Fine metal particles in PCV catch can

[DanEC]

I have a 12 Mustang GT with a PVC catch can and what oil I catch in it has somewhat of a light texture to it. Don't know what that means because the engine is low mileage, uses probably a quart in 4000 miles and is not driven hard. I wonder if it is some sort of particulate from the small bit of combustion leak by that gets into the engine valley??

Do you have a magnetic drain plug installed? If so, how much accumulates on it?

[blykins]

I'm not familiar with this setup, but after a quick search, it seems like it's pretty common with modern vehicles (Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers, etc.). I think the general consensus is that it is coming from either a media at the top of the canister, the machining process of the canister, or the lid that screws on.

For a catch can to collect metal through something like this, it would have to be pulling copious amounts of it from the valve cover area. Most of your PCV locations are above baffled areas of the valve covers. The oil that's being sucked up is what's available in splash, or a vapor that's condensing.

[undy]

Originally Posted by blykins

I'm not familiar with this setup, but after a quick search, it seems like it's pretty common with modern vehicles (Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers, etc.). I think the general consensus is that it is coming from either a media at the top of the canister, the machining process of the canister, or the lid that screws on.

For a catch can to collect metal through something like this, it would have to be pulling copious amounts of it from the valve cover area. Most of your PCV locations are above baffled areas of the valve covers. The oil that's being sucked up is what's available in splash, or a vapor that's condensing.

I agree... I'm on the C6 Z06 boards and it's quite common. Like Brent said, most think it's coming from the "brillo pad" type filtering media in the can or the machining process.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Source: Motor Oil Degradation http://www.le-international.com/pdf/...egradation.pdf

Originally Posted by DanEC

I wonder if it is some sort of particulate from the small bit of combustion leak by that gets into the engine valley??

Well - that sounds amazingly like something I speculated about earlier.

[DanEC]

Lippy - you might clean out your catch unit real well and let it go for awhile and check it again. As a result of this thread I pulled mine off of my Mustang this morning and it had 3 - 4 oz of oil in it. It looked pretty clean and couldn't really feel the slight texture of fine grit I remember noticing the first time I cleaned it out. It's been on there for about 13,000 miles now. Maybe it is the filter media to some extent.

It's sort of amazing how much oil goes through that PVC system over time. I think about half of my oil use in my Mustang gets caught in the can. The first one I installed was on my supercharged Lightning PU as people were posting pictures of intercoolers loaded with oil after 20 - 25,000 miles.