OIL SEPERATOR CAN PCV


Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
Fact! If you nip a ring land and introduce oil into the pcv system the catch can is only gonna save you for a few seconds. Detonation is what has killed gt 500 motors. NOT the lack of a catch can. While it is smart for a Gt500/gt motor on the ragged edge stock on pump gas as any extra oil could cause detonation and if detonation happens or when it happens the least amount of oil in the chamber at the point would be better than even a little more oil.

Not to be argumentative, but have you not just made the case for the air/oil separator?
 

2112

Blue/white 06'
Mark II Lifetime
Agreed. As a counter argument, noone has ever, in person or in the many car forums I'm active in, offered proof that their engine was saved by one.


I agree, Can't prove the lack of the can caused the problem, but that is the ole' can't prove a negative fallacy;

"The argument from ignorance (or argumentum ad ignorantiam and negative proof) is a logical fallacy that claims the truth of a premise is based on the fact that it has not (yet) been proven false, or that a premise is false because it has not (yet) been proven true."

I too believe detonation was more likely than not to have caused the failures. But was it fuel, bad knock sensors?

Did a tiny bit of oil contamination drop the resistance to pre-ignition just enough? Yeah, I don't know for sure, but it sure seems like inexpensive insurance to catch a little oil.
 
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Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
Porsche has used air/oil separators for years, even before direct injection. With direct injection they are becoming more common from the OEMs to address carbon build up on the valves.
 

B.M.F.

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 29, 2009
1,782
Minnesota
Not to be argumentative, but have you not just made the case for the air/oil separator?

Yes I stated that 2% of the GT owners could benefit from oil separators.
 

MTV8

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 24, 2010
1,017
Houston Texas
Think about it: If it were essential then wouldn't Ford have put it on there to begin with?

It is not essential. Neither is a transaxle cooler. I have both.
 

ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,769
Scottsdale, Arizona
Gentlemen,

I don’t know if these are necessary or not. But I do know that Evan Guyett is a stand up guy and his air/oil separators are top notch. He built a custom system for my ‘06 GT when it had TT’s and the quality of his work was amazing.

Chip
 

Cobrar

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jun 24, 2006
4,017
Metro Detroit
Porsche has used air/oil separators for years, even before direct injection. With direct injection they are becoming more common from the OEMs to address carbon build up on the valves.

Somebody's been paying attention. ;-)
 

Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
Somebody's been paying attention. ;-)

Thanks for throwing me a bone once in a while. :lol
 

MarkH

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
May 19, 2007
528
Katy, Texas
If you want to see some large oil catch cans I can photograph the ones on my Mile GT and I have one for each valve cover that has a 1 1/2" hose coming off each valve cover to a separate tank with a large K&N breather.... I am definitely a big fan of them but we are probably making a little more power than most plus we run 4 gallons of oil as well. With an oil change every 2-3 mile passes, we go through a lot of oil......

Thanks,
Mark H.
 

junior

GT Owner
Mar 9, 2007
1,151
So Cal
With an oil change every 2-3 mile passes, we go through a lot of oil......

Mark H.

And I thought I was anal with an oil change every 500 miles or on every birthday, (whichever comes first) :lol :lol :lol
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,267
Kalama, Free part of WA State
If you want to see some large oil catch cans I can photograph the ones on my Mile GT and I have one for each valve cover that has a 1 1/2" hose coming off each valve cover to a separate tank with a large K&N breather.... I am definitely a big fan of them but we are probably making a little more power than most plus we run 4 gallons of oil as well. With an oil change every 2-3 mile passes, we go through a lot of oil......

Thanks,
Mark H.
Mark, do you change the oil just because you think its good preventive maintenance, or do you get the oil analyzed and the amount of contaminants requires you to change it that often?

Thanks in advance
 

MarkH

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
May 19, 2007
528
Katy, Texas
I guess I should have been a little more specific in regards to the oil. We actually run Methanol (M1) so the fuel really tends to break down the oil rapidly. After the first pass, the oil already looks like the car has a blown head gasket and turns a miserable milky color. We have analyzed the oil enough to realize the breakdown happens more rapidly with the use of Methanol so keeping the consistency of the Ford Motorcraft oil for lubrication purposes is pretty cheap insurance after a few passes on the car. We normally make 2-3 passes a day in the car and then every night we will make an oil change to start the next day fresh with all new oil. So far, it seems to keep the motor happy and we have yet to see any bearing issues within the motor.

Mark H.
 

B.M.F.

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 29, 2009
1,782
Minnesota
I guess I should have been a little more specific in regards to the oil. We actually run Methanol (M1) so the fuel really tends to break down the oil rapidly. After the first pass, the oil already looks like the car has a blown head gasket and turns a miserable milky color. We have analyzed the oil enough to realize the breakdown happens more rapidly with the use of Methanol so keeping the consistency of the Ford Motorcraft oil for lubrication purposes is pretty cheap insurance after a few passes on the car. We normally make 2-3 passes a day in the car and then every night we will make an oil change to start the next day fresh with all new oil. So far, it seems to keep the motor happy and we have yet to see any bearing issues within the motor.

Mark H.

you run the motorcraft oil with methonal??
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,267
Kalama, Free part of WA State
I guess I should have been a little more specific in regards to the oil. We actually run Methanol (M1) so the fuel really tends to break down the oil rapidly. After the first pass, the oil already looks like the car has a blown head gasket and turns a miserable milky color. We have analyzed the oil enough to realize the breakdown happens more rapidly with the use of Methanol so keeping the consistency of the Ford Motorcraft oil for lubrication purposes is pretty cheap insurance after a few passes on the car. We normally make 2-3 passes a day in the car and then every night we will make an oil change to start the next day fresh with all new oil. So far, it seems to keep the motor happy and we have yet to see any bearing issues within the motor.

Mark H.

Mark, thanks for the explanation. Methanol and very high boost are very different operating conditions. I do oil analysis on my stock 2005 that now has almost 60Kmi on it. Based on low contaminants and the recommendation of Blackstone Labs, I've stretched the change interval to 12,000 miles or one year. The last analysis included the track day in Utah, and the contaminants and TBN were still very low. I use the Motorcraft 5-50 oil too.
 

Beach-GT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 8, 2006
887
Seminole Florida
For what it's worth...I pulled my super charger off to change the pulley when the car had 1000 miles on it and noticed some discoloration on the intercooler. I didn't think much about it. Then someone introduced the idea of making PCV oil traps from small air compressor oil filters and so I made one. Maybe that thread is around here somewhere. I then did a couple track events at Sebring and collected about an ounce of oil in my bowl. Since then over about 3000 miles, I maybe have a quarter ounce in the bowl. I doubt if that is a big deal but I kept it out of the intercooler. For less than $50 I think the solution was worth it and it looks scientific. Now $500 for what it does seems over the top but I am a frugal guy.