[dnguyen7078]

Planning to install a PCV Catch Can to remove oil from the crankcase ventilation going back to the intake for burn.
I've done this for all of my family cars. 100 bucks and 30 minutes of work can save tons of build up in the cylinder head assembly.

Any thoughts?

 

[Rocky]

It was done by a few Acura TL 3.5 owners years ago. But I don't see any recent attempts with the latest generation. There may have been a few first gen piloteers who did it. I maintain the best way to keep an engine clear of crud is not only regular oil changes but also being able to avoid short trips where the engine barely warms up.

 

[SgtMurr]

Agreed. I don't see any need for these beyond a tuner car application. If they were needed on so many cars and so cheap, they would be built in. Perform regular service and it will never be an issue.

 

[aaztc3]

Agreed. I don't see any need for these beyond a tuner car application. If they were needed on so many cars and so cheap, they would be built in. Perform regular service and it will never be an issue.

I actually disagree. In the long term these simple little catch can will always catch the blow by oil excess from the engine. If you don't catch it, it just cycles back into your intake back to your engine, which will become carbon build up. I have done this to my cars in past and if you do race your car you will just get more crud at a faster rate. But in the end you will always catch the leftover.

Its not entirely needed because in cars, it recycles the blow by back to your engine to be burned again rather than being collected, but in the long run thats excess gunk that becomes carbon build up. Dealers wont install because they would lose profits from service maintenance (which generates better revenue than sales). It helps you filter that excess and helps your engine.

FYI Oil Catch Cans dont just catch oil... Its a number of things (oil,fuel, water, and other excess contaminants).
I plan on get one for my 3rd gen Pilot but just not sure if I have time to check it as often as I did when I had no kids ahahah.


Here is a small article from Road&Track and a YT video.

Here’s How an Oil Catch Can Works, And Why You Might Want One

Have a direct injection motor? You might want to see this.

www.roadandtrack.com

 

[Hogan773]

Is there a downside to adding one of these catch cans? Performance, other unintended knock on effects, etc?

 

[Steffo]

Is there a downside to adding one of these catch cans? Performance, other unintended knock on effects, etc?

The only downside is that you will have to check the can every now and then so it doesn't get full, and empty it.

 

[cintocrunch]

Depending on your dealership they may try to void your warranty or deny warranty work. I don't think it's needed for 1st and 2nd gen Pilots, I'd be more apt to put one on a 3rd gen with DI because some of them have issues with carbon buildup on the intake valves but the J35 seems to be doing pretty well and may not require it for most users.

 

[Steffo]

Depending on your dealership they may try to void your warranty or deny warranty work. I don't think it's needed for 1st and 2nd gen Pilots, I'd be more apt to put one on a 3rd gen with DI because some of them have issues with carbon buildup on the intake valves but the J35 seems to be doing pretty well and may not require it for most users.

It took me less than 30 minutes to attache the catch can, and it will take 5 minutes to restore back to stock setup in case needed, so I would personally do it anyway since the sooner you do preventive actions the better, but that's me.

 

[Hogan773]

Is this potentially a case like the raging discussion on quality of oil where yes you may be theoretically helping gain mileage to the engine life but maybe the engine will go 200k miles just fine and now you are letting it go 250k? I only ask because in my 10yrs of owning an Odyssey I have 75k miles on the engine so whether an engine gets 200 or 400k miles is purely theoretical for me. I am not going to keep a car for 30 years so it will be someone else's problem....or the rest of the car will deteriorate around the good engine

 

[cintocrunch]

Is this potentially a case like the raging discussion on quality of oil where yes you may be theoretically helping gain mileage to the engine life but maybe the engine will go 200k miles just fine and now you are letting it go 250k? I only ask because in my 10yrs of owning an Odyssey I have 75k miles on the engine so whether an engine gets 200 or 400k miles is purely theoretical for me. I am not going to keep a car for 30 years so it will be someone else's problem....or the rest of the car will deteriorate around the good engine

This is definitely the type of discussion that can cause "oil quality" or "oil change interval" levels of debate on the forums.

I still maintain basic facts knowing how vehicles operate.

-GDI engines are more susceptible because gasoline doesn't wash over the valves helping keep them clean and the deposits will be much harder.
-Not all GDI PCV systems are created equal. There are certainly systems that are designed better and create the proper ventilation without pulling oil vapors into the intake. For instance, early Traverse's had issues with carbon buildup but during the 2013 refresh Chevy enlarged the opening on the PCV "valve" (it's really a metered orifice). The slowing of the vapors due to the larger opening causes more of the suspended solids to settle out and not enter the intake. The occurrences of '13+ Traverse's with intake valve cleanings has gone down considerably compared to the early models and typically those users were using dino or semi-synthetic oils with long OCI's.
-The J35 does not seem to have a lot of issues with carbon buildup. Honda appears to have done a pretty good job with this. There will be users who have issues but I really haven't seen any yet on this forum.
-A catch can is still not a bad idea for peace of mind. Cleaner intake air is never a bad thing and helps more than just intake valve carbon buildup. Less buildup on the pistons, piston rings, cylinder walls, etc. Les buildup on the spark plugs as well. Less burnt oil getting sent to the catalytic converters. Never a bad idea.

 

[Nail Grease]

Planning to install a PCV Catch Can to remove oil from the crankcase ventilation going back to the intake for burn.
I've done this for all of my family cars. 100 bucks and 30 minutes of work can save tons of build up in the cylinder head assembly.

Any thoughts?

I fear not remembering to dump it. Then you really got problems.

