Home Made Pcv Filter

[MY1PATH]

Ok so in the midst of trobleshooting some issues I went thru and cleaned up all the small things that hadn't been done yet. one of those was changing the PCV VALVE. When I removed the hose from the valve about a tablespoon of oil poured out. I have read about this happening on older engines and high vaccum engines. Also my hose which is 3/4 on one end and 5/8 on the other was so hard and brttile that it had to be replaced.

What the PCV valve does is collect oil vapors and combustion gases that get past your piston rings and burn it instead of venting it to the atmosphere or caping it (which causes leaks from over-preassure).

 

To keep it sort all engines will suck up a small amount of oil in the process and some engines will suck up more. Installing a filter allows the vapors to get burned but stops the oil. Some people have even installed catch cans for the oil. my design allows oils to run back into the valve cover when the vacum drops. Either way the end result is a cleaner engine.

I made it out of ABS plasic and the assembly can bee seen in the next post

Edited February 14, 2010 by MY1PATH

[MY1PATH]

Parts

Total for the parts and 2 diameters of hose was about $12-$15 and the closest fitting 2 diamter hoses I could find were $12 & $23

 

*2" cleanout adapter with plug

*2" male end plug (countsunk style was the only I could find)

*1 1/2" drain cover

 

**Brass 3/4" barb to 1" MIP adapter (I actually used a 3/4 garden hose repair fitting since they were out of the other.)

**Brass 5/8" barb to 1/2" MIP adapter (I actually drilled out my old PCV valve since it already fit)

 

Filter Assorted non-fraying metal or sythetic materials can be uses as long as they are oil resistant and can take 200 deg temps.

 

gasket sealant or red RTV (I don't think abs primer and adheasive will agree with the vapors we will be handling)

 

Assembly

Drainback Plug

take the cleanout plug and run a 1" whole saw or drill thru the inside of the square. Clean and taper the outside of the hole with a knife so you can start to put the fitting in. using large wrenches and a little bit of a silicone or teflon lube thread the 3/4" barb into the outside of the plug. once threaded back it out, clean it up with alchol and spread sealant in the corners. Re-install and smooth out the sealant so that no oil can collect arround the fitting or in the corners.

 

Filter Housing

start by cutting down the drain cover so that it is flush with the grate. Then drop it into the non-threaded side of the cleanout adapter. If the lip is too big you can sand it down untill it can be pressed down in there. Now you may notice that your male plug is concave so you'll need to cut the lip off of it so that it can be installed backwards. you can also sand down the sides so it doesn't get stuck when your test fitting. now press the plug into the cleanout adapter so that it holds the modifed drain cover in place and drill a 1/2 hole thru the adapter and the plug. MAKE SURE that you hole winds up behind the grate of the drain cover and not thru it or you will have to start over. (the closer to the back of the plug the better. Now thread your 5/8 barb thru both pieces and then dissasemble. apply sealant to plug, very moderately to lip of drain cover and re-assemble. If your 5/8 barb adapter has a sholder or un-threaded section you may have to use sealant on a washer in your assembly like mine.

Filter Element

I used 3 layers of a tough polyester batting because its the same stuff in my air box PCV filter. Foam or very dense mesh/screens can be used to. Just cut them out lay them against your grate and screw your drainblack plug on over them***. The filter will stop most liquds from passing because they are forced to condense when they hit it and since the fitler housing is a much larger diameter the vacum pull is reduced allowing them to stay there untill enough condenses to drip back into the valve cover. Eventually the fiter will soil enough to clog and you will need to clean or replace it.

Now your ready to install it on your vehcle (short 3/4 hose on manifold and a 5/8 hose out to the PCV Valve) and you won't ever have to hunt for that odd Multi diameter hose for your PCV system again. Yes it will stand out a bit more on the MPFI VG engines.

*Use black ABS plastic as it will stand up to under hood conditions better than PVC.

**Diameters may vary for Non VG series engines or other breather locations.

***When you screw your plug in lightly oil it with a teflon or silicon based lube and only get it finger tight. Trust me, it will be seal just fine and will be allot easier to re-open later.

Edited February 14, 2010 by MY1PATH

[PATHRIDER]

Great idea there my1...Im going to watch this post and do the same thing on my pathy soon as I get it running

[RJSquirrel]

Over on the VW forums, I've seen the tdi people use a remote oil filter system as a PCV filter setup. Just use barb fittings to hook into the vacuum lines appropriately. One caution about having a PCV filter on your vehicle is they tend to fill up with water (condensed combustion gases) and have a bad habit of freezing in the winter, sometimes blocking the lines or filter, and will cause you to blow your valve-cover gaskets. Whatever solution you end up pursuing, make sure the PCV filter is close enough to the engine so the engine heat will help boil out the water when the engine runs. From your installation, you look like you should be fine heat-wise.

 

my $0.02

Edited February 16, 2010 by RJSquirrel

[MY1PATH]

Good input. I think mine will be fine and really as long as its directly above the valve cover it sould recieve plenty of engine heat.

 

I took mine apart to day just to check on it. Its def doing its job!

The first ply is lightly satined and has fresh oil condensed on it from my drive. the other 2 have not received any residue or saturation(they are dry).

The drainback plug is all glossy So I can tell the condensed oil is going back into the valve cover when the vacum drops (other wise the other filters would be soaked) and the manifold side of the housing is dry as a bone.

I wanted to add that because the filter hosing is 2" compared to the 3/4 and 5/8 ends there is pretty much ZERO flow restriction on the pcv funtion even with 3 plys of poly breather in there. If you build one you'll see for youself, you should be able to blow (or breathe lol)thru the assembly quite easlily. And this time when I closed it I went finger tight and then backed it off a 1/4 turn becuase even after a week it got stiff.

Edited February 18, 2010 by MY1PATH