Oil Catch Can, Eliminate that knock!

So the OCC will also help the EGR to remain clean? I'd be interested to see a bit more of an expanded explanation about how the OCC benefits the engine in your nice little document!

 

It's not hard to see.

Less burned oil means less debris for the EGR system to pick up. Less oil being burned means less particles for the EGR cooling fins to be clogged up with,

Meaning an OCC allows for lower EGR air temps overall, besides the benefits provided to the entire exhaust system of less burned oil.

 

I might update that with some example pictures what OCC cans gathers and some more detail about removing air box assembly with links to @NutzAboutBolts videos.

One could easily build up quite big webpage about OCC. There is so much to talk about here, how it helps and why does engines have PCV, why it cannot be removed, what happens if you dont empty OCC.

In the end i think that i would not write too detail manual how to install OCC. If person who does not know exactly why and what he/she is doing, i dont think that it should be done. It then can be easily maybe forgotten to empty for example or car is sold and OCC is left without telling buyer that there is one.
Somehow i like to think that you have to be at least little bit DIY person with intrest to start doing this kind a mod and youre ready to dig more information about it and learn in the progress.

 

After seeing what was in my first opening of the OCC after installation last month, it's my opinion that a remote drain valve wouldn't be good enough as the only way to empty the OCC. You'll still want to open it up to get thicker stuff out, at least until you determine what the OCC catches in your car.

My first time opening the OCC, about 500 miles after installation, was after infrequent, winter, very low mileage trips. (I kept summer tires on the Prius, and drive my old Subaru with winter tires more in the winter). The OCC (same style as Danlatu's) was about 1/3 full, with about half of it being cola-colored water with gasoline odor, and just a light sheen of oil. The other half was light brown, mocha-colored, thick foam, kind of like egg whites beaten to soft peaks but a bit greasy. That foam needed to be wiped out of the OCC after pouring the water out. The next time that I opened the OCC, during a gasoline fill up not long after, there wasn't any water (warmer temperatures, spring had arrived), but there was a bit of that foam in there that I wiped out.

I'm happy with the way the Ruien-style OCC works unmodified. I didn't put in a stainless scrubby, and didn't add a brass air filter, but the clear outlet hose is still clear. I'm avoiding the scrubby because it would make cleaning out the foam more of a hassle. Anything exiting the OCC outlet hose would have to splash up pretty high in the OCC and get sucked out. It's possible that the foam could touch and coat a brass filter, and therefore allowing the foam to linger in front of where it might subsequently get sucked out.

 

You don't clean the scrubby. It's self cleaning because it's on the intake side.

 

I just discard mine every so often .

The steel wool is in there to make it harder for the liquid vapors to exit (or keep them in the cooler environment longer).

No way to clean it, but cheap enough to swap out.

 

Spray it with some carb cleaner? The coarse steel wool "wheaties" biscuits on my Moroso look pretty permanent; I'd be reluctant to toss them. And how/where?

See 3:00 through 4:00 in this:

 

Meh, I’ll save my carb cleaner for the egr cooler.

I throw the steel wool in the trash when removed from service.

You can always buy more and replace .

 

That's the rub for me, trying to avoid putting (serviceable) oil-soaked steel in a landfill.

You're sounding like the guy who said (tongue in cheek) how he did his oil changes by running the front wheels up on a curb over a storm drain, let it rip. Then mopped up any splatters with a passing bald eagle, lol.

 

Seems to me the alternative is discarding into a landfill all the Prius engines that themselves appear to be designed to catch this crud and eventually succumb to it.

 

I see some people putting a bigger piece in the cup itself, and that's what I was thinking of. You're putting a tiny piece up high? Or in a tube like Danlatu?

The foam being caught in my OCC seems to be making it harder for the vapors to exit as a side effect. It foams up the little baffle area by the inlet before the excess drops into the cup.

Anyway, with a clean exit tube, I'm sticking with no scrubby. This is something that I'll be checking at fill ups along with fluid levels, so I'll probably be wiping it out with the paper towels that I use to wipe the oil dipstick.

