Oil Catch Can, Eliminate that knock!

That was my concern, hose chafing. I will inspect my setup periodically.​

 

I checked this original hose that came with my OCC yesterday. Although it is braided, it really isn't that hard to kink it. I am pretty sure it will collapse under high vacuum. So it should really not be used.

 

No longer able to edit: slight snafu, read the wrong email, for me in Van through local dealership: $26.18, shipped up from California:

In regards to your current inquiry the part is stocked in California which is 5 days away and at price of $26.18. Feel free to contact me with any further questions you may have.

Again, inflated Canadian price.

 

For the record..I did order a couple of these connector hoses. Not sure why I ordered two...but I did. I guess they might come in handy when I do the OCC.

Thanks for the links!

 

I just ordered one also. Which I'll just salt away in the spare tire well for now. Only $26 up here.

 

I bought an extra barb connecter. I wonder why? Stored it in my auto parts bin.

 

That's the smart way to go. Once I start talking to parts, I feel obligated to follow through: ugh, lapsed into cargo cult, picked up a part I'll likely never use.

 

Do the parts answer you?
If so, you may want to get a thorough physical.

 

What a great find, this forum and thread are! I have a 2012 Prius with 184k on it. I hope to get 3 more years (about 120k more). I recently had an engine knock with a misfire code on cylinder 1 and was way overdue for plugs so I put new ones in. No more misfire codes, but I am still getting the engine knock. I live in a warm climate, where we really never drop below 40F, so this knock may have happened 2 - 3 times in the past....now it's about 2x per week depending on the weather. I would like to try the oil catch can. I have a couple questions for people who did the job.

1) Do you have to remove and clean the throttle body and the IM for this fix to work? I saw a youtube video of a guy cleaning his and I couldn't believe the amount of oil in it. Have you folks that have installed them noticed it was just fixed immediately?
2) If no on question 1, can you access the hose the OCC connects to just by removing the air filter housing or is it more difficult than that?

Thanks to all of you for all the information and help.

Happy to report that this is the first issue I have ever had with this car. It still has the original brakes! I drive about 120 miles a day with very little stop and go. I basically change the oil every 10k and replace the air filter and cabin filter and top off fluids when needed (rarely).

Damagio

 

I would watch @NutzAboutBolts intake manifold cleaning video, #24 here:

Nutz About Bolts Prius Maintenance Videos | PriusChat

Only suggestion on that video: you can lift the throttle body up and out of the way without needing to disconnect the coolant lines.

You maybe could put in an OCC without intake manifold removal/cleaning, but with the object being to prevent future gunk going into the intake manifold, cleaning the intake manifold is more-or-less mandatory first step.

While in that link, I'd highly recommend watching the EGR cleaning video as well (#17, plus a couple of other referenced). Again, being squeamish about coolant spillage, one thing I'd suggest is to drain and retain a couple of liters of coolant at the radiator drain spigot, into a clean container, before diving in. This will drop the coolant level below the EGR circuit, allowing you to remove EGR components with no spillage. Just watch as you lift off the EGR cooler: there will be a few tablespoons of coolant at the lower back corner, which you can dump into your drained coolant. Pour the drained coolant back into the reservoir, with the topmost coolant line disconnected from the EGR (until you get flow out) and you will have the coolant pretty much back to status quo, especially after a day or two driving

Also, I'd recommend 5~6 hour long soaks of the EGR cooler with strong/hot Oxi-Clean solution (water based), for most effective cleaning. Perhaps also running a long/slim wire through to help it along.

One further note: doing all the above I didn't bother to replace any gaskets. In my low mileage case they all looked pretty good, I got a way with it. Also, after one procedure, I did get a Check Engine Light. Five or six start ups later it went away, has not returned. I put it down to a momentary loss of connection due to connection settling together.

Some other good threads:

EGR & Intake Manifold Clean Results | PriusChat

Oil Catch Can, Eliminate that knock! | PriusChat

Also, attached are a few Repair Manual excerpts with torque values, other details.

 

Thank you Mendel, what you are saying is pretty much what I expected to hear, and you are, of course, right. If I am going that far into it, I may as well do the whole thing right instead of half-baked and winding up taking it all apart again in a few weeks. I've watched Nutz About Bolts before and he does a great job. Very easy to follow.

Really appreciate the help and the links!

 

Hi Damagio,

Welcome to Prius Chat! I just went through the entire cleaning process that @Mendel Leisk described above. I also added an OCC. My car now has 121 K on it. I had documented my progress in the following thread. Good luck with your cleaning process.

EGR Cleaning: What did I get myself into? | PriusChat

 

I’m only catching mostly water and little brown oil on top. When I open it, it smells strong gasoline. Hopefully it’s good sign.

 

Thanks Bay Stater! I plan on doing it this weekend, so I will let you guys know how it goes.

 

Yes, i can say that you can dangle the throttle body without taking off the coolant host. Purge hose connected to the intake manifold removed make it easier to move the throttle body around.

Best way to put the OCC anyway is removing the manifold so you can find the best way for the hose connected to the OCC. intake manifold removal is easy, just like lego. Be sure to have a torque wrench so everything is torqued.

Had a check engine light after cleaning the manifold, but my bad, i did not plug the MAF.

 

FWIW, I had CEL with everything plugged in, went away after 5~6 startups, with no intervention. So before you dive in, give it a bit of time, just in case.

 

Due to Atkinson cycle? Hmmm.....

 

It is very easy to install OCC without taking intake manifold away. I installed mine by just removing airfilter box over throttle body and there was plenty on room to take pvc tube off and mod everything. I would recommend taking intake manifold only away if you plan to clean it complete at the same time.

 

For the first install though, it's still a good idea to "drain the swamp" in the intake manifold, ensure the EGR passages are clear, wipe out the intake ports, clean the MAP sensor (it basically sits in a pool of oil). For the latter I think MAF Sensor cleaner is fine, that's what I used.

That aside, if you were removing or swapping cans, just needing to connect/disconnect hoses, yeah it can be done.

 

Oh goody, I got the 800th post. Seriously, I opened and inspected my OCC after 800 miles. It contained about one inch of mystery Carmel colored substance and the smell of gas. Guess that's a good sign that the OCC is working!