Oil Catch Can Owners

[Raptorman5174]

Enthusiasts here that have installed an Oil Catch Can in place of your stock CCV system what issue have you had with your car since you have installed it. Here in the East Cost with the temps well below freezing, the OCC freezing up is a real issue and should be closely monitored. During the winter months the can fills up with oily water that will freeze solid on those sub freezing nights/mornings. During the summer I don't have this problem and can go all summer with out even checking the can that will have very little build up. Also I have noticed a smell coming in through the HVAC system when the car is sitting at idle. It smells like spent exhaust gases or blow by gasses that in theory are escaping from the OCC system but the system is sealed and I have good vacuum pressure. I have capped off the oil return line on the dip stick tube, and I am considering reconnecting it to the catch can to see if that will solve my smell issue.

What other issue have anybody else had, if any with there systems?

[BMWCurves]

I know of two members that have catch cans, CarbonZHP and slater, and there are probably more. I believe CarbonZHP is in the Bay Area, CA so he probably doesn't deal with freeze up too much. Slater came up with a heating system for his catch can because he lives in Ontario. You can see a thread discussing his setup here:

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17175-combating-PCV-catch-can-freeze-ups-possible-solution

[slater]

Enthusiasts here that have installed an Oil Catch Can in place of your stock CCV system what issue have you had with your car since you have installed it. Here in the East Cost with the temps well below freezing, the OCC freezing up is a real issue and should be closely monitored. During the winter months the can fills up with oily water that will freeze solid on those sub freezing nights/mornings.

absolutely, i've experienced it first-hand.

william so kindly linked to my thread above - if you read that in it's entirety you'll see how mine is setup. the CatchCanAntiFree (CCAF) system is working very well so far. you can either reply here or PM me if you have any questions! :cheers



Also I have noticed a smell coming in through the HVAC system when the car is sitting at idle. It smells like spent exhaust gases or blow by gasses that in theory are escaping from the OCC system but the system is sealed and I have good vacuum pressure. I have capped off the oil return line on the dip stick tube, and I am considering reconnecting it to the catch can to see if that will solve my smell issue.

if you're smelling oily stuff in the HVAC system, you've got an oil leak somewhere. when my VCG leaked, it dripped ever-so-slowly on the headers, which resulted in that nasty smell in the cabin when idling.



What other issue have anybody else had, if any with there systems?

no real issues other than freezing. although i should mention, two things:

1. i don't like the placement of my can. i'd prefer to put it in the 'drug bin', however that's a long hose run. still thinking about it.
2. i don't really like the design of my catch can (ADD W1), but for troubleshooting the system initially - and during the CCAF development phase - the ability to open the can completely and inspect has been nice. it does not have great baffling. i have a new 42draftdesigns can here with excellent baffling that i want to install, when i can figure out where i'm going to mount it - it's pretty huge, and also, does not open - it does, however, have a drain valve. i like that.



I know of two members that have catch cans, CarbonZHP and slater, and there are probably more. I believe CarbonZHP is in the Bay Area, CA so he probably doesn't deal with freeze up too much. Slater came up with a heating system for his catch can because he lives in Ontario. You can see a thread discussing his setup here:

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?17175-combating-PCV-catch-can-freeze-ups-possible-solution

thanks, william! :cheers

[Raptorman5174]

Thanks for the responses, having the can freeze up on me once already was a serious pain but now in the winter I just make sure to check and empty the can weekly to make sure that it doesn't freeze solid and crack my valve cover like it happened once already. I will take a look at the thread for the heater which sounds intriguing.

The gas smell is definitely not an oil leak, I had to replace my vavle cover when the tank froze on me once so it was replaced with a new unit and gaskets, no oil leak there. Also I want to point out that the smell is not an oil burning smell but more of a exhaust gas/fuel smell coming from the engine compartment. I have checked to make sure that I am not leaking fuel anywhere or oil for that matter as I have since hunted down and cured every oil leak that I can find trying to solve this issue.

The kit I used was the RAD Oil Catch Can kit that you can find here

https://www.radiumauto.com/Catch-Can-Kit-for-BMW-E46-3-SeriesM3-P298.aspx

it mounts in the drug bin for a nice clean install, the hose routing is kind of long but is hidden under the engine cover and does not impede the function of the catch can in any way. I have excellent vacuum pressure and my car is very responsive. Also I do NOT have the mayo stuff on my oil cap that would indicate excessive blow by

Here is a link to my thread when I installed the system

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?13822-Radium-Catch-Can-Installed

[slater]

it mounts in the drug bin for a nice clean install, the hose routing is kind of long but is hidden under the engine cover and does not impede the function of the catch can in any way. I have excellent vacuum pressure and my car is very responsive. Also I do NOT have the mayo stuff on my oil cap that would indicate excessive blow by

