Importance of crankcase filter?
Discussion
It's missing on my vehicle (106 GTI) and all that is there is a hollow rubber tube with air able to freely pass through.
According to what's written on this site below, these things are made out to be pretty important:
http://crankcasefilters.com/
How exactly do they take the fumes away from the engine completely though? Air intake into the engine occurs though the air filter right? And excess air coming out of the engine will go to the exhausts right? So what does the crankcase filter do?
If it is important, then is it worth buying a decent quality new one or shall I just pay a visit to my local scrap yard?
Thanks in advance.
According to what's written on this site below, these things are made out to be pretty important:
http://crankcasefilters.com/
How exactly do they take the fumes away from the engine completely though? Air intake into the engine occurs though the air filter right? And excess air coming out of the engine will go to the exhausts right? So what does the crankcase filter do?
If it is important, then is it worth buying a decent quality new one or shall I just pay a visit to my local scrap yard?
Thanks in advance.
BadBanshee said:
How exactly do they take the fumes away from the engine completely though? Air intake into the engine occurs though the air filter right? And excess air coming out of the engine will go to the exhausts right? So what does the crankcase filter do?
Any gas that makes it past the piston rings has to go somoewhere to avoid pressurising the crank case and blowing the oil seals (and increasing pumping losses). On normal engines the crank case is vented in to the intake system where the pressure is lower than atmospheric. On a modern engine this breather system will include a oil seperator.All this guff about burning oily fumes is just the tuning industry making money - OEM breather systems have to pass all the emissions testing that aftermarket products avoid. The breather on a standard engine won't see significant oil carry over. Any car carrying a serious amount of oil through the breather system has a problem, and venting to atmosphere is avoiding the problem not fixing it.
ETA: I'd pop down to a scrap yard and see where that pipe is normally connected, and reconnect it.
Edited by Captain Muppet on Wednesday 9th January 12:14
Krikkit said:
BadBanshee - if you've still got standard induction on your car and want the breather pipe and elbow PM me- I've got a couple of spares iirc. 
I'm pretty sure my car has been modded with one of those K&N type air filter cones, so not standard. I think I have the breather pipe it's just the small filter at the end that I need to attach.BadBanshee said:
Krikkit said:
BadBanshee - if you've still got standard induction on your car and want the breather pipe and elbow PM me- I've got a couple of spares iirc.
I'm pretty sure my car has been modded with one of those K&N type air filter cones, so not standard. I think I have the breather pipe it's just the small filter at the end that I need to attach.Its pretty typical of universal aftermarket induction kits to have no means of recirculating the valve, meaning people just vent to atmosphere. I don't think its a problem but if you are that concerned then you would need to re-install the original intake as that is where the crank valve pipe likely plugged into initially.
The top picture shows me pulling with my finger on the pipe where I thought the crankcase filter would need to go.
The bottom picture shows another pipe that goes back into the engine, as you described, Captain, is that what you're talking about? If so, then that still leaves the pipe in the top picture.
The bottom picture shows another pipe that goes back into the engine, as you described, Captain, is that what you're talking about? If so, then that still leaves the pipe in the top picture.
BadBanshee said:
The top picture shows me pulling with my finger on the pipe where I thought the crankcase filter would need to go.
The bottom picture shows another pipe that goes back into the engine, as you described, Captain, is that what you're talking about? If so, then that still leaves the pipe in the top picture.
I can't see your pictures from here, but typically there are two breather pipes, one going to the inlet manifold (where there is useful vacuum when the throttle is closed) and one going to the inlet pipework on the engine side of the filter where there is still some air pressure depression at full throttle (WOT breather). Connecting the WOT breather to any of the pipe work between the filter and the throttle should work OK.The bottom picture shows another pipe that goes back into the engine, as you described, Captain, is that what you're talking about? If so, then that still leaves the pipe in the top picture.
Aftermarket kits tend to leave this sort of thing out to make the tooling cheaper and so they can sell you a little breather filter.
Ok, trying to understand here, as I'm not too clued up with all the names for all these parts of the engine.
The pipe at the bottom is lower down the engine and seems to simply connect from the front of the engine to the right side of the engine. It has an elbow connector that just slots in place but can easily be pulled out.
The pipe at the top is connected near the top of the engine but the other end isn't connected to anything, and can't see any port to connect back into the engine. It's just a hollow tubing.
So is the bottom one probably the WOT breather?
The pipe at the bottom is lower down the engine and seems to simply connect from the front of the engine to the right side of the engine. It has an elbow connector that just slots in place but can easily be pulled out.
The pipe at the top is connected near the top of the engine but the other end isn't connected to anything, and can't see any port to connect back into the engine. It's just a hollow tubing.
So is the bottom one probably the WOT breather?
