Pcv, Oil Catch Can And Leak From The Intercooler

[ffz]

So, earlier this year a cat ran out in front of me on a B-road on a bend, so no way could I have missed it. It smashed the bottom of my bumper, and the radiator shields. I didn't realise until a couple of months later when doing the oil change, that the intercooler had come apart slightly from the connecter, and there was a covering of oil on the undertray, and around the remains of the radiator shield.

Anyway, today I found time to strip the car back enough to access the intercooler and see if I can clean it all off, and see what damage has been done. It's worth noting, I have never noticed the engine use any significant amount of oil. I have had the car from 30k miles, at 3 years old.

I had a check around the turbo and the inlet, and the crank case breather pipe, and there is a good coating of oil in the breather pipe, the turbo inlet and the turbo housing itself.

Has anyone carried out any mods to the PCV, either a replacement, updated part or an oil catch can?

Here's a pic of the oil leak, I guess 100% caused by the impact of the poor kitty.

[FOCA]

There is a surprising amount of oil that comes out of the breather (to be injested by the engine air intake)

the oil from the breather also mixes with the carbon from the EGR valve - forming a sticky goo in the inlet manifold,

The oily gasses/ droplets also have a tendency to condense when they come in contact with the cool inside surface of the intercooler - this is liable to reduce the intercooler efficiency

I have blocked the breather on the intake side, and fitted a "total loss" breather (on a long hose) that exhausts under the side of the car (so no burnt gasses/ oil droplets etc enter the engine air intake)

Strictly speaking, it is a second exhaust, and as a diesel should be subject to the diesel emmisions test (but no-one has ever bothered - dont think you would get any particulates out of it)

Other options are to fit a catchtank between the engine breather outlet and the breather inlet on the intake ,

fit a catchtank to the engine breather outlet with a k&n style filter on the outlet of the catchtank, and block the breather air intake

or fit a k&n style filter directly on to the breather (eg- the pcv valve) and block the breather air intake

or do a total loss breather like mine but with a catchtank (ive been thinking about doing this)

the options with the k&n filter can smell of burnt oil, and if the breather is vented into the engine bay they might find their way into the passenger cabin, the oily sludge can build up on the K&N and block it eventually

With the total - loss breather, and the EGR blocked (totally removed, in my case) only clean air can find its way into the engine air intake (apart from if the turbo seals leak)

Unless you are fitting an EGR blanking plate its probably not worth bothering with (just let the engine re- ingest ist own waste) if you have a (solid) plate fitted, a catchtank between the crankcase and inlet would be a good idea - if you get a good one with a seperator and fit it in a cool(er) place (if possible) it works as a condenser (oil mist/ droplets condense when they make contact with the cool insides of the catchtank)

Its ironic - If you had not had the accident you would still be driving around with no idea your boost hoses are covered in oil on the inside (it even slowly "melts" the rubber) as most car owners are not aware of this either