 

I won’t derail the tread on an environmental topic (and get this thread kicked to another location), but if your argument is waste (which it sounds like), consider all the parts that leave a dealership that do not need or require replacing every day. While some gets recycled, does everything?

I think my steel wool pad every 6 months or so while keeping the emissions of the car up to par is an acceptable trade off.

Also in my neck of the woods, you have to pay to recycle. While we do, does everyone? I think you know that answer.

But I do my part and most others do too.

 

I don't think so. For starters, it's debatable how fast steel wool gums up, becomes clogged. My Moroso can has a couple of biscuits up at the top, at the inlet and outlet. I'd suspect that so far a little liquid has condensed on them, then dripped down.

I should take a look I guess, before too long, see what state they're in. So far I've just opened the tap at the bottom, collect about 100 cc, what looks to be maybe 75% motor oil, the rest I'd guess a mix of water and gas. It's all very liquid, no chunks or tarry bits, and I'll just pour it into my waste oil container, run it down to Mr. Lube's waste oil tank next time.

If the steel wool biscuits are gumming up, I'll just give them a shot or two of carb cleaner I think, hopefully that'll clear them.

Yeah, a lot still does, goes straight to the landfill dumpster. But taking a little time and effort, that could at least be reduced. Just regularly slamming in new engine and cabin filters for example. We're eight years in, admitedly very low mileage, but I can't bring myself to replace either filter. The engine filter looks clean enough to eat off. The cabin filter not so much, but I just vacuum it out and reinstall so far.

My kids' lifestyles kinda break my heart. Any time they show up, there's a sargasso sea of fast food containers left in their wake. Ah well, getting further and further off-topic.

 

I think you’ll find over time that the exit hose from the catch can to the intake manifold will begin to stain.

There is a lot of vacuum present in the system, and it will carry over as the miles pile on.

The gas line is a good mod change to the supplied hoses with the catch can.

At least for my situation anyway.

 

I seem to have a different mix of OOC contents though. Mendel Leisk's is catching a lot of oil. I barely see a sheen.

I'll switch to the fuel line eventually, but am not too concerned. Stuff is obviously moving through, and I imagine that it'd be difficult for the vacuum to seal off flow even if a tube looks flattish. The Home Depot or Lowes clear braided line that I have on the inlet side is quite stiff and oil resistant.

 

I don’t have any steel in my OCC currrently, if I empty often I might not need it.

Regarding waste, it’s sad how much of car parts have to be thrown away. Hurts me.

 

Before too long, yeah right...

Anyway, just buttoned up, after dragging it out, complete with hoses, since the end couplings (ends of the original connector hose, cut in half) are by far the easiest.

There was a good 1/8", maybe a bit more, of automotive "pond scum" at the bottom. I found opening the bottom tap it didn't budge much. Using a narrow spatula and sheperding it towards the drain, about half went down the drain, grumbling and pissed, like end-of-night bar patrons.

When I coaxed out the two wire mesh biscuits they were quite clean, I didn't bother to apply any solvents to them. I get the sense that their main function is to slow down the through flow. The cover plate over the biscuits was more stained looking on the outgoing side, heading to the intake manifold.

I don't think I'll revisit that soon, maybe every two years at the most, more likely three. The guy doing the moroso review poked a skinny zip tie up the drain tube; maybe that would help get that reluctant bottom layer of goop out. Maybe flows out better when the car's warmed up too.

Just a sheen, at the bottom of the intake manifold:



1/8" of "pudding" that's reluctant to drain:


Fully view, exit side on right:


Close up:


Wire biscuits cavity:


Biscuit close up, the top side, nearest the intake and outlet:

 

I like the short hose runs! Access vs. mounting point/short hoses...Hmm..I just might reconsider my options here.

 

Go low.

 

Time to do a video on this install in a couple of weeks. Thanks @danlatu for the quick delivery!