny part of the story, I was in Auto Mech class doing our Engine module, and what are the engines we get? Chevrolet Cavalier pushrod 2.2L. So I pull mine apart over the next couple of weeks, and the color of the oil on the engine parts had that amber flaky, burned vegetable oil on pizza pan orange look. And man that varnish is tough. I remember holding the pushrods and they felt gummy.

The pistons looked like they were dipped in vegetable oil then cooked with a propane torch. The rings were stuck, with amber crusty varnish packed in tight like burned honey. The oil rings were a mess, and I had to soak everything overnight in Varsol. The crud came off, but the aluminum pistons still had a burned orange hue.

After that, I always paid attention to the oil I bought by researching here first, and I feel it makes all the difference.

Anyway, aside from scuffed skirts the engine for the age was in ok shape after I measured everything and checked all the specs on Mitchell and Alldata. It was just a mess of amber varnish that I found would cause some sort of issues aside from the rings. And the valve train was all gummy burned orange. Not thick, but TOUGH.

Another thing I found truly alarming was there were 2 engines that were SPOTLESS but had MAJOR piston skirt scuffing and the bearings and wear analysis weren't that great.

So am I a Castrol user now? No, I didn't do anything scientific but I would never dump Castrol GTX in another engine I personally own. Once you see that burned orange color the way it dyes metal and aluminum you always get a funny feeling what oil caused the issue.

So now, I always BITOG my oil before I stock up. Could cost you a car or getting reasonable wear and FE. Again, nothing scientific.



How many miles were on your car when you started using the GTX?
 
The failure in my opinion was the valve cover design. Expecting a pin hole design like that to not get clogged up was not very bright. Yes, I did open the hole up a bit.

I am not a fanboy of Castrol. Just an oil I picked and stayed with it throughout the life of motor. I don't think the oil itself caused the varnishing as much as the blocked off PCV valve did. Other than the very thick nasty varnish glued to the moving parts on one side, it is just a little dis-colored everywhere else.

Now, I am just playing the waiting game hoping one or more of my lifters will free up. I know that orange poop is all over them. The rocker arms and pusrods sure got gunked up. I manually cleaned them pretty well but didn't want to pull the heads right now to inspect and clean the lifters.
 
Start running one of the BIG THREE!! PYB,PP, or PU...
grin.gif
 
@lexus114:

I started using GTX right after I dumped the factory fill, and never used any other oil for the 4-5 years I owned the car.

It is strange really, so now I have learned that BITOG is your best friend with all of the VOA, UOA, and experience on this site.

This is actually thousands of dollars worth of info to each user if it can save you an engine, save you money on knowing the oil deals, and preserves the efficiency and longevity of your current engine (saves gas).
 
Originally Posted By: Falken
@lexus114:

I started using GTX right after I dumped the factory fill, and never used any other oil for the 4-5 years I owned the car.

It is strange really, so now I have learned that BITOG is your best friend with all of the VOA, UOA, and experience on this site.

This is actually thousands of dollars worth of info to each user if it can save you an engine, save you money on knowing the oil deals, and preserves the efficiency and longevity of your current engine (saves gas).



Hmmm, I see. I know I have seen motor`s apart that used GTX (in years past)that looked like new. maybe their new formula isnt as good at keeping engine`s clean?
 
Looking at his pics, the stuff looks like baked on vegetable oil.

He changes his oil regularly, but what is it that clogged his PCV in the first place? What state did the oil have to be in to clog it to make matters worse? If the oil was it's own catylist for its own failure it is still only the oil to blame.

If he had run Mobil 1 or PP the whole time, I doubt he would have had varnish like that, and it would never have blocked the PCV in the first place.

Castrol GTX is a real bargain oil, you get what you pay for. The key was he changed his oil regularly. I researched it a bit and others have and are making exactly the same claim.

I am not calling GTX thin roofing tar, but "Orange Devil Snot".... I am keeping that one!

Joking aside, I hope you are right as I am researching Syntec Dexos in 20 wts... It may be as close to a GC I can stick in my car, I just have to nail down the base stock and see what people have to say about the add pack before I pony up and get the courage to dump the stuff in my beloved Fit... If I ever found Orange Devil Snot in my engine when I should have known better I'd be really mad!
 
