How to Delete Your PCV System - Lightning Forum | LightningRodder.com

This has been an on going discussion for me and many L tuners and owners I know- Is it good for the truck to be sucking oil into s/c or not?! I know periodically you should clean the i/c if your going to leave it stock, but can I just clean it once and for all put this PCV delete on and go!? or will my truck suffer in the long run because of it?

Please let me know what yall think!

Thanks,
Christian

 

I haven't done the research on it and run an oil separator but I'm thinking of doing the PCV delete also.

 

The newer engine doesn't a PCV, and I use an oil separator. Works just fine and there's no reason it shouldn't work with a Lightning. Personally I wouldn't put just a breather which vents to the atmosphere. Why pollute if you don't have to? You can use an air/oil separator available from most tool supply places --- its what I used and it works fine.

Your truck will actually benefit by not coating the intercooler, intake manifold, intake valve passages, etc. with oil.

 

I think JLP has come up with a kit that dose not vent to the atmosphere.
The only reason I'm looking to do it is,, even with the oil separator,,I'm still getting oil in the intake and inter-cooler.

 

Oh, just looked at your sig! No wonder, with that much boost you're probably geting a lot more blow-by, especially when you kick in the NOS! How big is the separator you're using? If its one of the bigger units (what I use) I've heard putting steel wool in it will separate a lot more oil. I used one of the monster sized ones from Home Depot and it does a great job.

I'm not a tree hugger by a long shot, but PVC deletes have always bothered me because crank case blow by is a huge source of pollution with internal combustion engines. It was one of the first pollution controls on autos and doesn't reduce power. The only issue is with our blown engines, the oil that gets sucked up.

Do what you want, but I'd like to make a few suggestions, if you don't mind spending a few bucks:

1. Add either a larger separator, or a 2nd one inline with the 1st. They are less than $20 at Home Depot for a 2nd unit, or about $30 for one of the HUGE units.

2. Look for a used aircraft oil seperator on Ebay. They don't wear out so a used one is fine. They work well (they have to, considering the application they are used in). I saw a couple of them for under $20.

3. Get creative. There are some things like a pair of Porshe oil separators on Ebay, which appear to be auto-drain units.

4. Look into one of the catch-can style separators. They are large and mount away from the engine, such as on the inner fender are. You stuff them with steel wool. The air moving through the steel wool is what separates the oils.

Basically, any of the above should work. Probably stating the obivous by an oil separator works on the following principle:

- An obstruction in the path of the air causes the air to hit the obstruction, the oil deposits on it and drips down. Air compressor separators work this way, as does the steel wool in a catch can.

By placing steel wool in the air compressor separator you're giving the air another obstruction to hit. The steel wool has a lot of surface area for this, while causing hardly any reduction in air flow. Use a course steel wool if you're concerned with the steel wool get sucked out though I've never heard of this happening even with fine steel wool.

My thought is if you're getting oil blow by even with a separator that placing a breather filter will get the job done, but you're going to end up with an oily mess on the valve covers because its going to quickly saturate with oil. This is why many engines before the advent of PCV had tubes from the valve covers that routed down below the engine, to drip the oil under the vehicle between the wheels.

Maybe another consideration is to go with a slightly heavier weight synthetic oil (maybe 5w/30 instead of 5w/20) to provide better piston ring seal.

Just thinking options off the top of my head as logically as I can... Someone needs to come up with a good turn-key separator that works with high boost that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (hmmm... maybe there's an opportunity here for me to come up with a design!).

 

Ian, a buddy of mine, set me up with a system that is basically a delete type setup, but with a catch can. It's similar to the L&S setup, without the huge price tag and without draining back into the valve cover.

I can't remember how he has the vacuum hoses set up, but it works, that's all I care about.

Ace, to answer your question, it's always good to keep oil blow-by from coating the throttle body, intake, IC, etc.

What tuner is still "discussing" this?

Stewart

 

See, that's what I thought Stewart. And I know we've had this discussion before but explain something to me - Why would Ford design a truck to suck oil into the s/c knowing that it would probably add heat and other bad crap to it?

The thought that keeps on coming into my head is that the impellers inside the s/c need a little bit of oil to keep from seizing up or something!?!.... A guy from JDM told me that they don't recommend it because the computer will throw a lean code and that they didn't see any real benefits from adding one