Digging up an old thread because I think I found the problem with my setup. I finally got sick of dumping out my catch can every couple months and decided to take off the red valve cover and then use the black one that was otherwise unmodified.
Unfortunately, the black one did not come with baffle covers. So I had to remove the covers from the red one and put them on the black one. Tragically, when I broke out my RTV, it was pretty much dried up. Rather than just going to the store and buying more like a normal person, I struggle to lay down the half dried up RTV as quickly as possible, which splits open the end of the tube, and I end up covering more of my hands and forearms with the goop than the actual valve cover.
Well anyway, I break out some toothpicks and clean it up as best I can and it doesn't look too bad. So I decide to slap on the covers and see how it goes. After waiting the hour to dry, I check to see if I had made a good seal by putting my finger over the crankcase hole and blowing on the breather tube. I wasn't even close. Air leaks all over the place.
But that got me thinking, maybe when Brian RTV'd my red valve cover, he didn't make a good seal either. There are a few suspect areas where the RTV was very sparse. I wish I would have thought of this before I removed the covers in the first place, but I put them back on the red cover out of curiosity. To compensate, I also pushed down on the covers as I blew, and the two suspect areas with no lip of RTV were definitely leaking.
All bets are off since I ruined the seal by removing them, but I still think this is the root cause of my excessive amount of air being pulling in from the breather tube during idle and my catch can filling up so quickly. Blow-by doesn't have that much oil in it. My PCV side catch can has grabbed at least 3 quarts of oil in the last year, but the breather side can is still bone dry. The inside has an oily film of course, but not a drop has ever come out.
Actually, you would think blow-by would be much worse under boost and the breather side would collect more. Maybe if you only drove on the highway, you'd expect to collect more oil on the PCV side than the breather, but my car doesn't see that much highway cruising. Certainly not 3 quarts to 0 ounces.
But if you had a vacuum leak inside your valve cover and the PCV could draw air directly from the breather, that air in the valve cover would collect a bunch of oil on its way to the PCV.
So going back to this thread. I think drilling a hole in the breather side of the baffle is a bad idea. If you were to run unmetered air to the breather tube, such as putting a filter directly on the cover, I am pretty sure you'd eventually max out your trims and throw a CEL. Even though the stainless steel filter is working, it is filtering much more air than it should be, and probably why TheMAN is still losing oil. Much less of course, but ideally, it should be none.
Before I installed the catch cans, I've never noticed any decrease in oil. I found trace amounts in my intake, which led me to the catch can "solution," but I think in a healthy car there should be very little. I am wondering if that seal is ruined over time even on stock cars, and responsible for the excess oil burning a lot of members see.
Catch cans are never a bad idea, I just wish someone would have made a little cheap in-line one that didn't require all the hoses, fittings, and brackets of the CR3 setup. More than anything, I just wish I wouldn't have sent the cover to them in the first place.
Unfortunately, the black one did not come with baffle covers. So I had to remove the covers from the red one and put them on the black one. Tragically, when I broke out my RTV, it was pretty much dried up. Rather than just going to the store and buying more like a normal person, I struggle to lay down the half dried up RTV as quickly as possible, which splits open the end of the tube, and I end up covering more of my hands and forearms with the goop than the actual valve cover.
Well anyway, I break out some toothpicks and clean it up as best I can and it doesn't look too bad. So I decide to slap on the covers and see how it goes. After waiting the hour to dry, I check to see if I had made a good seal by putting my finger over the crankcase hole and blowing on the breather tube. I wasn't even close. Air leaks all over the place.
But that got me thinking, maybe when Brian RTV'd my red valve cover, he didn't make a good seal either. There are a few suspect areas where the RTV was very sparse. I wish I would have thought of this before I removed the covers in the first place, but I put them back on the red cover out of curiosity. To compensate, I also pushed down on the covers as I blew, and the two suspect areas with no lip of RTV were definitely leaking.
All bets are off since I ruined the seal by removing them, but I still think this is the root cause of my excessive amount of air being pulling in from the breather tube during idle and my catch can filling up so quickly. Blow-by doesn't have that much oil in it. My PCV side catch can has grabbed at least 3 quarts of oil in the last year, but the breather side can is still bone dry. The inside has an oily film of course, but not a drop has ever come out.
Actually, you would think blow-by would be much worse under boost and the breather side would collect more. Maybe if you only drove on the highway, you'd expect to collect more oil on the PCV side than the breather, but my car doesn't see that much highway cruising. Certainly not 3 quarts to 0 ounces.
But if you had a vacuum leak inside your valve cover and the PCV could draw air directly from the breather, that air in the valve cover would collect a bunch of oil on its way to the PCV.
So going back to this thread. I think drilling a hole in the breather side of the baffle is a bad idea. If you were to run unmetered air to the breather tube, such as putting a filter directly on the cover, I am pretty sure you'd eventually max out your trims and throw a CEL. Even though the stainless steel filter is working, it is filtering much more air than it should be, and probably why TheMAN is still losing oil. Much less of course, but ideally, it should be none.
Before I installed the catch cans, I've never noticed any decrease in oil. I found trace amounts in my intake, which led me to the catch can "solution," but I think in a healthy car there should be very little. I am wondering if that seal is ruined over time even on stock cars, and responsible for the excess oil burning a lot of members see.
Catch cans are never a bad idea, I just wish someone would have made a little cheap in-line one that didn't require all the hoses, fittings, and brackets of the CR3 setup. More than anything, I just wish I wouldn't have sent the cover to them in the first place.