Oil Catch Can mini group buy anyone? including PCV system simplification.

I would consider making a cap you can secure with a jubilee clip that way you can change the baffles at a later date if need be.
 
thorsy22 said:
I would consider making a cap you can secure with a jubilee clip that way you can change the baffles at a later date if need be.
Click to expand...

Thats a good idea thorsy22 cheers i will re think my cap.
do we reckon the wire wool is a good idea as a baffle?

Edit: also with the new cap i will be able to remove and see how much oil is in there.
 
Not sure on baffle material but have heard people mention wire wool before.
Just an idea but have you tried googling "oil catch can baffle material" to see what comes up?



On a side note when tidying my garage I notice a one way valve from doing the N249 delete. Could we not use the 2 port one way valve from that, as the one way valve for the brake servo feed?
Got a pic of the valve I'll post up later.
 
outlets/inlets too small and require aditionals fitments...dont look OEM enough ;)
 
Nout wrong with the catch tanks on ebay at all, mine was £35 delivered. outlets are 15mm, which easily sleeves to 19mm for PCV hoses, i got a black can, which looks OEM enough for me. Sure, a bright anno blue or red can would look daft, but black is plenty subtle enough.

I see no real point in desperately trying to keep things OEM look under the bonnet. I'd much rather it worked well at a sensible price.
 
thorsy22 said:
On a side note when tidying my garage I notice a one way valve from doing the N249 delete. Could we not use the 2 port one way valve from that, as the one way valve for the brake servo feed?
Got a pic of the valve I'll post up later.
Click to expand...

I used one of these from ebay

Fuel Tank Non Return Valves For Boats HIGH QUALITY-12mm on eBay (end time 20-Oct-10 07:08:19 BST)

ends up like this works pukka.

Edit: I also got 2x 12mm 90 degree bends, 1x 1mtr striaght silicone hose and 1x 12mm joiner.

IMG_0497.jpg
 
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Cheers Prawn, i'm gonna go for the one i've seen on Ebay. I'll share the link with people tomorrow as i'm at work and Ebay doesn't work here :(
 
hey guys,
i had kinda forgotten about the groupbuy :(

been really busy and out of the uk last few weeks and it slipped my mind!!!

I'm gonna be in singapore til the end of the month, so if people are still interested it might be best if someone else does the GB as i'm planning on spending lots of time in the pool rather than on the internet!!! :) or just go for the ebay one instead!
 
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this thread is sooo long! i wanna do it but dunno where to look first! lol
 
If anyones intrested make me an offer, ive got the can and hose from the original buy sat in the garage still in the packaging, selling up now and have not had time to fit it!
 
Well, I finally got round to fitting my catch can and removing all of the old PCV pipework yesterday. Man, that was a job and a half, but I'm pleased with the result. The 19mm ID pipe was a mega-tight fit onto the upper breather in particular - I could only get it on about half-way but it's jubileed on there so should be OK. Also took the opportunity to replace my dipstick which is a good job because the other one snapped on removal.

Westle - apart from your one episode with the pipe that the 1-way valve goes into, has everything else remained tight? I've jubileed most connections but not those onto the catch can itself or the ones onto the 90deg bends/T-piece because these were tight anyway. Think that's OK?

PS - my hands now look like I've been digging my way out of a Chilean mine. Ouch!
 
Emptied my catch can for the first time yesterday, 10 days and about 200 miles after the install. I'd accumulated about an egg-cup full of what looked like weak tea but was in fact an oily-smelling watery liquid. Glad to have prevented that lot going straight back into the engine. Better out than in as they say. :puke2:

Even more glad it wasn't actually weak tea -that would have been even more worrying.

Anyway the catch can is clearly doing the job it was designed for. :icon_thumright:
 
I also fitted my catch can in July, and it's not even started to show on the sight tube yet! So there can't be much in there!
 
Thank god for that Prawn! I've started to get a strange smell coming through the heating when the car warms up (kind of curry like) and I was hoping it wasn't anything to do with a catch can full of oily muck!
 
Not sure where you get your curries from Westle, but I'd change to another take-away if it smells like that...

Either there's something wrong with your curry or someone's stuffed a keema naan under your engine cover.
 
So that's where my kheema-naan got to.....:yum:

I'd left it under the bonnet to warm it up a little and forgot....:p

Now I come to think about it, I don't remember where I left my chicken tikka masala, can you check to see if that too is still there?
 
Ok I've checked and I didn't find any tandoori dishes but I do think my catch can has been open the whole time!

Can someone explain to me what is open and what is closed on these cans? Mine was screwed as far as it goes clockwise so the bit that turns was near the top. It looks like I've been oiling my drive shaft :) and that might be the cause of the strange smell!
 
