Ferocity02

iTrader: (60)

A few months ago I mounted an AMW catch can basically on the front of the driver's side head with a total of like 3-4' of tubing from the valve cover to the manifold. After a thousand miles or so it had barely caught anything and I was still getting oil into my intake. There was maybe 1 mL of dark sludge at the bottom, not even enough to drain out of the drain ****.

A member said to move it to a cooler location, like behind the headlight. The cooler temps would help condense the oil out of the air better, makes sense to me. So I took this idea to the extreme and routed the hoses through the fender (to keep them cooler) to the catch can that I mounted behind the headlight. I used a total of 15' of tubing! It works very well, even after a long 20 minute drive to work the can is still at ambient temp.

After about 500 miles I checked the can and it was full of water! The water had a light brown color to it and had a slight smell of fuel/exhaust. No oil came out.

I understand that there is water vapor in the PCV air, but I didn't expect to catch this much, and again catch no oil...

Anyone else have a similar issue? Is there an "optimum" location where the can stays warm enough to not condense water but cool enough to still condense oil? Not sure why everyone else has good results mounting them to the head.

therabidweasel

iTrader: (5)

Do you use oil? My motor never has and I never got oil in my intake. I still went ls6 valley cover and catch can as a just in case...but after 2k miles and 6 oil changes I dont even have enough in the can to get a drop down the drain tube and the intake is dry. Pressurized air can hold more moisture, if you live somewhere humid maybe you just made an air drier. Do you let the car idle long periods or make lots of short trips?

Ferocity02

iTrader: (60)

I don't use a noticeable amount of oil, but i know I'm getting at least some oil in my intake.

90% of my drives are ~20 minutes, idling is pretty rare on these trips. Not that humid here in CA.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

You're just catching the condensation that would normally make it's way back through the intake, I got in the habit of draining mine weekly, whither it needs it or not. Which isn't a problem with my drain access hole under the nose of the car. Also if you CC filled up to far then any oil on top of the water was sucked back through the intake.

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

i have a AMW can and a LS6 VC but i never get water......interesting

gMAG

iTrader: (1)

I have the same...no water, either.

Ferocity02

iTrader: (60)

Where is your catch can mounted. If it's mounted where it's warm the water will not condense, it will just pass through the can and go into the intake.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

IMO, if you don't mind draining it more often I'd leave it where it's at, otherwise you'll have to move it to a warmer location(up higher and/or closer to the engine).

01 ss vert

iTrader: (1)

I've never checked mine in the 1000+ miles I've put on it.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

01 ss vert, Why not...?

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

In colder weather with a lot of short drives I get some water and orangey-brown sludge. In warmer weather, I get some oil, but not that much, considering my car uses a quart every 2000 miles.

RJDio

I get a mixture, more like a watery solvent. Just a few spoonfuls a month, nothing major but first time I drained it I'm thinking WTF is this crap

01CamaroSSTx

iTrader: (3)

Lets close the book on this one.

For those of you out there who run sealed catch cans and connect to a vacuum source your not going to see any water in the can as that moisture is being sucked into your engine. For those of you out there that run breather cans your not pulling vacuum on the crankcase and are merely venting the crankcase gases/moisture to the atmosphere.

During the summer months when its hot you will not see much in the way of condensation and frankly you wont be seeing much oil either if your engine is healthy but during the winter months when is gets cold you will need to drain the breather can as condensation builds up in the can from driving and creating heat on the system. By the way that mushroom looking sludge you'll see is the mixture of the water and the traces of oil in the breather can. Small price to pay to keep that stuff from being reintroduced to your engine.

Edgar Rodriguez

My car has two breathers as what it looks like one on crank case and one bellow engine on top of oil filter .I recently added a catch can that connects those two into the catch can and throws it back to air intake before the turbo. and it only seems to catch water and white sludge. However everytime I clean it it looks like no oil or vapor enters the intake .I've changed it every two to three days and it collects about 1 oz and yes the smell of exhaust. Its been on for about a week and recently ive seen a lil of that sludge on my oil cap and oil dipstick . not alot but its there . oil is not milky and its not smoking. So need help to figure out if its just the vapor pressure entering back in the crank case the allow it the moisten up or if .... Idk am thinking of just putting a tube on crank case straight down into atmosphere .

G Atsma

This is a GM LS engine forum. You might be better off looking for a FWD VW forum to help you with this.

dreadpirateroberts

iTrader: (1)

i bet he's a bot of some sort.