Has anyone noticed their oil level drop as the catch bowl fills up? I bet it's hard to notice a drop on most engines. Adding the "caught" oil back to the crankcase doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

 

So far I have emptied it twice. About half full. And my oil level hasn't changed.

 

I won't be adding mine back....

I'm no chemical eng. but,
after it's been vapourized & condensed back I doubt that it's the same anymore.

My level doesn't drop enough between changes to require adding any oil anyway.

 

dont know if this question was asked b4. but is it ok to use if im running full synthetic oil in my car??????

 

You mean is it ok to use the oil catcher???
....sure

 

I agree. Is it my imagination or does the oil I'm catching look and smell different than what's in the crankcase? My oil level doesn't drop very much, it's not at all noticable, between oil changes.

 

My experience with the makeshift oil catch can's performance.

28,989 total miles

Mobil 1 5W-30 - 2500 highway miles


DaveO

 

Congrats, Dave . . . The lower collector looks extremely clean.

 

thanks for the response.. will b doing this tomorrow with glex at his diy bbq.. i will post pics..

 

I've been hedging on doing this for a few weeks now. I went out last night, bought the parts, assembled it, and installed it. It was an extremely easy process.

Before I get into my impressions, I have to explain my primary interest in this mod. My car is now a year old. From day one it has pinged. Since I installed mrev and the exhaust, the pingind saw a marked increase. That statement is no indictment of either the exhaust or the mrev; I installed them within days of one another, so the increase in pinging is just as likely to be the combination of the two as it is either part by itself. I thought it might have been the cats, but the car pinged just as badly without the cats as it did with them.

The pinging has always been consistent. It occurred at any rpm, under load, when the throttle was increased. It didn't matter if the throttle were increased from 1/5th to 1/2, 1/4 to full; any significant increase in throttle, at any rpm, in any gear(even 6th at 80mph) resulted in pinging. I understand some pinging is considered normal, per other threads on this board and the owners manual. But in my case, the pinging would occur not only in the low rpms, but even up top at 6k. I tried different brands of gas, different treatments, and even injector cleaners. Weather also played no factor. Be it 30 degrees, or 90, the knock was consistent. The only good thing was that out of nearly 20 dynos on my car, I recall hearing knock on only one run.

To reaffirm my auditory observations, I had borrowed a techtom a few months back. Whenever I would hear the ping, I would immediately notice timing being pulled. When plugged into Cheryls car, timing would also pull when throttle was increased, but not nearly to the same degree.

So, my ultimate hope with the catch can was the total eminination of knock. The more realistic hope was any improvement, however slight. So far, I've been very impressed.

On the way to work this morning, I heard ZERO knock. Any gear, any rpm, any throttle, and load. None. The drive to work was 16 miles. When I got there, I popped the hood, and didn't see any oil in the cannister. It was a bit cloudy, but nothing had collected at the bottom. I checked agian when I left for home, and it remained unchanged. I was hopeful, but I didn't want to attribute the lack of knock to the oil catch can just yet. It was cool this morning(70 degrees), after all.

On the way home, I took a 20 mile route. I ran the **** out of the car. Different gears, different loads, different throttle. No knock. The only hint of knock was a single occurrence, but I think that might have been the a/c clutch kicking off(the a/c was set to econ). When I got home, I opened the hood, and sure enough, a few drops had collected at the bottom. Total of 36 miles. A few drops. I don't know if this is normal, excessive, or less than expected. Regardless, I had knock yesterday(and the day before, and before, back through the past year). And today, I didn't. Same tank of gas as yesterday. And it actually a bit warmer(by a couple of degrees) today.

I'm not absolutely ready to attribute the lack of knock to the oil catch can just yet. But I am hopeful.

As for impressions of acceleration; there was quite a bit more pull today at all times than just yesterday. The few times I would get on it at say 3k rpms in first I would have to shift almost immediately; 6k arrived before I was accustomed.

Attached are a few pictures for your edification.

 

Nice write up, Trey. I will be quite anxious to view your comments after you have logged a few hundred more miles with the catch bowl.

 

Trey, you need to fix that hose. It shouldn't be compressing like that!

 

Yeah, it's a bit too short, resulting in a tighter bend than I'd like. It will be fixed shortly.

Also, you'll notice a bit of oil has been collected inside the hose around the threads on the brss fitting.

 

I had the same problem with my hose being crimped. My solution was to install a 90 degree fitting on the oil collector going to the intake manifold.
I have the oil collector attached to the power steering bracket with plastic quick ties.

I also had a problem with draining the oil from the collector. I lost the o-ring and it was tough trying to find a replacement. I recommend removing the oil collector from the car before disassembling the glass to drain the oil.

 

Hey guys. ARC makes a catch can for our cars. They list it for a 350z but it fits.