Oil catch can filling up fast

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Kyle28rsa
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Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »

Hey guys

A buddy of mine has a 2l16v aal with dual 276 cams and a kr intake. He installed an oil catch can (the cheap d1 spec one) on sunday past. The pipes are connected as follows: 1 pipe from the crank case breather box to the can and one pipe connected to the induction pipe to the tank. The tank is mounted where the water bottle for the windscreen sprayers use to be

He drove the car about 100km short trips but the can already filled up about 250ml. Is this suppose to be the case or should he start looking for issues
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Kyle28rsa
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

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Pictures of how its setupImageImage
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Jetta2 »

Compression test first, that is what I would do.
Before the catch can installation, did the motor use any oil or smoke, etc?
Does the crank case breather assembly still have the baffles and stuff inside it? They are designed to let the oil vapours seperate from the air and only allow a minimal amount of oil through.

And from what I remember, a catch can should be mounted as high as possible in the engine bay to allow any oil to naturally drain back to the motor if any builds up in the vent pipes. That one is mounted low in the front so that obviously cannot happen.
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »

Jetta2 wrote:Compression test first, that is what I would do.
Before the catch can installation, did the motor use any oil or smoke, etc?
Does the crank case breather assembly still have the baffles and stuff inside it? They are designed to let the oil vapours seperate from the air and only allow a minimal amount of oil through.

And from what I remember, a catch can should be mounted as high as possible in the engine bay to allow any oil to naturally drain back to the motor if any builds up in the vent pipes. That one is mounted low in the front so that obviously cannot happen.
Thank you for the info. Yes was planning to do a comp test this weekend. Would make sense to mount it higher ill try that out as well. This motor was bought over from his friend which was removed from a running car. So not sure on the previous history.

For the breather. Would the baffling system be on the breather box itself or in the crank case? I have another one which he can use if thats the issue
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »

Also with the draining back to the crank case that you mentioned. How will it drain from the can back to the block, as i see that the can only has 2 ports ontop of it. Is there another port i should be looking for or does it drain through the one thats connected to the breather
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by HendrikCTI »

Did you inspect the contents of the catch can? Please tell us how it looks.
My CTi of years ago I also decided to install a catch can as the air filter was saturated with "something" and I needed to replace it every 10 000km.
I noticed it also filled up very quickly and when I empty the contents it was just water.
In winter times it was especially worse. steam coming out from the breather it had on it.
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »

HendrikCTI wrote:Did you inspect the contents of the catch can? Please tell us how it looks.
My CTi of years ago I also decided to install a catch can as the air filter was saturated with "something" and I needed to replace it every 10 000km.
I noticed it also filled up very quickly and when I empty the contents it was just water.
In winter times it was especially worse. steam coming out from the breather it had on it.
Yes i have. It was like a creamy colour oil. Just abit darker of how it looks when oil mix with water
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by HendrikCTI »

How is the oil consumption of the engine?
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »

HendrikCTI wrote:How is the oil consumption of the engine?
Most of the oil the motor is losing is going to the catch can. There is no smoke coming out of the exhaust. I read somewhere that it could be that the motor was maybe filled to much with oil.

Ill have a look this weekend the oil levels and drop to maybe 3/4 of the dipstick reading and see if it changes anything.

Could it be that because of this mods on the head that there is more crank pressure
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »

So i did a compression test in all cylinders. Everything is 100%

Checked the crank case breather box out, it has a baffling plate in.

Now that the oil level dropped (to about 3/4 off the dipstick) it seems to not be pushing nassive amounts anymore. So it could be the issue that if its filled to the top line of the dipstick, then oil pushes out to the catch can. Ill monitor the can for 30 days and see how it goes

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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by HendrikCTI »

please keep monitoring. You reminded me now of my CTi days with your last post. For some kind of reason mine also used oil when I serviced and filled exactly to the max mark. When it reached 3/4 on the dipstick it stopped using oil. I later just assumed and accepted it was happy with the 3/4 level and never experienced issues with it this way.
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by PapaJo »

That type of catch can does not have a drain back to sump for starters.

As mentioned by Jetta2, catch can sits too low in engine bay. Tell your buddy to move it up higher in engine bay. If possible get the top of the catch can at or above height of tappet cover, like at top level of strut height if possible.

He has a closed loop system from block to catch can to intake and inlet pipe creates vacuum, thus sucking oil out of the motor due to vacuum forming and catch tank sitting low in engine bay.

16v motors are known to breathe alot on breather pipe, but not oiling out of breather. Quite high crankcase breathing pressure due to rev’ing on a 16v.

