legacycentral bbs

Recently, 330 miles ago, I put the car on the road again after installing a VF-12, FXT IC etc. This evening took it out for a little drive. After it was warmed up, I made it to a quiet road and put some pressure on the right pedal, watched the boost come up, listened to the air rushing through the IC and noticed a jogger headed my way on my side of the road, so slowed down while I passed her. After I went by her I looked in the rear view mirror and much to my horror, it looked like I was driving a WWII destroyer putting down an anti-submarine smoke screen. I mean it was thick, that poor jogger! Smelled smoke in the cabin, so got to a place to pull over, popped the hood and took a peek inside. No flashlight, so couldn't see any real detail, just a little smoke rising up, no flames though. Turned around and drove the four miles home, careful not to go on boost. Upon further inspection, with good light I discovered that the rubber hose that attaches to the oil drain line on the bottom of the turbo had slipped down and was just at the end of the drain line, the hose clamp had slipped further down. I'm guessing that the smoke was from oil draining onto the up pipe. Dip stick level is ok.
Obviously, I guess, I did not tighten the hose clamp enough. The only thing I had done to the car since last driving it was to remove the filter from on top of the oil catch can and put a cap on that nipple.(See pics on thread in intercooler section)
Tomorrow I will put the car up on jack stands and get under there and check things out. Getting to that hose to make it back up is going to be fun. Sure hope I did not damage the turbo.

wow, let that be a lesson to all of us.

Oh yes i did this the first time i swapped my turbo. Stupid hose is IMPOSSIBLE to get any good angle on to properly clamp. I learned to clamp the hose on the turbo side and then install the turbo making sure it properly connects to the pan return since it is much easier to get at.

It's a good idea to replace that hose as it gets brittle/stiff.

OK, here is what happened. The hose clamp did slip down the hose, but the hose was still up in its original position on the drain nipple. I put the hose clamp back into position and secured it well this time. Went out for a test drive and got a big smoke out the tail pipe when up on boost and some smoke coming out of the engine area. Stopped and took a look and discovered that there was oil leaking out from where the center section of the turbo bolts to the turbine section. Originally, oil was not leaking at the drain hose, which is new, but above that. Great, I'm thinking that the trubo oil seals are bad, not happy. Went home and looked at the Deadbolt website trouble shooting section about oil consumption. The last thing I had done before this oil problem surfaced was to take off the breather filter from the top of the oil catch can and cap it off. So I removed the cap and put the filter back on. Test drive, no oil leaking by the seals. Problem solved. Someone had suggested that the filter might be causing the engine to see un metered air, so I took it off to experiment, I guess.

So by putting the filter back on, it solved your oil problems?

How exactly do you have your PCV system hooked up? Can you draw a picture? Because it shouldn't do what it did if you have things piped up correctly.

Putting that filter back on solved the problem.

The two valve cover vents, the aft ones on each side, T together and go to one of the lower nipples on the oil catch can. The PCV valve hose and the hose from the crankcase vent, T together and go to the other lower nipple on the oil catch can. These all used to feed into the elbow that goes from the air intake to the turbo.

Isn't the PCV and crankcase vent T'ed together a big no-no? That makes stuff see boost that probably shouldn't.

The PCV hose and the crankcase vent were T'ed together and went into that elbow between intake and turbo originally. That is one of the reasons I paired them up again.

I get what you're saying, and you're right.

I've just been looking at installing a catch can, and all the FAQ's talk about keeping the PCV valve isolated, going even so far as to add a separate filter for it has been ingrained in my mind.

John,

It doesn't surprise me you had problems when you plugged that. You must have a connection that feeds back into the intake piping. Right now it doesn't sound like you have anything that does that.

Interesting - i was wondering about the vented filter thingee on the top of your oil catch can. Looks wicked cool, what's the theory behind it?

Doing track days I have seen oil catch cans dump oil all over and cause problem and kind of wonder why people run them....That said I'm a sucker for anything that makes my car more like a real race car so I recently bought one of these catch cans...

http://www.mfactoryhk.com/products.php? ... atch%20Can

But curious about if this design has a vent or whatever since yours does - and the benefits and short comings installing these in general...

Thanks in advance for a little education.

Cheers,

Josh, when you say that I must have a vent conected to the intake, are you saying that I should or that I already do? I left the other two valve cover vents alone. Those being, the ones that connect from the right to the left side valve covers via soft and hard line that goes over the top of the intake manifold. I can route the PVC vent to the intake if that would be a good idea. There is a cap on that intake elbow inlet now.
Adam, that catch can looks good to me, but I am still learning about them as far as plumbing goes.

Cool. Some designs have the vent thingee and some don't - if anyone can share the benefits/downfalls of either design, please share.

John, can you post link to pic again in this thread?

I made a change. Routed the PCV valve to the intake. The crankcase vent still goes to the catch can, though. After only a test drive, don't notice much difference, but it might be healthier for the system.

Adam, here is a link to the photos:

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... ey_ic1.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... ey_ic2.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... ey_ic3.jpg

After viewing what others have done for oil catch can routing while at WCSS9, and showing Sean from Rallitek how I was set up, then using his suggestion, I have changed the way mine was set up. I removed the filter on top of the catch can, attached a line to that nipple and T'ed it into where I have the PCV valve line going to the intake.
So now the valve cover vents go to one nipple on the catch can, the crankcase vent goes to another niple on the catch can and the nipple on top goes to the air intake with the PCV valve .
Thanks everyone for all of your advice. I believe that now it is installed properly. There are probably several paths to take to go in this direction, but this is the one I have chosen.

PS: I have another new can like this, but with out the sight glass, that I would sell if anyone is interested.

Interesting - please put up some pics when you get a chance. And congrats again on taking the best Legacy win! Also can't wait to see you on the Subisport video. Cheers!

To save the typing I copied this from another post I made a while back.

"...understanding how the stock system works is key to getting the best results.

There are two vacuum sources, the PCV valve for low throttle (manifold vac) and the turbo inlet for high throttle (manifold boost). Both of these vac sources should be plumbed in to the suction side of the catch can. And to keep the PCV from sucking air through the turbo inlet there should be a check valve in turbo inlet line (though I don’t think the factory used one). The large crank case vent at the back of the block should be routed to the inlet of the catch can. The two valve cover vents to the rear are the fresh air intakes, leave them plumbed to the intake pipe so they draw filtered air. The two forward valve cover vents and the front center vent are a balance system, I would leave them as they are (Note: only the USDM EJ22T has these?). The catch can does not change the function of the stock system, it only provides a place for the crankcase vapors to slow, cool and condense so they don’t get drawn back through the engine."

Hope that helps.

Gary