[SamIAm]

Hi,
Has anyone had oil in the line that connects the top of the passenger-side valve cover to the throttle body ? I had my valve cover gaskets changed and the mechanic removed the line to get access to the cover. When he did that, a lot of oil came out of the line. Has that happened to anyone else ? They had a small oil catch can ordered by another custom, but never picked up, so it was installed on my car on Friday (Sept 17). I only found 1 example of someone asking about this, but it wasn't about the oil actually reaching the throttle body and nothing on google about others. So far I have checked twice and there isn't any oil yet.
My car is a 96 Impala with basic mods that affect performance. Shorty headers, catback, CAI. It has 280 000km (about 174 000 miles) and the engine is still running very strong.

 

[HuSSker]

Not unusual, and others have put either breathers, or catch cans on there. That is the fresh air inlet for the crankcase ventilation. When running the engine hard, it will often get oil into that line. No biggie, but you should slow the hell down anyway.cwm4

 

[BareProductions]

I threw an oil separator on mind...it's like 7 bucks from autozone.

I'm sure someone has the part #

 

[SamIAm]

I went overboard. The shop I go to is a muscle car resto / mod shop specializing on MOPAR, but can do most classic muscle cars and luckily my Impala. The catch can that I got was a billet aluminum catch can with a screw off bottom, polished (brass ?) fittings, and inner filter. It was supposed to go on a customer's show car or something but they never picked it up or paid for it. Right now it is probably the nicest piece in the engine bay since my car is my daily driver, summer and winter.

PS - HuSSker ...."No biggie, but you should slow the hell down anyway" - I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about seeing as I drive very reasonable...

But Seriously, 95 % of the time I drive like an old man: accelerating with traffic, braking easy...and on the highway off to the country on the weekends I pretty much drive the speed limit (62 mph here). That is why I was worried about the oil in the line. In the city, my engine rarely gets past 2500-2800 rpm when accelerating.

 

[usedtobeafordguy]

I threw an oil separator on mind...it's like 7 bucks from autozone.

I'm sure someone has the part #

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showpost.php?p=2276012&postcount=4

This same filter is made by Purolator also. I just don't have the part # handy.

 

[BrandonG777]

Yeah been working on replacing water pump, distributor cap & rotor and timing chain cover seals, when I used one of the screws in the top plate to open that stupid reverse torx bit in the opti. Anyway, decided to go ahead and open that top plate up and nearly ****ted a brick when I saw all that oil. Definitely looking into this filter thing.

 

[HYWAY KOP]

The number your looking for is FRAM # BA6592. Same piece as Purolator.

 

[Marky Dissod]

You can also try splicing a fuel filter into that hose. I use a Wix 33299 in addition to the Deutsch breather.

 

[BrandonG777]

I threw an oil separator on mind...it's like 7 bucks from autozone.

I'm sure someone has the part #

Nice, I was looking at adding a catch-can, I'll try this for awhile and see how it works. $5 and less hassle sounds better than $50-$100 for a catch can. (Yeah I know there are probably cheaper catch can solutions but none that have impressed me so far.)

 

[sherlock9c1]

Before you do all of this...

It may be that your PCV piping is blocked or is nonfunctional. Take apart and clean out the PCV piping on the driver's side of the engine. Replace the PCV valve, take out that metal L-shaped pipe and completely clean it out (mine was plugged with goo), and clean out the rubber elbow hose as well. Make sure the ports on the intake manifold where this piping plugs into are clean and unobstructed as well. I did this on my wagon and now the vent hose to the passenger side valvecover stays dry.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Before you do all of this...

It may be that your PCV piping is blocked or is nonfunctional. Take apart and clean out the PCV piping on the driver's side of the engine. Replace the PCV valve, take out that metal L-shaped pipe and completely clean it out (mine was plugged with goo), and clean out the rubber elbow hose as well. Make sure the ports on the intake manifold where this piping plugs into are clean and unobstructed as well. I did this on my wagon and now the vent hose to the passenger side valvecover stays dry.

I agree with Joel in that his suggestion should be primary and mandatory, whereas adding filtration/separation to the PCV system is secondary and optional.

The reason why most PCV systems don't have heavy vapor separation installed is because most vehicles with PCV systems don't spend much time generating high crankcase pressures - which are caused by rich air/fuel ratios, high loads, and higher RpMs.

In other words, engines that work or play hard often would benefit most from this, whereas engines that live easy lives would never generate enough crankcase pressure to show a need for these measures.

The gasoline engine was not meant to burn anything except air and fuel. Even an optimally maintained PCV system permits the engine to burn stuff besides air and fuel.

It may not be necessary to prevent the engine from inhaling crankcase vapors, but since it only costs about $25 to do so (bling costs extra), and it extends engine service life, why not?