BigZee71

iTrader: (5)

I've got a 98 Formula. On the back of the Drivers side valve cover there is a black plastic plate that has a hose running out of the middle of it.

The hose is dry rotted and needs to be replaced.

My problem is, I cannot remove the black plastic cap.

Does it screw off? However it is fastened, its on there good and I dont want to break it.

Any advice?

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

It just pops in and pops out. See if you can get some dykes in there to pry it up.

So you have a better insight of what it looks like....here's two pics of that plug.

Thats what I did for crankcase ventilation. I drilled a hole in my plug and made my own vent set-up using a fuel filter.

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BigZee71

iTrader: (5)

You rock!

So I can just make due with a filter there instead of trying to repair the hose?

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Here's what I've had for years on my 427ci......

Filter on the drivers side val ve cover. Same filter on my vally cover port. And I suck crankcase gasses from the passengers side valve cover. But I also put a needle valve right before my PCV valve....so I can adjust the vacuum pull so no oil gets sucked up into my intake. Since I've done this and reduced the vacuum suction by about 1/2 strength of factory using that needle valve, I haven;t had a drop of oil in my intake.

I also let my engine idle with a cigarette near the filter on the drivers side valve cover and it sucks the smoke right in. So I know I have a nice flow of fresh air going in there and crossing the entire crank case and exiting out of the passengers side valve cover. The filter on my vallet cover also sucks cigarette smoke in. Perfect system......and no oil going into my intake. Thats about the most ridiculous design on an engine I've ever heard of.....oil going into the AIR intake. This solves it.

The pictures below: I was playing with different set-ups to see what worked best. Between the two pics....I have a filter on my valley cover along with the needle valve before the PCV valve.

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eb110americana

iTrader: (4)

Man, this is your lucky day. I have a '98 as well and I just rebuilt the hoses on my PCV breather tubes this weekend. The problem (at least in my case) is that the oil breaks down the rubber and then it falls apart. I'll upload some photos for you at the end of this post.

What are you trying to remove? The plastic neck that passes through the driver's side valve cover? Or what's left of the rubber L-fitting that attaches to it? If it's the latter, just use an X-acto and cut the hose along it's length (but not all the way through to the plastic) and then peel off the rubber "O"-turned-"C". You can buy a new rubber L-fitting to replace it.

I'd also check behind the intake manifold, as the pipes from both cylinder heads combine into one back there and feed up to the PCV valve which rests on the passenger side of the intake manifold nestled under the fuel rail. I would bet that all the rubber fittings and the PCV valve are ready to be replaced too. The PCV valve is cheap, so I'd do that no matter what.

Old tubing with bad fittings: Handmade PCV valve "collar":

Here's a short writeup of mine from another thread:

The system is basically a network of 4 plastic tubes protected with foam sleeves and joined with rubber connectors at the junctions. The driver's side L fitting on the head was rotted, the 2-heads-into-1-PCV-fitting behind the intake was rotted, and the tube in which the PCV resides was rotted. I was already aware of that last one, and had taped it up until I could fashion a replacement, but the others were wide open.

I purchased a rubber L-fitting, some rubber tubing and a high temp plastic T-fitting. I built a new PCV "collar" that the PCV valve lives in with 3 sizes of rubber tubing. The outside one was 3/4" and I shoved the PCV valve inside of it. I even pried the edge of the hose up, so that the flange at the widest point of the PCV valve would fit inside for a tight seal. Then, I shoved a smaller piece of tubing into that and finally an even smaller piece of tubing into the intermediary piece using some dish soap as lubricant. In this way I built a very short adapter and wrapped it in electrical tape, though it's so tight I doubt it could leak even without the tape. I replaced the rubber fitting shaped like =- (kind of a "Y" with the top ends parallel) with the plastic T-fitting and a bit of rubber hose.

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

LS6 valley cover FTW !!!!!!!!!

JACornell

mine also is bad but that is something to expect when the car has 172k on it and sat for a couple months due to previous owner was in military.

BigZee71

iTrader: (5)

Thanks for taking the time to help! Pictures are great.

And yep, my 98 ws6 Formula has 171K as well.

eb110americana

iTrader: (4)

No problem. I'd also take off your intake ducting ahead of the throttle body to check if oil got inside your intake manifold through the PCV. Just open the intake tubing band clamp closest to the firewall so it's nice and loose. Pop open the airbox like you're going to change the air filter. Then get a small flat head screwdriver and partially pry up the center peg inside the 2 pegs on either side of the airbox resonance chamber (the wide black plastic boxy thing above the radiator). Remove the pegs and set them aside. You should now be able to pull the whole piece off together as one.

To look into the intake manifold, just twist the throttle butterfly with your hands and peer inside with a skinny flashlight. Be careful not to drop anything in there, as nothing will stop it from ricocheting around inside the cylinders and potentially causing major damage if you do. Here's a link to what you are looking for.

For comparison, my car has 181K miles.

smallblox

I know this is an older thread but it was helpful to me so I thought I would share the solution I came up with.

A lot of these seem to rot in the same place, that rubber "Y" fitting just seems to disintegrate like a lot of the other rubber and plastic on these cars. So my solution was to find another "Y" fitting and I didn't want to spend $80 bucks on it.

Here are the steps I took:

1. Remove the PCV hoses.

2. Check to see what you need, if its the elbow that connects to the drivers valve cover just get a 3/8 elbow from the parts store and cut to match (that's what I did, sorry no pic.) If its the sleeve the PCV valve fits into they should also have a universal one at the parts store. I also needed the "Y" (see step 3.)

3. I don't know who's a sponsor here so I will just say google or search: "Push To Connect Y Splitter Union Fitting 3/8" OD" and you will get what you need. They are like $7 shipped.

4. These fittings are used for air lines and are air tight just trim the lip on the plastic PCV hose and press them in until they seat.

5. Blow some air through (with your lungs) and plug the other end to make sure you don't have leaks.

6. Re-assemble and enjoy.

All in all I felt like this was a good fix for under 20 bucks. The new hose assembly costs considerably more than this so you'll come out ahead, which will allow you to buy more beer, thus fueling other projects.

I'm attaching pic's but this is my first time, here goes...

simtech

I know this is a really old thread but I was wondering how the Push to connect fitting in the last post is holding up?