Catch Can vs. Breathers?

[NUTCASE]

The worst case scenario I have ever experienced with a poorly set up PCV was the car didn't run that good. It still ran and made most of the power it was supposed to.

EDIT: 80's VWs could not handle anything being out of order. Air getting in through a broken dipstick could have you spending hundreds getting the car to run right.

That being said I have never dealt with some of the new cans for boosted motors that have like 3 fittings. I just imagine that putting oil through a blower or turbo is very bad.

 

[NUTCASE]

Fig.1

 

[JG-1]

My setup. Nice and clean.

Where did you purchase those?

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

The RX catch can appears to be very well designed, but the price.. Ouch

 

[NUTCASE]

I have heard of the RX can.


If you want a cool project you can make your own separator.

Key features is that it has lots of internal surface area, and lots of volume. The surface area gives the oil particles something to cling to and the volume is to slow the velocity of the air passing through so that the oil has a chance to fall out of the air.

putting it in a cool location also helps a lot. And I know I sounded stupid when I said stick steel wool in it but steel wool provides lots of surface area for oil to cling to.

An option that is better than you would ever believe is a 2 quart liqor flask.

 

[mrgtx]

I feel breathers are a sloppy solution, and they don't provide any positive ventilation of the crankcase.

There are a couple vendors that make excellent catch can setups. Check out Bob's Auto Sports.

Brenspeed recommended the JLT 3 catch can for my Paxton H.O setup.

American muscle says the JLT 3 catch can is not recommended for F/I and they suggest a Moroso unit

What would you do in my case? I run the car kinda hard but only put maybe 3 thousand miles on the car a year.

I'm not familiar with what changes were made to the JLT 3...the JLT catch can that I've been running (on the passenger side only) has been on the car since 2012 or so...and having recently put a Bob's Autosports can (as mentioned by Sky Render) on my dad's GT500, I can tell you that it's a MUCH nicer looking unit, it's more securely mounted, nicer fittings, has a slick drain valve in the bottom (which is easily accessible on the 5.4L at least) in and possibly more effective system as it's a bit larger and presumably has more internal surface area.

The JLT unit that I have is OK. They give you what looks like a bisected factory PCV line but with the can in the middle, suspended by plastic fittings. It just kinda sits against the cam cover and seems a bit amateurish. The plus side is that the installation takes all of 5 minutes! I had a plastic fitting that was starting to crack after a couple of years. JLT was awesome about it and sent a new one right away but still...Emptying it isn't difficult but you have to unscrew the bottom of the can and pour it out which can get messy.

It's hard to compare effectiveness between two different engines but each of them collects a fair amount of oil and seems to be doing the job.

Last I checked, they were about the same money...so just look at all of your options before you buy.

I REALLY like JLT as a company and I always give their products a hard look...but here, the Bob's Autosport unit seems to be superior. Maybe the JLT 3 has made up some ground?? I hope so.

Let us know how you make out!

 

[Pentalab]

How much are you folks collecting in your catch cans ? My JLT used to be 3/4 full every few months. It looked like a chocolate milkshake. That was using ford motocraft 5W-20 eng oil. Then switched to RP 5W-30 HPS.... and barely anything collects, and what it does collect, looks like eng oil, no chocolate milkshake.

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

It doesn't matter how much oil the catch cans themselves trap.. If oil gets passed the PCV connectors at the intake manifold, contaminated oil goes right back into the crankcase, which was exactly my experience with the JLT oil separator.. After upgrading from the JLT to the Bob's autosports separator, the Bob's separator IMO has a much better design over the JLT and is far superior in preventing crankcase oil vapors from entering the intake and back into the combustion chamber.. I've also used the UPR 4 chamber catch can and from personal experience have also had very excellent results with as well..

As for the new and improved JLT 3 separator, I can't really confirm one way or the other if it's any better over the previous gen or not.. All I know is both the Bob's separator and UPR 4 chamber catch can do exactly what a catch can/oil separator is designed for in the first place..

 

[Pentalab]

It doesn't matter how much oil the catch cans themselves trap.. If oil gets passed the PCV connectors at the intake manifold, contaminated oil goes right back into the crankcase, which was exactly my experience with the JLT oil separator.. After upgrading from the JLT to the Bob's autosports separator, the Bob's separator IMO has a much better design over the JLT and is far superior in preventing crankcase oil vapors from entering the intake and back into the combustion chamber.. I've also used the UPR 4 chamber catch can and from personal experience have also had very excellent results with as well..

