turbo sol

I was checking over the engine bay as I usually do and decided to check inside the breather can, since I have never done so to see how much oil was in it. BOY was i surprised. It was about 60% full of a coolant / oil mix.

My stomach dropped out. sh*t.

I pulled off the valve cover expecting to see a milk-shakey mess, but nothing. it was all very clean. the coolant was at the correct level. My dipstick showed clean oil and just a touch low (it was immediately after my ride home from work. so i expected it to be just under the top hole)

I am baffled, the vents from the valve cover are behind the windage tray so to have that much coolant go through with out leaving a mess in my head seams impossible.

I am all ears. Is my head gasket gone? car doesn't overheat, and idle/runs good. (but it does starts hard.)

clean head


clean head


clean head


oil level and cleanliness


inside the overflow


coolant level is right where it needs to be


inside breather can


this is about how much fluid was in the can


my breather can setup


another shot of the setup


This is what came out of the breather can… barf:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPZ4elkyaXY


I had to throw this one in.




here is the albumn.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...2&l=1b10c34f42

Boosted-EH-804

Thats not coolant its oil vapor look disgusting dont it. You should be ok looked to be about the same color and constancy of what came out my old A6. I will be using a drain back for the new motor

cleansi

thats all condensation you should be good

if it looks like a night of drinking guinness your are good my friend.

Rydin

QT ftw

Kyle R

iTrader: (1)

That's what it looks like to me (mixed with some oil of course).

LightningTeg

Condensation, Lots of it, but thats what it is.

carnot

how long did it take for that much to accumulate in the catch can?

turbo sol

it has been over a year since I opened up the can. Guess I should check it more often…

Kyle R

iTrader: (1)

That explains a lot

turbo sol

how often do you guys empty your cans?

LightningTeg

Depends on driving. My car isnt a Daily except for the summer, and I just put the catch can on. One visit to the track gets me 1/2 quart probably.

cleansi

believe it or not it depends alot on where you live when i was stationed up north where there was a lot of moisture and it rain regularly i would empty mine quite often.
here in the desert it seems it stays empty longer or it would look more like dirty oil but up north it was mainly dirty water its all the condensation...

BrowNKiD

If thats what collect's inside the catch can y do some guys drains there catch can back into there oil system.

2DrSE-i

Good question. In the stock venting setup, the oil vapors/condensation are sent to the intake manifold and burnt up in the combustion chamber. Only oil is left to drain back in.

With catch cans, you get the nastiness you see in the picture. I can't imagine it harming too much when you consider only about 1/4 of that much would be in your oil per oil change, but not exactly good to have in the oil either.

Now if they are running an exhaust-powered evac setup, thats different.

turbo sol

this is my daily driver too; every day to and from work and on weekends, so I will add emptying it to my scheduled maintenance.

I dont ever plan on setting up a drain back system, so empty often is my new motto.

Bailhatch

None of that water accumulates or stays in the system if you drain back. The oil gets hot enough to evaporate any condesation since it's constantly returning to the hot engine. A stock engine deals with crankcase moisture the same way and it makes good sense if you have a built engine and lots of blow by. For a basic setup like this where there is almost none, a closed can is fine.