 

[cintocrunch]

I fear not remembering to dump it. Then you really got problems.

There have been freezing issues with the catch cans in the winter as well. Lot of variables to consider.

 

[smufguy]

Here is a how-to that I did for my '19 Odyssey. >> G2: Oil Catch Can

Though it is in the Ridgeline Forum and it is made for my Odyssey, the engines among these cars are the same. So the process is very similar.

 

[cintocrunch]

Here is a how-to that I did for my '19 Odyssey. >> G2: Oil Catch Can

Though it is in the Ridgeline Forum and it is made for my Odyssey, the engines among these cars are the same. So the process is very similar.

Lot of the same statements made over there about catch cans as well. Your results are interesting, especially since you have a non DI J35 to compare with but I will say those quantities are nothing compared to other vehicles. Any is better than none and I have no idea if/when you would run into issues given that quantity but it's all good information and I applaud you for gathering and posting it.

 

[Steffo]

I'm curious about the risk of PCV freezing due to the added catch can?
I don't see this as a big risk. The amount of "blowby" vapour is quite small. So even if some moisture in the fuel lines to or from the catch can freezes, it should not be enough moisture there to completely clog the lines. The oil and miosture in the catch can itself can feeze as much as it wants without causing any issues. And after a pretty short drive, the engine heat should melt any ice. Only risk would be if the catch can is full I guess.

Problems with PCV freezeing and causing engine failures should be caused by the actual PCV valve freezing i presume, which has nothing to do with whether a catch can is installed or not, right?

Or am I missing something here?

 

[Nail Grease]

I'm curious about the risk of PCV freezing due to the added catch can?
I don't see this as a big risk. The amount of "blowby" vapour is quite small. So even if some moisture in the fuel lines to or from the catch can freezes, it should not be enough moisture there to completely clog the lines. The oil and miosture in the catch can itself can feeze as much as it wants without causing any issues. And after a pretty short drive, the engine heat should melt any ice. Only risk would be if the catch can is full I guess.

Problems with PCV freezeing and causing engine failures should be caused by the actual PCV valve freezing i presume, which has nothing to do with whether a catch can is installed or not, right?

Or am I missing something here?

I wouldn't say that a frozen PCV wouldn't cause you any problems. Possibly a rough idle till the engine warms up. But you said it, the risk is if the catch can fills up. This would plug your PCV and a lot of damage could occur with all the preasure building up in your crankcase causing oil leaks everywhere. A much worse situation than a build up of burnt oil in your intake manifold. Most cars would go to the junkyard for other issues before this becomes one. Me personally, I would lay awake at night worrying that my catch can was filling up. Lol, no thanks.

 

[Steffo]

I wouldn't say that a frozen PCV wouldn't cause you any problems. Possibly a rough idle till the engine warms up. But you said it, the risk is if the catch can fills up. This would plug your PCV and a lot of damage could occur with all the preasure building up in your crankcase causing oil leaks everywhere. A much worse situation than a build up of burnt oil in your intake manifold. Most cars would go to the junkyard for other issues before this becomes one. Me personally, I would lay awake at night worrying that my catch can was filling up. Lol, no thanks.

In the catch can I installed, there is a dip stick you can check the level with quite simply. So checking the leve every time I fill gas will remove that risk completely. It's no worse than checking the oil level, which I think most people do occasionally.

 

[cintocrunch]

It all comes down to catch can design. Some are designed so it is much more difficult for them to freeze. Things like the dipstick make it really easy to check the level in the can as often as you check your oil, which should be pretty regularly (and hypocrite award goes to ME, it's been over a month since I last checked).

 

[smufguy]

I'm curious about the risk of PCV freezing due to the added catch can?
I don't see this as a big risk. The amount of "blowby" vapour is quite small. So even if some moisture in the fuel lines to or from the catch can freezes, it should not be enough moisture there to completely clog the lines. The oil and miosture in the catch can itself can feeze as much as it wants without causing any issues. And after a pretty short drive, the engine heat should melt any ice. Only risk would be if the catch can is full I guess.

Problems with PCV freezeing and causing engine failures should be caused by the actual PCV valve freezing i presume, which has nothing to do with whether a catch can is installed or not, right?

Or am I missing something here?

I live in central NJ and we see all seasons, including freezing temps around 0F. Have had such temperatures in winter (so far) and have also changed the oil on them. As long as PCV hoses from Home depot are not used, and the proper PCV/Oil hoses are used, Freezing would not be much of an issue.

Regardless of the outside temperature, the temperature within the engine bay is relatively high.Within the controlled system of hoses and a catchcan, the temps are even higher. When the engine is shut off and no vacuum is present, any and all condensation would find the lowest point to pool and drain into. Thus, I am not overly concerned about freezing.

I check my catch can every oil change I do and as you can see in the link I provided, they are not high enough to concern me of an overflow and I also dump the contents with the old oil. In all honesty, given the volume of the can and the amount collected, I can go through 10 oil changes, and still not be concerned with it overfilling before dumping. However, I do not advise that

One thing to bear in mind is this, anytime anyone makes a modification to their vehicle that modification needs to be serviced routinely. Very similar to other consumables within the automobile that we periodically check and maintain.

 

[Nail Grease]

It all comes down to catch can design. Some are designed so it is much more difficult for them to freeze. Things like the dipstick make it really easy to check the level in the can as often as you check your oil, which should be pretty regularly (and hypocrite award goes to ME, it's been over a month since I last checked).

I have multiple people driving multiple vehicles. I would worry about myself not checking already. Throw 7 people in the mix and it's eventually going to go unchecked unless it could make it between oil changes.