As for the new and improved JLT 3 separator, I can't really confirm one way or the other if it's any better over the previous gen or not.. All I know is both the Bob's separator and UPR 4 chamber catch can do exactly what a catch can/oil separator is designed for in the first place..

Points noted. I had issues with the plastic threaded fittings on the JLT catch can, so they were both replaced with brass fittings. Even though the original JLT catch can design is less than optimum, it still doesn't explain why the amount collected dropped way down to a miniscule amount, right after the switch from ford motocraft 5W-20.... to RP HPS 5W-30. Several of us on the old Roush forum noticed the same effect. And the rest of the folks switched to various brands of 100% synthetic. The consensus was the use of synthetic oil vs the ford dino oil. Some were using different brand of catch cans too.

 

[06StangGT]

I don't see one for the '06 on Bob's website, which would you recommend?

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

I don't see one for the '06 on Bob's website, which would you recommend?

They list them only for the 11-14 GT and 07-14 GT500.. However they'll also fit on 05-10 models as well.. I just attached the mounting bracket onto the cowl cover mounting tab on the driver's side and it fit perfectly... I purchased the basic kit for the 11-14 GT and would therefore recommend it

Here's some images of the Bob's separator on my 06 GT..

 

[06StangGT]

They list them only for the 11-14 GT and 07-14 GT500.. However they'll also fit on 05-10 models as well.. I just attached the mounting bracket onto the cowl cover mounting tab on the driver's side and it fit perfectly... I purchased the basic kit for the 11-14 GT and would therefore recommend it

Here's some images of the Bob's separator on my 06 GT..

That looks clean. Just to be certain, this is the unit you are referring to?

 

[06 T-RED S/C GT]

That looks clean. Just to be certain, this is the unit you are referring to?

Yes, the images I posted from my car is the unit I'm referring to..

Here's also some images of my UPR 4 chamber oil separator as well..

 

[46addict]

I run the line from the pass side cam cover to the same breather catch can. This setup does allow unmetered air into the engine but with a blow through setup I haven't found any way to prevent this. The umnetered air is very slight and my tuner just tunes around it. This is the only setup that works with my twin turbos. I have tried many other setups and at times had so much crankcase pressure that the dipstick would be blown out the tube.

I have a blow through Procharged setup and need to revisit my PCV system. I once had open breathers but had a tuner suggest against it. I was chasing a vacuum leak at the time (which turned out to be unrelated to the breathers) so I went back to a closed system to rule things out. The stock PCV tube goes from the driver's side to the manifold, and the passenger side goes into the supercharger inlet tube. I was told this is also a bad idea because the blower will push oil into the charge pipes and contaminate the MAF. Wish I had thought that through more but it was supposed to be a temporary solution for testing. I haven't had this setup long enough for me to hurt anything I don't think.

Some catch cans only have one inlet and outlet. Can I use that and have it only on the passenger side line to catch oil before the air enters the blower? I want to leave the stock driver's side PCV tube alone as long as oil contamination doesn't get bad enough to trigger knock sensor activity.
And how would both valve covers sharing one catch let unmetered air in?

 

[retfr8flyr]

With your blow through setup you have your pass side connected to the inlet of the blower, before the MAF, correct? If this is your setup, you are allowing unmetered are into the system, the same as I have with my breather can. With a blow through system if you put the pass side connection in the intake after the MAF, the blower, or turbo, will pressurize the crankcase, so to me the only option is to allow unmeterd air into the system, either with a line to the intake before it is pressurized, or a breather/catch can. Positive displacement blowers don't have this problem, as the metered air after the MAF is not pressurized, like it is in a blow through system. I also don't think the PCV valve in the drivers side can handle the boost levels and will leak pressure into the crankcase, that is why I use the KrankVent on my drivers side. You don't really need a catch can on the pass side, as the engine is designed to draw air from the pass side opening, through the engine and out the drivers side. I use a breather can because, under boost, the line will have some outflow, due to crankcase pressure buildup.

 

[46addict]

So the only way is to run a KrankVent (is this a check valve?) and a catch can on the driver's side tube and tune around the unmetered air?

 

[retfr8flyr]

That is the only solution I have found. Yes, the KrankVent is just a PCV check valve that will handle boost, I'm sure there are similar ones available.