OK, so I’ve been running my catch oil catch can in my AJ16 engine for almost 10,000 miles and I decided to see what I’ve caught.
Water!!! Well, lots of water and some…oil, maybe?
I’ve posted pictures. I will ASS-U-ME that I’m capturing condensate, is that a fair guess? I’ve posted pics of the extremely watery substance as well as the routing of the catch can.
Any input would be appreciated.
The hose from the catch can to the intake elbow is clean as a whistle, no oily residue at all, so I believe it is doing its job.
The hose from the camcover to the catch can was wet and somewhat oily.
Well my first thought is, its probably crankcase condensation, the quantity would be determined by how long between change / cleaning it out the catch can.
Worst case, have you noticed any level change in coolant level, foamy goo in the coolant or the on the radiator cap? When the engine is running take the oil filler cap off and a little sniff, if the crankcase smells sweet, then there may be a coolant leak into the crankcase. If it were me, I’d stick my finger in the cup of fluid; smell it, and a little taste, followed by a quick spit.
If the fluid smell or tastes sweet, then there is coolant leaking in the crankcase.
Thanks for the response. Without having tasted it, it did not seem to have a sweetness to its scent. I’m chalking this up, for now, to condensation with a bit of oil mixed in.
The fact that the outlet rubber hose looks brand new on the inside means this catch can is doing its job.
Good report on the catch can. I’ve been wanting / thinking about installing one in my Series II XJ6. Cause… Well… The I’m trying to wrap my head around what’s going on inside that engine. The PO, got fed up with it, and put it up on craigslist as a parts car. The car was too good to be a parts car, so I traded the bits he wanted for the car. I spent a bit of time getting it going and it’s been the problem child ever since. It’s been one thing right after another.
Ignition - couldn’t keep it in time and kept burning points. and left me stranded in the middle of nowhere on a couple of occasions. I ended up replacing the Distributor with a Pertronics HEI.
Sorting out the ignition advance (which turned out to be a factory vacuum retard - or maybe its just me.) Dumped the vacuum retard(ed) system and pulled manifold pressure for my new Pertonics. That seemed to be the ticket.
Then fuel - I couldn’t get the carbs balanced - as it turned out the slides and the needles are / were warn.
Then once I got that squared away, the crank case ventilation is a bit of a mess. hence the catch can.
I could go on… Suspension, knocking, transmission leaking, blowing oil out the dipstic, no A/C. I understand why the PO gave up.
Interesting note. Not needed for a NA engine. I understand the forced induction bit, but never really thought about the requirements or not for a NA engine. I know I’ve got a lot of goo going on. to the point it clocks the orifice inside the EGR tubes going back into the carbs. My thought is that it would give me a clue as to what the goo and liquid is, and hopefully keep the pipes from clogging. I know this isn’t a fix, but more of a band aid until I can get around to getting it fixed.
my V12 uses the factory oil mist seperator , located on the left side cam cover!
clean it about once a year, never really clogged , some goo but none seems to get into the inlet track!
but if you already did the mod go with it for a longer period, and see what takes place!
it sounds like normal gas engine crankcase fumes!
a thought, just maybe you dont have enough vacuum flow and goo piles up in a small opening pipe, i opened mine up to 3/4" ID size, all the way from mist collector to manifold bung!
i did it for the FAMOUS rear seal oil leak on early V12s, it puts a positive vacuum in the crankcase and sucks the oil back into the engine at anyplace that a small oil leak may take place!
a inserted a CVV in the line 3/4 in 3/4 out!
hey what engine do you have ,HAS an EGR? and carburators, we may be on a different page here!
just looked at your CC vent system , i doubt you have any vacuum at all that way you have it!
give it some thought, get more flow volume, more vacuum, the engine will burn it no problem!
vac hose into the inlet manifold after the throttle plate , not before it!
of course you will have to readjust idle. trial and error for CCV valve, universal, lots available, i happen to use a GM part $4.00 dollars Advance auto
play with it make it work. and try to do away with EGR .
Seems a bit unrelated. Crankcase ventilation as to exhaust gas regeneration?
As Ron says, all IC engines generate crankcase fumes. Even if ring seal were perfect, which they are not, hot oil gives of fumes, aka oil mist.
Dealt with in the past from a simple filler cap sans any seal to PCV. Positive crankcase ventilation. Road draft tubes, etc.
Circa mid 50’s a company touted a unit to replace the filler cap. An electric pump to purge the crankcase Sounded like a good idea.
And, old Fords developed a lot of “blow by” that migrated into the cabin. Milady not pleased. Fix. A cap on the filler with a flexible pipe connected to the carb air filter housing. Feed those fumes to the engine and burn them. It worked. In bad cases, not without oil flooded filters!!!
EGR suits clean air folks. Cools the fame and less odious exhaust products. Working correctly, and that is a lot, not all that bad. Allows more spark advance, better economy and a tad more power.
Its a bit off topic, kinda cause its a 74 4.2 six dual strombergs the breather tube that is 3/8 in diameter, has a small pkug or reducer in the end at the carb that is the size of a pin. Aka real tiny that is where the goo collects… then undo all the bits, flush it out, and put back together. Ugh!
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
11
its a 74 4.2 six dual strombergs the
breather tube that is 3/8 in diameter, has a small pkug or reducer in
the end at the carb that is the size of a pin. Aka real tiny that is
where the goo collects.
Offhand, it kinda sounds like that plug could be replaced with a modern PCV
valve.
– Kirbert
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
12
EGR suits clean air folks. Cools the fame and less odious exhaust
products. Working correctly, and that is a lot, not all that bad.
Allows more spark advance, better economy and a tad more power.
I’d disagree with all that. EGR destroys efficiency, reduces fuel economy
and power. Its ONLY benefit is to reduce nitrous oxide emissions, which in
turn have only proven a problem in Los Angeles and other large population
centers.
Jaguar V12’s don’t have EGR, at least not since the early carb versions.
Many cars have gotten by without EGR by adjusting the valve timing,
essentially getting EGR by just leaving some of the exhaust in the cylinder.
But more importantly, modern catalytic converters apparently address nitrous
oxide emissions, so EGR is no long required.
Ultimately I didn’t think the PCV, or whatever the correct name for it, in the camcover does a good enough job filtering out the gunk. Hence the attempted fix with that egg shaped device.
Ultimately, I think the catch can will do a very good job at keeping my throttle body clean.
I did have one side question: Since the catch can I have now seems pretty good at catching condensation, did the egg send condensate back into the oil pan? Remember the egg attempted to separate the oil from air, sending the oil back down to the pan, while the air would continue back to the intake elbow. My catch can sends nothing back, so this could be a better solution in that regard?
OK, so I moved the can this past summer over to the front of the car, just behind the passengers side headlight, and now I am catching tons of water. I can fill up the whole can in a month!
I guess moving the can to a colder part of the engine bay has increased its ability to capture condensate?
I think I got into a little bit of trouble because the can was full and the engine had nowhere to dump the excess pressure…except probably through the camcover gaskets. I fully expect to see some oil in my spark plug wells…
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
18
You might be just overfilling the coolant circuit. How do you check the coolant, and how often?
The overflow reservoir. I don’t really check in there too often, but there should be zero possibility of that happening. I ran the hoses from the camcover to the can and back to the intake elbow myself.
It’s condensate. I think I may move the can back to it’s original spot. There seemed to be significantly less water collected from that shorter, hotter location.
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
20
