Just finished a head gasket job on my 98 Civic with 380K miles.....the head was off by .008......the biggest pain was the intake manifold..........and the PCV valve on the breather box. of course the PVC valve broke during the removal of the line. While attempting to remove the PCV valve and grommet it fell into the Breather Chamber.....Arg......I've seen a couple of post that say not to worry about it, its baffled.........getting to that top bolt would be a nightmare.........this job is a bit of "if you give a mouse a cookie" project.........If you don't understand the mouse and cookie deal....you will when you have kids and start reading children's books.....

Bottom Line.......do I need to get the breather box out and empty it?


Thanks
Rick

 

My answer based off 0 experience is: No, you do not have to remove them.

The breather box is supposed to rattle. So that means from the factory there is a piece in there that can move freely. Only crankcase gasses pass through there, so i don't see it being a problem.

Anyone with actual experience feel free to correct me.