Originally Posted By: Falken
Castrol GTX is a real bargain oil, you get what you pay for.


That labels you as a Canadian right there!
wink.gif


Many of the American posters complain about the price of Castrol GTX in the States. Up here, as you well know, anyone paying more than about $15 for a big jug of GTX needs to have his head examined. It's always dirt cheap.
 
I got around to cleaning my PCV breather chamber today (95 Civic):

photo4.jpg


220k miles of crud!
 
I would say the PCV side valve cover/valve train on any engine would be dirtier because thats the side the PCV valve is pulling all the oil vapor crud to. The other side is getting fresh filtered air from the breather.
If you suck air out you must let air in or the seals/gaskets would collapse. Unless its a race engine where they run a vacuum in the crankcase to help seal rings etc for every bit of horsepower.
oldhp
 
Don't they use a fixed orifice valve? I'm deciding if I should change the PCV valve on my 5.3L 02 silverado.

I'm also doing some engine clean up since I don't know what the previous owner ran for how long. I'm running Valvoline Synpower 5W20 and within 2,000mi the oil is dirty. I might run it for 5,000mi then do a couple MMO runs.
 
I ran Castrol 10W-30 dino for almost 100k on my car. Every oil change, which I did religious 3k -5k. My oil when drained was a clear as it came out of the bottle. I tried M1 5W-3- once and at the oil change, it was black as coal.
I still run Catrol Syn-Blend now. Still clear oil drains.
Just saying.
 
Originally Posted By: fordman65
I ran Castrol 10W-30 dino for almost 100k on my car. Every oil change, which I did religious 3k -5k. My oil when drained was a clear as it came out of the bottle. I tried M1 5W-3- once and at the oil change, it was black as coal.
I still run Catrol Syn-Blend now. Still clear oil drains.
Just saying.


I hate to break the news to you, but the M1 5-30 was cleaning your engine. Run several OCs at 10K OCIs and the M1 will begin to clear up as well.
 
Originally Posted By: fordman65
I ran Castrol 10W-30 dino for almost 100k on my car. Every oil change, which I did religious 3k -5k. My oil when drained was a clear as it came out of the bottle. I tried M1 5W-3- once and at the oil change, it was black as coal.
I still run Catrol Syn-Blend now. Still clear oil drains.
Just saying.


I hate to break the news to you, but the M1 5-30 was cleaning your engine. Run several OCs at 10K OCIs and the M1 will begin to clear up as well. That will clean up the OPs engine varnish as well.
 
Last edited:
Okay. Then why for the first 100k clear oil at drain? It seems Castrol get's trashed on BITOG quite a bit. I am not an M1 fan.
 
Originally Posted By: JZiggy
I got around to cleaning my PCV breather chamber today (95 Civic):

photo4.jpg


220k miles of crud!


How hard is it to get at that upper bolt? I've been wanting to pull the breather chamber as well.
 
It wasn't too bad. I ended up removing the intake manifold bracket (4 12mm bolts) and the oil filter. I knew that it was going to be a pain to get the bolt back IN though, so I replaced it with a stud. Reinstallation was no problem that way.

BTW, I ended up doing the rear trailing arm bushings on my Civic this weekend. I had to ante up and buy a $150 press to get the job done (Schley 65100). If you ever need to do this I'd be happy to let you borrow it.
 
Originally Posted By: JZiggy
It wasn't too bad. I ended up removing the intake manifold bracket (4 12mm bolts) and the oil filter. I knew that it was going to be a pain to get the bolt back IN though, so I replaced it with a stud. Reinstallation was no problem that way.

BTW, I ended up doing the rear trailing arm bushings on my Civic this weekend. I had to ante up and buy a $150 press to get the job done (Schley 65100). If you ever need to do this I'd be happy to let you borrow it.


That'd be awesome. I'm sure the bushing need replacement eventually. I'm looking into testing the ball joints next, however. I'm getting far too much hard 'jarring' and can feel it in the steering wheel over bumps or potholes, etc. So, I'm thinking control arm and ball joints (though I do have 1 year old tie rods). Not sure what the front control arm bushings going out would be like.

Nice idea on putting a stud in place for easy re-installation.

I've had an idle problem that won't get better so I figure it won't hurt to clean the breather chamber and try replacing the PCV valve there.
 
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