Weird day, last night i put on an ebay catch can..yeah yeah i know.....anyways, took my wife to work this morning and it starts sputtering like crazy, get there and open the hood and oil is gushing out of #1 & 2 spark plug holes. I'm just really not sure why, i read at least 7 pages on how to install this thing and saw all kinds of people running it just like i did. The can doesn't have a vent hole, and seen people running without one, but i'm wondering if it's because i eliminated my pcv that this happened? I ran a little today without my oil cap on the valve cover and just put a little shop towel over it to keep oil from spraying everywhere, no oil in plug holes after that. Any help or explanations would be helpful, set up as follows: Removed pcv valve and ran supplied line from black box where pcv hose was to the first occ barb. Ran the second from the barb that comes out of the valve cover to the other occ barb. Capped intake mani barb, and eliminated intake tube for now. About to go turbo and had been using the turbo charge pipe with the barb for intake, now filter straight off tb. Any ideas? I ran a line to vent from my extra oil cap to a breather filter for now, i'll probably just drill the catch can and vent in a few days, but why have i seen people running without one? Do you have to keep the pcv in order to not run a breather? And for the record, i searched all over for explanations on this, found none, so please no "do a search" replies. Thanx guys.

 

I have a lot of ideas... not all pertain to this subject though... hah.

There is a check valve in a PCV Valve (Positive Crankcase Ventilation Valve) for a reason. It stops any positive pressure from "polluting" the rest of the engine and blowing seals (while it does have other functions, I'll only list what pertains to this thread to KISS). From the sounds of it, your engine is in no shape to be boosted as it sounds you have excessive blow-by that your turbo will just amplify. While you should in fact be running a breather on your catch can, you will probably be dumping that thing every couple days. One of the ways around it would be to install a drain back line. This can be done with a little more work and is the preferred way to go. It would be best to check compression AND do a leak-down test to get a good idea of the condition of the engine before you proceed.

Just my worthless opinion...

 

I compression tested it when i first got the motor, of course, oil hadn't been circulated in a while and everything was dry which would affect it some, was like 155 on all cyls. I know min is supposed to be 165, figured after good oil circulation it would've rose slightly. Last night, after running the catch can all day, i tapped the hole for the breather, and checked to see if there was any accumulation....you can see drops in the lines, but the can just smelled...nothing dripped out. Engine was supposedly leakdown and comp tested before i got it...was like 6 months ago, been running a little over a month and put 4k miles on it since with really no problems other than the alternator crapping out. I'm assuming if it is blow by then i need rings, but how sure would it be that's that what caused this, and not just good seals and built pressure. I ask because i really don't know how much pressure the crankcase builds...if it does build a good bit of pressure and my system is well sealed it would make sense for the weakest seals - spark plug rubbers, to give way after a 10 mile @ 70mph trip. But if it's relatively low pressure that wouldn't build that high that quick then i would think blow by. Just trying to narrow down the culprit of this mishap....and no opinion is worthless....stupid maybe, but not worthless haha

 

Well then personally I would give it a leak-down test to try and narrow it down. There is a possibility of your engine just sealing that good... If your catch can was essentially empty then you are probably good. It's just me and "assUme" are good friends, and I was just taking the problem to a more typical direction. Either way, do yourself a favor and keep a vent on the catch can... especially since you plan on forced induction.

 

Will do! Vented it properly last night. I'll try and give a leakdown before i boost, already have the turbo system sitting in my living room ready to go on so i can't really not do it now lol. I appreciate the input man.....oddly enough...thanks.