Lol this guy has even put a filter on his fuel cap 'o.O Does that actually do anything?
http://machinezealots.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/rx-br...
http://machinezealots.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/rx-br...
BadBanshee - those two pipes are part of the same system - it comes up from the crankcase to the head on the lower one, then the upper one is supposed to bend around to the inlet manifold.
If you take either of them out you'll get oil leakage, what you need is a small filter on the end of the U-shaped pipe, then to twist that around so it's slightly above the level of the elbow - that way you won't get stray oil dribbling out.
Whereabouts in W. Yorks are you? If you're not a million miles away from me I'd be happy to pop over and cast an eye over it for you.
If you take either of them out you'll get oil leakage, what you need is a small filter on the end of the U-shaped pipe, then to twist that around so it's slightly above the level of the elbow - that way you won't get stray oil dribbling out.
Whereabouts in W. Yorks are you? If you're not a million miles away from me I'd be happy to pop over and cast an eye over it for you.
Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 9th January 14:24
Krikkit said:
BadBanshee - those two pipes are part of the same system - it comes up from the crankcase to the head on the lower one, then the upper one is supposed to bend around to the inlet manifold.
If you take either of them out you'll get oil leakage, what you need is a small filter on the end of the U-shaped pipe, then to twist that around so it's slightly above the level of the elbow - that way you won't get stray oil dribbling out.
When you say "bend around to the inlet manifold" you don't mean that it needs to slot into some port on the engine? Right, so it just needs a "crankcase filter" like I thought? Will the ones from scrap be manky?If you take either of them out you'll get oil leakage, what you need is a small filter on the end of the U-shaped pipe, then to twist that around so it's slightly above the level of the elbow - that way you won't get stray oil dribbling out.
doogz said:
You either need to:
It's a very short piece of piping and won't reach the aftermarket air intake. - Re-attach that to the air box (if it's the standard item, there'll be a place for that pipe to join)
- Somehow plumb it into your aftermarket air intake, by drilling and soldering, or drilling and tapping, a fitting into it to attach this pipe too
- Run a length of hose from it, into a Dr Pepper bottle, seal it around the top with some tape, but drill some small holes near the top to allow it to vent pressure. Zip tie it out the way over near the battery, or to the bulkhead, and check it every now and then to make sure there's not too much oil being chucked out your engine.
When you say "not too much oil" are you saying I should naturally expect at least some oil to come out?
Metal-meshed filter at the top will filter the condensible oil out of the gas-flow, which will run back down into the crank case happily.
If a tester is bothered about fumes to the atmosphere a coke bottle with some holes won't pass, surely? Either way there won't be much, if any, comes out unless it's absolutely knackered - if it was you'd get it coming out of the dipstick too.
If a tester is bothered about fumes to the atmosphere a coke bottle with some holes won't pass, surely? Either way there won't be much, if any, comes out unless it's absolutely knackered - if it was you'd get it coming out of the dipstick too.
Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 9th January 14:56
There is oil staining all around the rocker cover gasket, but I haven't noticed any additional leaking although it is early days yet. I'm probably going to clean up the cover with some engine cleaner and just keep monitoring it, I reckon. I might just get one of those crankcase filters from the scrap yard (I have other parts to get from the scrap yard anyway, a driver side sunvisor and a right headlight back cover) and put it on and see if there's any side effects.
Thinking of changing the engine oil anyway as I don't know what's in it atm. Who knows it could have been leaking from having 0w30 in it. Going to put decent quality 10w40 into it.
Thinking of changing the engine oil anyway as I don't know what's in it atm. Who knows it could have been leaking from having 0w30 in it. Going to put decent quality 10w40 into it.
Chances are, at its age, the cam galleries are getting a bit weepy as well, and the cam covers will be leaky if they're not gasketed already, unless they've been done recently. Any receipts for a recent cambelt?
You'll struggle getting anything similar from a scrappy, although you might be able to find the standard inlet.
You'll struggle getting anything similar from a scrappy, although you might be able to find the standard inlet.
Good point. I'll have a look at the 106s there. If there isn't any, I'll just monitor my engine bay for oil leakages. If it's bad I'm sure I'll notice it.
Check this out:
http://streamlinecarbon.com/v2/wp-content/uploads/...
See that long straight pipe connected via an elbow connector into the top of the engine? At the end of it there's one of those filters. I know it's not standard, but I've seen alot of pictures now with these crankcase filters, so I just assumed that must be the right thing to have on.
Check this out:
http://streamlinecarbon.com/v2/wp-content/uploads/...
See that long straight pipe connected via an elbow connector into the top of the engine? At the end of it there's one of those filters. I know it's not standard, but I've seen alot of pictures now with these crankcase filters, so I just assumed that must be the right thing to have on.
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