Here is a link to my thread when I installed the system

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?13822-Radium-Catch-Can-Installed

are you still having idle issues? i see your PCV is mounted horizontally - it's speculated that this type of PCV needs to be mounted vertically. mine is mounted vertically, no idle issues.

mayo does not indicate excessive blow-by; mayo is the condensate formed when ambient temps are colder. increased vacuum from the catch can setup will pull all of the vapors out of the head so you won't see any on the oil cap, but you will see it in the catch can. when the ambient temp is cold, moisture builds in the can (moreso since it's a metal can) and mixes with the oil vapors. this is the condensate.

the other issue with the drug bin, is because it's so far away from the engine, its propensity to freeze is that much greater (although you've got +12v and ground posts RIGHT there, making wiring for the heating pad easy). mine is sitting right next to the upper radiator hose, so it gets as much post-shutdown radiant heat as possible. in order to get the 42draftdesigns can in there i am going to have to modify the fan shroud.

[az3579]

Please remind me; why is it such a big deal if it freezes up? Won't it just warm up again after the engine runs for a little while?

[slater]

Please remind me; why is it such a big deal if it freezes up? Won't it just warm up again after the engine runs for a little while?

if there's enough condensate in there, it will create backpressure in the head and blow out your VCG, and potentially crack the valve cover. BTDT.

[BMWCurves]

if there's enough condensate in there, it will create backpressure in the head and blow out your VCG, and potentially crack the valve cover. BTDT.

How does it create back pressure? Just by expansion of the condensate being a solid when it's frozen?

[slater]

How does it create back pressure? Just by expansion of the condensate being a solid when it's frozen?

blow-by has to evacuate the head through the port on the valve cover... if it can't get out - pressure builds up and then... well, it has to escape somehow. :)

[Raptorman5174]

if there's enough condensate in there, it will create backpressure in the head and blow out your VCG, and potentially crack the valve cover. BTDT.

+1
Exactly what happened to me.

I am still having cold idle issues but after the car warms up it goes away. I may have found the source of the smell today though. I noticed some oily residue building on the outside of the PCV valve. That could be the cause of my smell and also a hidden vacuum leak that's causing my idle issues.

[slater]

+1
Exactly what happened to me.

I am still having cold idle issues but after the car warms up it goes away. I may have found the source of the smell today though. I noticed some oily residue building on the outside of the PCV valve. That could be the cause of my smell and also a hidden vacuum leak that's causing my idle issues.

awesome - hope that's it!

[Raptorman5174]

I think I found the problem with the smell coming into my car. Oil vapor can be leaking from this junction, so I found one of these from summit 2441624417

[BMWCurves]

Let us know if that solves your problem. Also, I like the sig! Where/how did you make it? One note: our ZHPs have 222 ft-lbs of torque, 8 ft-lbs more than the standard 214 ft-lbs in a 330i/Ci.

[Raptorman5174]

Check out www.wheelwell.com and build a profile for your car. The web site also does a signature for you. I know about the torque rating being off. It is actually edited correctly on my profile. Still waiting on my parts to resolve the leak on the PVC valve. When I put it together the junction between the hose the valve was not a very tight seal and i was building it on a budget. Now I have a plan to replace the junction from the valve cover with a 90 degree AN fitting as well as the PVC valve with AN fittings to resolve this issue.

[Raptorman5174]

So to cure what I think is a leak at the PCV junction I put this together. Looks pretty and is sealed completely but unfortunately it didn't work.

The car would not idle very well, it did idle but it was rough running. I figured maybe drive it a little so I took it for a spirited drive around the block. It felt the same and I noticed that the smell was not there so that's good. So I stop at a light car is fully warmed up by now and still rough idle. So I put it back to the way it was before and now thinking of a different direction. Maybe a step down from 5 1/8 to 1/2 inch to seal the PCV valve better.

Wish it would have worked though it looks damn cool. I got to say though, those push on AN fitting are QUALITY. I'm going to convert the 90 off of the valve cover to these.

[BMWCurves]

Shame. Let us know what you do and hopefully it works out

[Raptorman5174]

I wanted to update this thread, finally resolved the smell issues with my car. I first focused on the junction to the PVC valve where I was certain my leak was, I used some thread tape for an air tight seal with the hose clamps but that wasn't what fixed it. Right off of my catch can the hose makes a 90 degree bend as it exits the drug bin and right at this point it was pinched. To resolve this issue I cut the hose and put a 90 degree AN fitting to eliminate the pinch and no more smell. From what I gather the hosed being pinched obviously increased the crank case pressure and was bleeding out probably at the PVC junction and causing the smell. Eliminating that pinch resolved the issue.