Good deal Joe. I'm glad to hear you didn't spend all that time and money for nuthin'.

 

Thanks...

My truck used to hop around like your avatar, but not anymore!

 

Chris was first, by a week. We had talked about doing it, and he called me up one day and said that I needed to come by his house and pick up the extra oil cap he had on his bench and get mine done, so I did.

I do not have the mini dual CCV tips under my bumper as Chris does. I routed both CCV hoses to a Y connector, and then ran a single dump hose out to the front of the fuel tank under the truck.

And no Joe, I havent gotten rid of the WG lines yet, I may do that this weekend.....

 

How much does an oil cap weigh and how well does an upside down oil cap seal pressure on the top of the filler tube? If you smear petroleum jelly around the filler tube and then stick the cap to it and then start the engine what happens?

For a healthy engine with a proper CCV mod in which the doghouse is vented to the atmosphere the crank case pressure at idle should be no higher than 1" H20=0.036 psi and no higher than 4" H20=0.145 psi at maximum load. That's what Racor tests say and also what I measured with my crankcase pressure gauge and it's also what Guzzle got in his measurements.

Here's an example calculation based on my guess that an oil cap weighs 0.125 lb and that the filler oil cap opening has a cross-sectional area of 1.75 in^2. That means it requires a pressure of (0.125 lb)/(1.75 in^2)= 0.0714 psi=2" H20 to lift the cap if it has a perfect seal with the top of the filler tube.

I suggest measuring the exact numbers used in the above example, sealing the upside down oil cap to the top of the filler tube with petroleum jelly, doing a maximum acceleration run, and see if the cap comes off. Of course tie the cap with a safety string to the filler neck so you don't lose it.

Depending on the exact weight of the cap you can add some weight by taping coins to it or find something like a plastic disk and add weight to get the exact amount to give a 4" H20=0.144 psi blow off pressure and then test at maximum load or spend the $30 for a permanent crankcase pressure gauge and you'll have a real-time reading of how healthy your engine is.

 

What recommendations do you have for this type setup? Type of gauge & location of the sensor? Not a gauge I have considered in the past, but definitely is a consideration now.

 

x 2 ..........

 

I'd refer you to some of my old posts on the topic but after I had my run in with FTE management and I dropped my supporter status all of my FTE pics on my previous posts disappeared! Basically you install a fitting for a 3/16" ID plastic hose on the oil filler neck and run the hose to a 10" H2O gauge in the cockpit. I've got to go now but later I'll dig up the details of where I got the gauge and some installation pics if your interested and links to my old posts.

 

I don't care too much for the new FTE picture rules myself. I have most of my pics & oil analysis data on photobucket and each time I need to post something on FTE I have to upload it again on this site. What a pain in the patella. Hence, no more supporter......

Anyhow, back on subject. I am definitely interested when you have the time. Is this the same type gauge that I saw setup in Mike's (Tenn01PSDF350) truck? A 10" gauge is sure a whopper!

 

Check out some of my You-tube videos... mine is too much...

 

Any links Joe?

 

Ha. I thought I was you tube challenged, but I just googled "youtube CSIPSD" and got several of his videos. Saw a few listed as blowby, but nothing that Mr. Gauge. uses to read pressure on.

No gauge for this Joe?

 

Here's some pictures of how I instrumented my old F350 to measure the crankcase pressure so I could keep tabs on the CCV hose and on the blow by in general especially when towing long steep grades at WOT. In the picture below the gauge on the left which reads from 0" to 10" H2O...



...was connected to the hose going to the oil filler tube in this picture...



As a point of reference here's pressure in different units... 1 psi=27.68" H2O=51.71 mm Hg=2.036" Hg. Using a gauge with a 0" to 10" H2O scale allows for some needle bounce which you'll get under some load conditions and for the increased readings due to engine wear. Racor says that as the rings wear and more blow by is produced the crankcase pressure in an engine nearing the end of its service life increases to about a x8 higher value at WOT compared to idle and the value at idle also increases some.

Here is a link to where I bought of the gauges shown in the picture...

Here's the exact info on my gauges, the first is for CC pressure and the second for CFM.

Phone(609) 259-8900 Fax (609) 259-3575 Internet:McMaster-Carr

E-mail:nj.sales@mcmaster.com

1 1
Each 4026K251 Low-Pressure Diaphragm Gauge 1.5% Accuracy, 1/4" NPT Center Back, 0-10" of H2O (Same as 4026K5) $49.65 $49.65 Monday morning

2 1
Each 4021K47 Low-Pressure Differential Gauge +/-2% Accuracy, 1/8" NPT Fem, -15 to 15" of Water (Same as 4021K51) $75.55 $75.55 Monday morning

As you can see even years ago the 0" to 10" H2O scale gauge was $50 and not the $30 I stated in my initial post! Also the above picture is very misleading as to the relative sizes of the two gauges. The 0" to 10" H2O scale gauge is no larger than a 3" diameter and is mounted using a hose clamp to the brake controller and the much larger Magnehelic is zip tied to the floor mat.

The purpose of the Ford crankcase pressure test is a quick way to diagnosis excessive blow by and if the engine fails the crankcase pressure test the engine is considered to be in such bad condition that a compression test would be a waste of money and Ford recommends a rebuilt engine be installed.

What I've read about the Ford crankcase pressure test is that the CCV is sealed off completely and the engine is run at WOT in neutral for 30 seconds with a special oil cap installed which has a small vent in it to allow blow by to pressurize the crankcase and the resulting crankcase pressure to bleed off at a calibrated rate. When done in this manner the Ford spec for a good engine is a maximum crankcase pressure of less than 4.0".

On another forum a Ford tech posted that... "My Ford 2000 7.3L Powerstroke Diesel Powertrain Control/Emissions Diagnosis Manual, page 4A-54 says anything less than 4" H2O, at WOT under no load, is OK. The test is performed by sealing off the breather and putting an orifice restrictor adapter in place of the oil filler cap. The engine is run WOT for 30 seconds and if less than 4" H2O the engine is ok. The restrictor has a small hole so they can backup pressure and vent it at a calibrated rate. I do not know how small the hole in the restrictor is. Any Techs have access to a crankcase orifice restrictor tool 014-00743 that can measure the restrictor hole for us?"

If someone can duplicate this "crankcase orifice restrictor tool 014-00743" they can use their newly installed crankcase pressure gauge to test their engine and see if it meets the Ford spec. Such a test is much more reliable than placing an upside-down oil cap on the filler opening or posting videos for comment!

The picture below is my special oil cap that I used to measure crankcase pressure on trucks at Smokin 2007 and I used a 0" to 30" H2O scale gauge for those measurements and one truck with their CCV routed to their exhaust pinned that gauge!

 

What's with the duct tape on the CAC tube?