• Sign Up! To view all forums and unlock additional cool features

    Welcome to the #1 Fiesta ST Forum and Fiesta ST community dedicated to Fiesta ST owners and enthusiasts. Register for an account, it's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the Fiesta ST Forum today!


How important is an oil catch can on our cars?

Based

Senior Member
Messages
805
Likes
84
Location
Nope
#1
I've been reading about oil catch cans and now I'm wondering if I should install one on my car ASAP. Is it a big problem on stock cars or is it only needed when you upgrade the turbo?
 


TyphoonFiST

9000 Post Club
Premium Account
Messages
11,496
Likes
7,986
Location
Rich-fizzield
#2
I'd it's any conciliation....I've had mine on since 5k and now I have about 24k on it....I've emptied it 3 times and have saved the oil in a bottle each time. It equates to about 18 Oz. Of oil and I'm going to drain it again here soon now that you reminded me. It been debatable....I've think anything is better than nothing.
 


M-Sport fan

9000 Post Club
Messages
14,000
Likes
6,700
Location
Princeton, N.J.
#4
I figure it could never hurt, as every single little oil droplet/bit of oil mist you can keep out of a direct injected (or any engine's for that matter, but especially a DI power plant's) engine's combustion chamber is a GOOD thing. [wink]

The very next decently warm day I get the garage available my Boomba Racing PCV side OCC is getting installed.
 


jeff

2000 Post Club
Messages
2,309
Likes
3,220
Location
Evans
#5
Stock turbo....

6 months ago after a couple thousand miles:



One week ago after about 5,000 more miles:

 


OP
B

Based

Senior Member
Messages
805
Likes
84
Location
Nope
Thread Starter #6
Well fuck looks like my engine is totaled
 


Messages
468
Likes
182
Location
corpus christi
#7
Well fuck looks like my engine is totaled
Na, it's ok. I would suggest a catch can though. I catch about the same amount of oil as Jeff (above post) between oil changes. The longer you wait though, the worse it will become.
 


OP
B

Based

Senior Member
Messages
805
Likes
84
Location
Nope
Thread Starter #8
Na, it's ok. I would suggest a catch can though. I catch about the same amount of oil as Jeff (above post) between oil changes. The longer you wait though, the worse it will become.
I'm gonna order one now. I'm going big turbo later this year so I might as well get it now.
 


Messages
453
Likes
156
Location
West Bloomfield
#10
Showing what you have in your oil catch can is kind of pointless. The whole point of the PCV system is that the junk you see there is supposed to go through another combustion cycle and hopefully burn up. By intercepting it early and then saying "Here's what I saved from going into my engine" is kind of moot because we don't know how much of that would have burned up. Personally I have not seen enough hard evidence to conclude that a catch can is worth the money. You will still manually have to clean the valves, and you'll find oil in a lot of places. Welcome to Direct Injection turbo engines 101 (Just my .02)
 


TyphoonFiST

9000 Post Club
Premium Account
Messages
11,496
Likes
7,986
Location
Rich-fizzield
#13
Showing what you have in your oil catch can is kind of pointless. The whole point of the PCV system is that the junk you see there is supposed to go through another combustion cycle and hopefully burn up. By intercepting it early and then saying "Here's what I saved from going into my engine" is kind of moot because we don't know how much of that would have burned up. Personally I have not seen enough hard evidence to conclude that a catch can is worth the money. You will still manually have to clean the valves, and you'll find oil in a lot of places. Welcome to Direct Injection turbo engines 101 (Just my .02)


How will it be burned up since it can't be washed down with fuel like in a non DI engine...just curious.
 


Messages
453
Likes
156
Location
West Bloomfield
#14
How will it be burned up since it can't be washed down with fuel like in a non DI engine...just curious.
[video=youtube;EPIfI9aZHt4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPIfI9aZHt4[/video]

That's probably the best explanation of it. Little dated, but same principle. The primary operation of the PCV system is to send blow-by back into the combustion chamber to be burned. By people showing what's in their catch can, that provides absolutely no evidence that it helps, because we don't know how much of that would have been burnt off in the process.
 


Messages
468
Likes
182
Location
corpus christi
#16
Watch those videos and you will see why you need one... We're showing how much oil we caught within a milage or time frame. Regardless if you think it all burns off or not, I'd rather be safe than sorry and create better precautions for the future.
 


Messages
468
Likes
182
Location
corpus christi
#18
Yeah you're going to have to manually clean valves no matter what. A catch can isn't going to make it so you don't need to. Source: Literally every other DI car community there is.
Hold on, you were saying it was gonna burn it off so you don't need one. I'm talking about prevention, as in slowing down what is obviously inevitable...
 


Messages
453
Likes
156
Location
West Bloomfield
#20
I'm confused how you say it burns off, then you say it's gonna have to be cleaned??
We're talking about two different things.

-Blow-by will most likely be 100% burned off in the combustion cycle (unless you run a catch can that works to intercept it).

-Carbon Buildup cannot be solved by witchcraft, meth, catch cans or the such. Time and time again I've seen a new community that hasn't dealt with direct injection engines try all sorts of stuff to combat carbon build-up like Water/meth, catch cans, seafoam, voodoo, but when people pull off the intake manifold or use a borescope, it seems like a crap shoot.

To me, and obviously every single OEM car manufacturer has found it to not be worth it to run a catch can. Do they help in concept? Sure. Does throwing away a single gum wrapper that's in your pocket before race help in concept? Sure. But the benefits are so small they are basically null. Just my opinion.
 




Top