valve cover breather

[pariah]

hey hows it going? i changed my fuel filter yesterday and in the process i removed the air intake boot that has the 2 inlets from the valve cover breather and the wastegate, i noticed a bit of oil residue in the boot and on the turbo and on my ic pipes not an alarming amount but i like things clean... is this normal? healthy? can i route the breather hose into the atmosphere?

[jtanguay]

hey hows it going? i changed my fuel filter yesterday and in the process i removed the air intake boot that has the 2 inlets from the valve cover breather and the wastegate, i noticed a bit of oil residue in the boot and on the turbo and on my ic pipes not an alarming amount but i like things clean... is this normal? healthy? can i route the breather hose into the atmosphere?

do some searches on the forum for catch can, breather, etc.  there should be some posts with pics of home made breathers/cans/ideas.  blowby is pretty normal on an older tired engine.  using a 'catch can' will reduce the amount of intake goo by quite a bit.  easy way to squeeze some more miles out of your motor.

[veeman]

i changed my fuel filter yesterday and in the process i removed the air intake boot that has the 2 inlets from the valve cover breather and the wastegate, i noticed a bit of oil residue in the boot and on the turbo and on my ic pipes

I'd say that's normal.  Obviously you don't want a puddle, but some oil mist will get by the stock oil/mist separator if it's installed.

is this normal? healthy? can i route the breather hose into the atmosphere?

The older diesels (especially NA 1.5's, it seems) had a problem where that oily air would get into the intake and would cause the engine to "run away"...meaning that it would rev up and start burning the engine's own PCV fumes regardless of throttle input.  That's definitely not healthy or safe.  People solve that problem by putting in a series of hoses to make the oil mist "condense" before it gets injected into the intake.

In your case, I don't think it will cause a problem (I don't think TD's have the "run away" issues anyhow)...and routing it to the atmosphere will make a bigger, smellier mess for you.   As jtanguay said, you could rig up a catch can system to eliminate some of it, but unless your engine is quite old/ worn out, I probably wouldn't worry about it.

[pariah]

i think im going to vent it either into a catchcan or just out of the engine bay with a filter on the end so no dust or critters crawl up there its not puddeling i just installed an intercooler and want to keep everything sparkling clean inside and out....

[zagarus]

i just put a K&N breather filter on my valve cover and its doing the job. I see no residue anywhere so i guess my aging engine is still doing pretty good for the amount of blowby it gets.   I used to have it just run down a hose and drip off under the engine, left a nice spot on the driveway where i parked everyday but shouldnt happen anymore.  Plus i dont see any oily mist around the filter.  Ill take a pic when i get home today for ya.

[RabbitJockey]

my td which only has around 100k on it used to get some residue in the  intake hose, i think part of it was because i liked redlining it haha. :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:   i suggest doing some kind of a breather, theres no way all that residue is good for your turbo.

[pariah]

yea im sure my driving habbits could contribute to most of my car "issues"

[RabbitJockey]

also check my thread "crazy problems" i was having a major issue with this on my rabbit that i just recently fixed by adding another breather on the front of the block.  i would say adding that breather would be a good upgrade for anyone who has the block off plate, and pretty much anyone with the later vane style vacuum pump has the plate.