Oil Catch Can, Eliminate that knock!

Zero, insurance claim, deductable waived: other driver acknowledged fault, very good about. My wife was just parked, other driver misjudged clearance when cornering.

They're really good at "blending" these days, cannot see any transition, not even sure how far they painted. I know there was a bit of peeling on the rear face of the bumper (it's had a previous repaint, after I was T-boned in that corner), that peeling is gone too I think, judging from the pic, I should have a close look.

I should have asked how they cured the saggy butt: maybe some shims on the clips under there?

 

Checked my OCC today, about half dl of broun water fuel mixture. Last week i drove alot short trips and today then longer, so i assume this moisture from oil.

BUT, took OCC of, i cannot risk that its going to freeze.
After drive, tubes front of inverter to OCC were soo cold -> guarantee that then those freeze.

Im putting that back in spring. Maybe with insulated tubes and some heater element.
Best would be installing it like @Mendel Leisk . Tubes directly down. But then it is hard to reach. At lest based on this one day my emptying intervar would be week.
Leveled tubes, like i had in front of inverter are no no for cold. Investigated this a lot today from local forums and decided that OCC had to go for now.

 

One deciliter is 100 milliliter, just for info. So @qettyz 's talking about 50 milliliters. I had a similar amount, but with roughly 2500 kms travelled, with a fair bit of rain, temps typically 0C to +7C

The engine bay will always warm up, and it's debatable if freezing in the bottom of the OCC will mean blockage in the air flow. Not sure really. Putting foam pipe insulation between fender seam and hood will help too to hold the heat in. Here's ours, year 'round like this:

 

Its not a problem is bottom of OCC freezes, tubes are problem.
There has been lots of cars in Finland, Citroens for example and older Opel Omegas what has been ”famous” of oils running out of engine at winter because of stock PCV tube has frozen.
Cold tubes will start getting water from warm air passing by, and if tube is level or there is slope it will then gather there and freeze because cold air blast the tubes.

I just have to insulate tubes and put tube heater. At least i can safely use OCC in our summer time.
Insulating edges of engine bay does not help since -15c air is blasting thru front of the car to engine bay. PCV systems tend to freeze just when cruising for example 60mph.
Of course engine bay is warm when parked and PCV air warms hoses, but that does not help when cruising.

 

You can grill block too, with the same stuff:



With our moderate conditions I've only put in one tube (50% block), but for sure you should use two, as long as conditions are steadily sub-freezing.

It's your car, your risk assessment, but I'd be inclined to wait and see, albeit monitoring closely (if that's possible). If the regular PCV hose between the valve could freeze, is it really any worse if there's a catch can added, with a deep sump, below the air flow?

Again, as you note: maybe short lines down to low mounted OCC and then back up to intake manifold, are the best way to keep the hoses clear and less freeze-prone.

 

I finally installed my OCC yesterday. One run to the OCC, located behind the left side headlight like danlatu's, was braided hose attached directly to the PCV valve. For the other run, I kept the existing ventilation hose intact instead of cutting it in half like many of you did. I rotated the end attached to the intake manifold so other end points below the throttle body area of the intake manifold. The spliced in new hose then does a U-turn under the throttle body before going to the OCC.

I did use hose clamps or the existing spring clips on the connections. I've had those hose barbs slip in other applications (particularly when the hose gets cold), though admittedly under tension that the OCC hoses don't get.

For securing the OCC behind the headlight, I like the foam cup cozy concept, for now at least. Since I didn't have one, I wrapped a running shoe insole and another soft pad around and under the OCC and taped it up with Gorilla tape. To keep the OCC from moving, I secured the two hoses where they enter the OCC to the car with a 1-inch nylon strap with a ladder lock wrapped around that body color brace behind the headlamp. That will be easier to loosen than cable ties when I need to open the OCC.

 

i thought we would be out there this month, but a bum shoulder and a new grandson put the kibosh on that. maybe next year, although, i'd love to make the concourse d'elegance at pebble...

 

The concur de lemons is also an option.

I know Wayne Carini from out your way attends both.

 

exactly. my plan was to fly to arizona in early january, then drive out to sandiego and up the coast. go well...

 

Uh .. that was me!

 

Update -
No cold soak knock to date POST OCC install , and temps in the northeast have been single digits for a few days now. Hopefully that will be the end of the knocking cold soak syndrome , now that an OCC has been installed. (really worried about the knocking causing head gasket issues , so will be nice to eliminate that possible cause ) .

Put a few hundred miles since my OCC install last week , and did my first "check and drain" .
Was very surprised at the amount of "mucus" that already found its way into the OCC . It was a combination of water (frozen) , oily residue, and a fuel smelling liquid that was not water (since it did not freeze) .
To think the engine was trying to burn this mess is crazy !

Here are the first "check and drain" pictures ...... Yes, that is a disk of ice at the bottom !




Proof is in the pudding , I guess !

 

Yumm!

 

Here’s my follow-up.

It was about 5 degrees F (-15 C) yesterday morning when I took these pics.
Yes, the fluid collected in the can is frozen. There was oil residue and ice crystals on the stainless steel mesh at the intake. There’s no noticeable obstruction though — air could freely pass through.
This car is mostly driven on the highway at speeds of 70-80 mph (120-130kph) sometimes with ambient temps below 0F (-20C). I’m not at all worried about freezing.

 

Here are some pictures of what gunk is getting stored. Thats the nipple removed for cleaning. Been having some head gasket issues. OCC was installed after intake and EGR cleaning. My coolant tank is clean no contaminates. My oil looks clear no coolant in it. Oil cap not dirty , dipstick looks normal. This was the third time cleaning the can( the dirtiest).

 

That's terrible looking -- I've never had anything that consistency. I wonder why it's so thick?

 

What does the oil smell like? Since the coolant is now being lost, could the head sealer be some of this?

 

Good question, as it sure does have a mucoidal thing going on.

Maybe crowd sourcing additional 'catch can' data sets would offer some insight into this gelatinous mess.

Might it have something to do with Synthetic vs Conventional, and or varying weights?