Hey guys so this is my first LS car. Bought it in pieces and put it together. I never really gave too much thought to the pcv system on it and put it back the way that it was rigged before hand. I had serious exhaust smell from the tailpipes, but I attributed that to the cam. I developed a pretty serious oil leak all around the oil pan gasket about a month ago. I know I had installed all of the covers and oil pan correctly and meticulously when I built the motor. Anyway after the leak, it occurred to me that there might be some elevated crankcase pressure. I started doing research and realized that the pcv was completely wrong. There was no vacuum side. I routed it from the back of DVC to back of PVC. I had the "clean" side hooked up correctly. Where the vacuum side was supposed to be, was blocked off from the previous owner so I had just left it figuring that it had been fine. Man I feel like an idiot. I installed a catch can just now with an inline pcv valve and on the cold start it seems like the exhaust smell is seriously diminished. There is still some blowby when I take the oil cap off but it is a "loose" motor. Anyone else have experience that is similiar with the exhaust smell going away mostly? I know everyone complains about the oil smell in the cabin after an install.

I never put much thought into PCV systems before. I had some older turbo cars that I messed around with and they would have bad blowby and blow the dipstick up. I figured if it was a big deal that's what it would do on this engine. Wrong. Anyway, the oil leak has slowed wayyyy down, still seeps from the real a little but not like it was before. Stupid mistake on my part and I have learned. Hope this will help others in the future.