To catch can or not

[juz Member Find all posts View Profile Close juz]

Hello
After spending way too much time reading and getting conflicting information, I thought I would just ask the question.

I have a 2013 3.0ltr Prado. Should I install a catch can or not (provent 200)? Will one increase the longevity of my motor?

(and no, I am not going to install a blanking plate)

cheers

[GX-D4D Banned Find all posts View Profile Close GX-D4D]

Gday mate, you’re always going to find conflicting info on catch cans as depending on what else you as to whether it’s going to be effective or not, so when you longevity of your motor, you need to ask what’s stopping my motor doing 1,000,000 km’s is it blowby or soot buildup in the EGR, all I’ll say is have a read of the manual mapper thread in the 120 section.
prior to my my Prado 120 I had a 100 series factory turbo the original owner had put a egr plate on from new, when I cleaned the oil every 10,000 km’s it was still like new, not black.
So if you want a preventative fit a catch can if you longevity fit a manual mapper.

[joejoejoejoe Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close joejoejoejoe]

I installed a catch can, and it works well. But there is an one-way valve inside the catch can. I have no idea why they set an one-way valve inside the catch can. It may increase the air outflow pressure and crank case pressure as well. Is there anyone who knows why? Thanks!

[Pradosaur Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pradosaur]

Check berima diesel... they swear by them

[ozimacca Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozimacca]

A much debated question, the EGR gunking problem is caused by a mixture of grit/soot from the exhaust and oil so ask yourself what does the most damage, oil or grit?

A catch can stops the oil but does not stop the grit going through the motor, oil is used to lubricate a lot of things, it is slippery and burns, grit is just grit.

Berrima can sell and install catch cans as they are legal and they have a business to run, not much profit in limiting the amount of grit as it requires an illegal alteration to the anti pollution gear on the car.

Your car, your decision

[GX-D4D Banned Find all posts View Profile Close GX-D4D]

A much debated question, the EGR gunking problem is caused by a mixture of grit/soot from the exhaust and oil so ask yourself what does the most damage, oil or grit?

A catch can stops the oil but does not stop the grit going through the motor, oil is used to lubricate a lot of things, it is slippery and burns, grit is just grit.

Berrima can sell and install catch cans as they are legal and they have a business to run, not much profit in limiting the amount of grit as it requires an illegal alteration to the anti pollution gear on the car.

Your car, your decision

Well said and explained mate.

[juz Member Find all posts View Profile Close juz]

A much debated question, the EGR gunking problem is caused by a mixture of grit/soot from the exhaust and oil so ask yourself what does the most damage, oil or grit?

A catch can stops the oil but does not stop the grit going through the motor, oil is used to lubricate a lot of things, it is slippery and burns, grit is just grit.

Berrima can sell and install catch cans as they are legal and they have a business to run, not much profit in limiting the amount of grit as it requires an illegal alteration to the anti pollution gear on the car.

Your car, your decision

Thanks for your reply ozimacca and yes, I understand what causes fouling of the EGR - a messy mix of soot/carbon and oil. As stated in my original post, I won't be installing a blanking plate. So as I understand it, my only other option to slow the fouling process is to fit an oil separator?

I'll ask my question another way....will fitting a catch can to my vehicle be beneficial or is it a waste of time and money?

[ozimacca Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozimacca]

Depends who you ask ! Lots of people think they are worthwhile, my mechanic says it is better not to.

The other option is to clean the EGR area once a year to stop it caking up

[juz Member Find all posts View Profile Close juz]

Wonder why he thinks its a bad idea?

[Pradosaur Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pradosaur]

A much debated question, the EGR gunking problem is caused by a mixture of grit/soot from the exhaust and oil so ask yourself what does the most damage, oil or grit?

A catch can stops the oil but does not stop the grit going through the motor, oil is used to lubricate a lot of things, it is slippery and burns, grit is just grit.

