PCV System Questions
 

While I was putting my Accufab TB/Plenum on earlier this week it got me thinking about the PCV system. Can anyone get me detailed pictures of the driver's side valve cover, and the passenger side valve cover, or explain them to me in detail. Where are the valves supposed to be, and where do the hoses go?

PCV valve goes on passenger side. Breather vent is on driver side. Breather vent connects to the inlet snorkel BEFORE the TB and AFTER the MAF (just like the IAC). PCV valve connects to the plenum AFTER the TB.

PCV is under constant vacuum as the engine sucks in air from the passenger side valve cover. That air comes up into the valve cover from the oil pan, and it gets to the oil pan from the breather vent on the driver side valve cover.

The air in the crankcase is therefore METERED by the MAF. If you disconnect one side you create a massive vacuum leak and a lean condition. If you disconnect both sides then you lose a little power from the vacuum pump effect of the system and you build up nasty acidic vapors and acidify the oil a bit.

If you buy my oil air separator kit from me (75 bucks for you for my old kit) then all the oil that the PCV side sucks in with the air will be filtered out and you'll eliminate most of the sludging of the intake and a lot of the carbonization on the back side of the valves.


LMK if I failed to answer any of the questions you had.

Bingo, on what R3d said. This is a normal condition, the only thing that makes it abnormal is the amount of oil being moved though the PCV system. Aerarted oil has been blamed for motors blowing up on the dyno and all kinds of other shit.
Your intake probably had a puddle of oil sitting in the bottom of it right now. Did you notice this when you changed your setup?

How many miles are on your car?

Thankd R3d, that answers my question with a good explination of the system. The car has almost 63K miles, I didn't notice a large amount of oil in the intake, but didn't take a real good look. The stock plenum had a slight coating of oil though. I'm sure a in-line filter wouldn't hurt. My next question is about the breather valve on the driver's side valve cover. Is it a general/universal valve that I can get at a parts store? The reason I ask is becuase my tube that runs from the intake pipe to the driver's side valve cover doesnt end at a valve but rather has a rubber elbow and is kind of stuck into the valve cover. Essentialy doint its job but I would feel better with the valve there. The PCV valve is in place.

Its supposed to be like that. No valve was put in place from the factory. Only the passenger side has a check valve.

That's good to know, I guess I will stop worrying about it.