You did say compression was tested and good. What was the readings? Was motor rebuild recently and ring gaps measured for correct clearances in bores as this could cause blow by and increased crankcase pressure and pushing oil through breather pipe?

If motor only starterd breathing out oil since the catch can installation, the catch can is the issue as well as the current installed position. Can try to leave the pipe to intake off and fit a small filter on that port on catch can and block off inlet pipe opening.
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by PapaJo »

@Kylersa

Looking at posted pictures, this 16v motor and car is the same one as the one you posted about brake issues, right?
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by HendrikCTI »

@PapaJo
I didn't pay too much attention to the pictures and after your post only noticed there is no filter and breathability on the catch can.

@Kyle28rsa
He has a point with the breathability on the can. See if you can get somehow a hole and a filter to let it vent to atmosphere.
Mine was positioned in the same location and I did not have any oil breathing into the can. Only water vapour.
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »


PapaJo wrote:That type of catch can does not have a drain back to sump for starters.

As mentioned by Jetta2, catch can sits too low in engine bay. Tell your buddy to move it up higher in engine bay. If possible get the top of the catch can at or above height of tappet cover, like at top level of strut height if possible.

He has a closed loop system from block to catch can to intake and inlet pipe creates vacuum, thus sucking oil out of the motor due to vacuum forming and catch tank sitting low in engine bay.

16v motors are known to breathe alot on breather pipe, but not oiling out of breather. Quite high crankcase breathing pressure due to rev’ing on a 16v.

You did say compression was tested and good. What was the readings? Was motor rebuild recently and ring gaps measured for correct clearances in bores as this could cause blow by and increased crankcase pressure and pushing oil through breather pipe?

If motor only starterd breathing out oil since the catch can installation, the catch can is the issue as well as the current installed position. Can try to leave the pipe to intake off and fit a small filter on that port on catch can and block off inlet pipe opening.
Good morning gents. Yes i have informed him that the can needs to be positioned as high as possible. Will relocate it for him the weekend.

I cant remember the pressure readings now as i through the paper away. But it was between 170 and 180 psi with 10% difference between lowest and highest reading.

He had the motor for almost 2 years just sitting in the car. Motor was bought by his buddy. Hasn't been opened since

As soon as the car came back from the tuners, on the drive home he took it for a spin. I assumed he drove it quite hard to make sure there is no issues. The crankcase breather box only had a small pipe attached to it, can so about a 10cm long pipe, as soon as he was done with the test run he noticed smoke coming from the engine bay. Oil blew all over the motor from the breather.

I fully understand that the way its connected is the issue as well, creating vacuum. Ill try the method out of using the port thats connected from the can to the intake and put a filter on that one.
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »

PapaJo wrote:@Kylersa

Looking at posted pictures, this 16v motor and car is the same one as the one you posted about brake issues, right?
Thats correct yes. Some break pressure before (not much) but as soon as they tried bleeding the system. The peddle just wouldn't gain any pressure and always pushed against the wall. With motor off or on
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »

HendrikCTI wrote:@PapaJo
I didn't pay too much attention to the pictures and after your post only noticed there is no filter and breathability on the catch can.

@Kyle28rsa
He has a point with the breathability on the can. See if you can get somehow a hole and a filter to let it vent to atmosphere.
Mine was positioned in the same location and I did not have any oil breathing into the can. Only water vapour.
But your can had a breather on it i assume
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by HendrikCTI »

Yes, my can had a vent to atmosphere with a filter on it. I used a DIY foam filter and even that filter didn't clog up or anything. Just vapour fumes coming from it when car was hot after driving. Especially in winter.

I think you must see if you can put some kind of filter or for now a vent pipe on the can so that it doesn't cause pressure problems in the can or in the whole engine breathing setup.

Also ask your friend to drive the car just normal for a week or so. No hard driving or high revving and report back how the can looks or what drains after a week.
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Re: Oil catch can filling up fast

Post by Kyle28rsa »

HendrikCTI wrote:Yes, my can had a vent to atmosphere with a filter on it. I used a DIY foam filter and even that filter didn't clog up or anything. Just vapour fumes coming from it when car was hot after driving. Especially in winter.

I think you must see if you can put some kind of filter or for now a vent pipe on the can so that it doesn't cause pressure problems in the can or in the whole engine breathing setup.

Also ask your friend to drive the car just normal for a week or so. No hard driving or high revving and report back how the can looks or what drains after a week.
Ill vent it out by one of the ports for the meantime. Ill tap a hole for a filter at a later stage.

I have told him to not push the car. But he cant drive it now anyways because of the breaking issue.
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