Berrima can sell and install catch cans as they are legal and they have a business to run, not much profit in limiting the amount of grit as it requires an illegal alteration to the anti pollution gear on the car.

Your car, your decision

Ozimacca I’m new to all this and not knowledgeable in these things does the oil and grit that chokes the egr come from different or the same location?

[Atherton Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Atherton]

Oil comes from your crank case- Your sump needs a breather as it is positively pressurized- Putting a breather on it allows air (and oil vapor) to escape which would otherwise blow the seals out of your engine. Older cars (and modern earth moving machinery) simply vent this to the ground out of a rubber pipe. Modern engines more restricted by emissions and pollution legislation put this vapour back into the intake of the engine where it can be burnt in the combustion cycle.

Your EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) valve is a device intended to reduce the amount of NOx and fine particles that diesels emit at low- medium rpm- It's a way to return a portion of the exhaust gases back through the engine to burn them a second time which reduces the amount of harmful pollutants going out your tail pipe (DPF's and Adblue systems have been introduced into modern diesels as an additional way to handle this issue).

Each of these systems in isolation would be relatively harmless to your engine, however problems start to occur when your mix the two.
The issue is that the fine soot particles from your EGR mix with the sticky oil vapour coming in from your crankcase and form a tar like substance in your intake manifold (google image search blocked EGR valve).

As I said previously, each of these systems by themselves is relatively harmless, therefore most solutions work by attempting to remove one of the elements in this mix- Catch cans work by making the hot air from your sump travel through a filter that tries (with limited success varying on the individual can) to remove the oil vapour before it gets to your intake manifold. Simply venting this pipe to atmosphere would accomplish the same thing, but would also be illegal.

Blanking plates vary in design, but all basically stop your EGR valve working correctly by simply stopping (or heavily reducing) the flow of exhaust gasses to it- This is technically illegal as it is disabling an emissions control system in your cars engine (However at least in QLD I don't believe the police carry equipment that is capable of measuring this change).

[LowRange Member Find all posts View Profile Close LowRange]

Ozimacca I’m new to all this and not knowledgeable in these things does the oil and grit that chokes the egr come from different or the same location?

Different. The EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) is gas exactly the same as what comes out of your exhaust and is fed back in to the air intake introducing soot and heat.

The oil is regular oil from the sump that makes it way up past the piston and rings (which is normal) that used to be just vented to the road in the good old days rather than fed back to the engine.

Personally i've cleaned the intake and EGR then blocked the EGR, added fresh injectors and have not installed a catch can. Oils job is to lubricate, cool and clean so i'm not bothered by the tiny amount of oil since i'm not pumping exhaust gas back in to the engine and do regular oil changes. After oil changes my oil stays like honey for thousands of k's and i've had the sump off and it's staying clean enough to eat off.

Edit: Got a phone call while writing this, hit reply and seen Atherton beat me to it and explained it better than me anyway lol. Good post mate.

[Pradosaur Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pradosaur]

Thanks lowrange and Atherton... both great explanations. I appreciate it

[carco Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close carco]

I wasn't at all interested in fitting one until I saw this model. This unit has a real oil filter, not just a handful of wire mesh as some popular makes have. It also has a valve to allow circulation if the filter becomes blocked. All good. Wasn't happy with the plastic body but time will tell.
https://www.allfourx4.com.au/epages/...tal&CAWELA ID=720017010000071913&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=1 8598094535&CATCI=&CATARGETID=7200170100000 69626&cadevice=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvqL5ru2 D2gIVFAgqCh0ndQlZEAEYASAAEgJbGvD_BwE

[Rockhop Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Rockhop]

I think what Ozimecca is trying to say is, if you only eliminate the lubricant the soot can be more abrasive adding to engine wear.

Most cans won’t eliminate 100% of the oil so there is still minor oil mist that makes it way into the intake

What you will find without a can is a layer of oil over all the intake including the intercooler

As Ozi said, people that sell cans are only going to give you the pros not the cons

Thow the cons on this theoretically make sense they are not proven