At what miles did your head gasket fail and at what miles did you clean your EGR?

Yes, that make sense and it's something I intend on doing every ~60k miles. I believe I can do it much faster next time. The oil catch can is next on my list, along with new struts and shocks as well. I believe there was a thread about this, but I assume the oil catch can will only reduce the amount of engine oil burning so cleanings are still inevitable?

I also noticed that my car doesn't not burn that much engine oil. I maybe at most half a quart every 8k miles.

 

Any engine puts out soot, even without a PCV system delivering oil to the cylinders. But yeah, extra oil can’t help.

Also true, that no oil catch can is going to stop 100%. I see them in the “might help, can’t hurt” category. That’s assuming a tight install, nothing overlooked, and using can(s) that are reasonably effective.

 

Int man??


iPhone ? Pro

 

JUST figured it out:

intake manifold

 

I did both at 127k

 

So head gasket failure at 127k miles?

 

I don't either. There's a mega thread here that is titled "Stop that knock." Well, no catch can and 113,000 miles on my Prius and never a knock. Seems like a solution looking for a problem and if you're subject to smog inspections, could cause your car to fail as it's technically an "illegal" modification. I doubt it hurts anything though.

 

This is what I diverted with a year and about 4000 kilometres driving. It’s the drain from two cans in series, the first on the left:



first one is mostly oil, second mostly water. Oil’s on top. Not sure what the thin top layer on first is, gasoline??

the jars were for Sambal Oolek (chilli paste), maybe 1.5” diameter.

 

Maybe it's because you live in a cold climate and don't let the engine warm up. Water in the engine oil should evaporate and not collect in the crank case. Lots of short trips will do that.

 

We rarely do short trips, incomplete warm-up. I would say it's typical condition crankcase. We're on West Coast Canada, in greater Vancouver region, similar to Seattle.

They're a little over 2" OD. Checked the increment lines I put on them; roughly 100 cc in each.

 

What makes the Prius unique, that it needs a catch can then, as opposed to other ICE vehicles, or do you have catch cans on your other vehicles as well? Before you used the catch can, did you see evidence of water in the engine oil?

Actually, thinking about this, if you didn't use a catch can, this stuff would be in vapor form and reburned in the engine. I don't see an issue with this, after all EGR is exhaust which has water and other gunk in it anyways. Some tiny amount of oil entering the cylinder may actually be beneficial as it lubricates the cylinder walls and rings. Water vapor shouldn't be a problem either. Or are you worried that some minor amount of oil puddles in the intake manifold. What harm does that cause?

 

The main issue with introducing sooty/oily exhaust gasses back in through the air intake side of the engine is that it clogs up egr passages in the intake manifold creating more vacuum. It also causes more carbon build up on the back of the throttle body, cylinder head ports, intake valves and pistons. There was also a fair amount of carbon build up on the injectors.

When I took my engine apart for a head gasket repair, I spent quite some time cleaning all said parts. When I completed the repair, the engine ran smoother, was more responsive and was noticeably more powerful. It is my opinion that keeping these areas as clean as possible is healthier for the engine and lessens wear. I decided to install an oil catch can and will do so on all of my ICE vehicles.