Atleast you'll have no 'rust' issues from the oil spray that the catch can has inadvertantly have produced. Perhaps you could use a hose attached to the can so that you can direct it at other areas of the underbody for a fuller effect? :slapped:

On a serious note though , my can 'should*' be fitted in the next two weeks so I'll have to make sure I lock it 'closed' too....

(* -I've been saying that since I bought the damn thing, everytime I think about fitting it, something else ends up taking priority, family, work etc. )
 
Westle said:
Can someone explain to me what is open and what is closed on these cans? Mine was screwed as far as it goes clockwise so the bit that turns was near the top. It looks like I've been oiling my drive shaft :) and that might be the cause of the strange smell!
Click to expand...

Closed is when the fitting is wound up (ie. towards the can). Open is when the fitting is wound down (ie. away from the can).
 
no idea about yours mate, but I decided to try emptying mine on sunday too.

Undid the draiin slowly, and a little bit of browny water came out, so I thought ''**** it, I'll just let it run down to the floor''

big mistake!

After a few seconds of water, the most hateful gooey brown sludgy **** came out, and turned my whole gearbox brown!

Took ages to get it clean again :(

Muppet!

Just ordered a catch tank for my other A3 too :)
 
Westle, where have you mounted your can?

I read on UKMKIV's about a few people who got nothing coming out of the can even after a few months use, the only common denominator was the fact that the majority had mounted the can near the front slam panel and general opinion was that the heat produced from the radiator helped the can stay warm and dry with very little 'caught' in the can.

Seems like the majority of what is caught in the can is 'watery' if this is the case and the rad is warming the can it would make sense. I'm gonna mount my can onto my battery cover (eventually LOL!) and I hope that the distance between the rad is enough to stop this happening....
 
Cheers for the comments. Mine is mounted in the exact same way as the guide shows.

Either my can was open or it has been leaking, that's the only way I can explain the oil on the drive shafts and the smell when my car warms up.
 
Ok I can now confirm that my can was infact open when the screw was closest to the can!!!

I turned the screw away from the can and have left it for 3 weeks and I had filled it up with a small amount of watery oil. I now need to clean up my engine bay to try and get rid of the strange smell that comes through the vents when the car heats up.

Anyone who bought this can might want to check it over so that you dont end up with the same problem as me.
 
Really? That's very weird because I am 100% positive that mine is closed when the fitting is screwed up to the base of the can. I'm going to have to check it now to make sure I haven't gone mad. Yours is the Saikomichi can, right?
 
The Doctor said:
Really? That's very weird because I am 100% positive that mine is closed when the fitting is screwed up to the base of the can. I'm going to have to check it now to make sure I haven't gone mad. Yours is the Saikomichi can, right?
Click to expand...

Yeah mine is a Saikomichi can bought through this thread.

I had left it for 6 months with thscrew up towards the can and when I came to empty it nothing came out at all, not 1 drop. I the left it with screw away from the can for 3 weeks and managed to empty a small cups worth on Saturday! Seems strange to me too mate.
 
I'm going to take mine out again and check it out at some point. This is bugging me now & I've confused myself!
 
I fitted my catch can today (finally:yahoo:) and checked the can for the closed position - Westle is correct, screwing away from the can 'closes' it. I've mounted mine using a plate that I bolted to the battery box (will take some pics when I get a chance).

Whilst at it, I also stuck resistors in for the N249 / N112 and one for the SAI pump. Ran out of time to remove the SAI so I will attempt to take that out another time. My old pipework was fairly deteriorated, found a crack in one of the rigid pipes and a load of manky sludge in the pipework:puke:

Managed to snap (with the lightest touch) the 90deg pipe that connects to the block, fortunately, I bought a replacment one months ago. I'm still debating whether to keep it mounted at the front or change the pipework to mount it at the bulkhead.
 
Thanks for confirming mate. I've got 6 months worth of ***** in my engine bay that the can should have caught.

I'll give it a good clean at some point.

Did you say that the 90 degree pipe that comes from the oil filter housing had snapped? I might get myself a new one as my friends one split there too.
 
That's the one Westle, a new one is about £20 from the Stealers!

Some of the sludge spilled out on the drive whilst I was working (left the old pipework on the drive after I took it out), I used some degreaser and brushed it on, it shifted it easily enough.
 
Anyone got the part number for the 90 degree bend?
 
How much is it did you say? I wasnt going to bother replacing it but my cars nearly 10 year old and i can see it breaking knowing my luck, then been up **** creek, haha.
 
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