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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
oil catch can on a high mileage engine. Good investment or waste of time?
 

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They're good for DI and T-DI engines because there is no fuel washing over the intake valves. Not sure I'd worry about it on a MPFI engine.

You can also reduce the amount of oil you get through the PCV system by using low NOACK oils.
 

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Low NOACK oils suffer less evaporation at operating temperatures, keeping more of it in your pan and less of it escaping through the PCV and into your intake. Pennzoil Ultra used to be very low but now that they've changed it, it's no better than the rest. The lowest NOACK I've seen lately is Amsoil's signature series.
 

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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
I run Valvoline and about every 3rd oil change I use a little Lucas Oil Stabilizer with either Motorcraft or K&N oil filter. But I am noticing a little cam chatter just started.
 

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I bought in to all the hype and installed an oil catch can on my 1996 Ford Bronco with a 5.0L that has right at 200,000 miles.

I haven't actually got any actual oil in the can yet ... but I feel sooo much better of myself and life in general.

If your running boost or burning oil in a older engine .... then sure try and catch it if possible.

Kind of like making a big deal about the type of oil you use ..... if it makes you feel better ... than it is working.
 

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I bought in to all the hype and installed an oil catch can on my 1996 Ford Bronco with a 5.0L that has right at 200,000 miles.

I haven't actually got any actual oil in the can yet ... but I feel sooo much better of myself and life in general.

If your running boost or burning oil in a older engine .... then sure try and catch it if possible.

Kind of like making a big deal about the type of oil you use ..... if it makes you feel better ... than it is working.
The oil catch can in your pushrod 5.0 really isn't doing anything the PCV filter isn't already doing.

On a motor with either a carb or fuel injection integrated into the intake manifold as your 96 Bronco has, fuel and air are mixed in the intake just as they go over the valves, "washing" the carbon off the valves before it can stick. One of the reasons we have detergents in gasoline. The catch can most likely won't catch anything due to the PCV, and the valves will stay clean due to the fuel flowing over them.

On cars like with direct injection, like the 2012-2018 Focus, the fuel is introduced inside the cylinder itself, after the intake valve. Thus, the top of the valve is dry at all times. The catch can is useful on these engines because it gives the oil vapors from the PCV system a place to seperate from the air in the system, and while the air recirculates, the oil and condensate collect in the bottom of the can. Hopefully preventing build up on the valves.

Regarding adding a catch can to a high mileage engine, It's only going to help IF you get the valves cleaned first.
I unfortunately had to get my head machined when I bought my car as it had zero compression due to failed valve seals. The carbon, combined with sitting for almost a year, combined to glue the valve to the seal, literally ripping the seals out, and no compression. So, resurfaced head, cleaned valves, I added a catch can to keep them clean.
 

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Somebody will have to explain further how valve seals effect compression, as they don't. They can make you think so when they leak to burn oil similar to low compression but take compression readings and it will still be fine.

Zero compression? I don't see how, and I used to build specialty drag engines with no valve seals on them at all, they ran fine. Something else may have happened around the same time.

Any PCV system generally is made to have a pretty good oil/air separator too, not doing so indicates that separator has clogged or other.
 

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Somebody will have to explain further how valve seals effect compression, as they don't. They can make you think so when they leak to burn oil similar to low compression but take compression readings and it will still be fine.

Zero compression? I don't see how, and I used to build specialty drag engines with no valve seals on them at all, they ran fine. Something else may have happened around the same time.

Any PCV system generally is made to have a pretty good oil/air separator too, not doing so indicates that separator has clogged or other.
While I did not do the work myself, the shop I took it to was mystified as well.
The history of the car is it was a service vehicle for my employer, I drove it often. It began to have shifting issues, so the office took it to a local shop for a new transmission,in spite of me informing them the transmission was under extended warranty. Other than that, the engine ran fine, consistently got 37mpg on long trips, no oil burning, no coolant loss, no overheating.
The car languished in their lot for 9ish months if I remember correctly, over the course of a bitterly cold winter.
The car never moved because the shop didn't want to work on it.

Knowing it was under warranty, I offered to buy it. Did so. Car wouldn't start. Slow crank after replacing the frozen and long dead battery after sitting all winter.
Shop it was at left it sit another two weeks, promising every day to look at it tomorrow. I gave up, had it towed to a shop I'm familiar with, and they had diagnosed it as having no compression within hours of arrival. They inspected for PTV issues, and no piston to valve contact had been made. They replaced the timing set, reset timing, and still no compression.

I don't know if somehow the head gasket had also given up the ghost or not, but I'm told the intake seals were all gone, and the valves were all coked up with carbon.

Once the head and valves were cleaned, valve seals replaced, and new head gasket, it's running great.

While the valve seals were not likely the only issue, they were at least part of the issue. I am not enough of a mechanic to know the difference between OHC valve seals and Pushrod valve seals, nor the difference in a 4v head vs 2v in how much those valve seals prevent blowby, but I cannot comprehend why a car sitting in a lot would blow the head gasket, but I can 100% see the valves being coated in carbon/oil mixture causing the seals to stick to the valves when frozen. I am open to being wrong, just telling you what I was told.

I had wondered if the coolant froze, but none of the plugs had popped from the engine, the hoses weren't blown, radiator and overflow had fluid in them at the right levels, and there was no sign of coolant in the oil. So I find that option highly unlikely.

Also don't comprehend how sitting for the better part of the year would cause the timing chain to jump a cog or otherwise deteriorate.

So, regardless. Engine had no compression. It does now. I installed a catch can to help keep the valves clean until I sell it so I don't have to deal with the transmission failing again now that the warranty has expired on it.
 

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Rings stuck from sitting causing ring land residue turning into gum and they can show no compression then. You mess with engine enough and the rockover of pistons at some point knocks rings back loose, even more if somebody raw primed the engine by pouring a slight amount of fuel in it which dissolves the gum.

Valve seals do not impact blowby at all, they are cut off from it when the valve is shut. A WILDLY worn valve guide can in a few cases allow the valve to come back shut off center to then leak some compression but the angle of the valves usually has them skidding sideways to re-center in the hole to seal well enough to not lose compression. That's pretty rare now though with engine design changes. Guides just don't wear like they used to.
 

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Rings stuck from sitting causing ring land residue turning into gum and they can show no compression then. You mess with engine enough and the rockover of pistons at some point knocks rings back loose, even more if somebody raw primed the engine by pouring a slight amount of fuel in it which dissolves the gum.

Valve seals do not impact blowby at all, they are cut off from it when the valve is shut. A WILDLY worn valve guide can in a few cases allow the valve to come back shut off center to then leak some compression but the angle of the valves usually has them skidding sideways to re-center in the hole to seal well enough to not lose compression. That's pretty rare now though with engine design changes. Guides just don't wear like they used to.
Well, in my case the pistons never came out of the block, so it isn't rings, rust, etc. It was in the head. It's not impossible that the head gasket was in bad shape, just in my opinion unlikely.
Regardless, at this point it doesn't matter. Car is running, and it has a catch can now.
 

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Hey if you want to allude to the possibilities of magic that's fine. I can't go there, there MUST be a reason for everything that happens in my physical universe.

By 'messing with engine' I did not mean taking any pistons out, you are simply trying to start it, the shock knocks the rings back loose.

Have a good one...............
 
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