3.4 Oil Catch Can

Edit, final verdict in post #14

So I ordered an "ADD W1 Revision 2" catch can for my late 4R 4.0 because of all this http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/231227-oil-catch-can-install-guide.html
It was $58 from Newegg of all places as another member had stated (forgot his name), shipped free. I realize one can be made up from air line driers and the like but these things are very nice, and this one is red.

Then I thought of trying it out on my 99 3.4. Several times I had noticed an abnormal amount of oil in the throttle body while most of the time (7 spk plug changes, numerous t-body/IAC cleanings) things were pretty dry. In conjunction with this it occurred to me that I had overfilled the engine with oil on a few occasions (full 6 qts). Not much, just a hair above the full mark. This "overfill" would revert down to the full mark in just a few weeks and stay there. Other than this apparent consumption this engine does not use any noticeable amount of oil at all even with 230K + on the clock.

The grand theory is this. In spite of the presence of a windage tray of sorts the extra oil was getting wipped up so to speak and finding it's way to the PVC valve. By temporarily (yea right) installing the can on the 3.4 I could monitor the whole deal.

To date I have run it for about 1K miles starting with the oil level dead on the full mark with a relatively new PVC valve. The good news is no oil has been recovered, none, the can is not even damp.
At the next oil change I will put in the "whole 6 qts" instead of 5.5 qt and see what happens with the extra 1/2 qt.


mount bracket/location and cute little rosette welds.

 

Looks good. Do you have a direct link to the item? Also the first TW link does not work. Where are the lines connected to?

I've always filled with 6qts, yet when i drain Ill always get about 5qts out. I don't see any apparent oil leak, and Ill assume there's still some in the filter, but the remaining must go somewhere and I think it might be in the plenum. My PCV valve was replaced about 8k mi ago so it should not be a problem. But my apparent overfilling might.

 

Fixed the link. http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd...all-guide.html I tried to link to a "search results" page. If you search "oil catch can" in the 2nd gen section there are a bunch of similar threads.

The can is located between the PCV valve and the intake and is intended to separate out some of the atomized oil, moisture, and combustion gasses that are sucked out of the crank case by the PVC system before they enter the intake. The late model 4.0 engines "consume" a substantial amount of oil this way. So far it's looking like it's a waste of time on the 3.4 with a good PCV valve and not over filled.

Sorry but it looks like Newegg might have had a price typo and it is now fixed. I ordered and received (as did others) #ot-addw1-v2-r for $58, now it is listed as $95. Scroll way down.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cription=add+w1+oil+catch+can&N=-1&isNodeId=1

 

What's it looking like as far as what you're finding in the catch can so far?

 

You know something...... there's clean and then there's "Dude, do you ever drive this thing?"

 

over filling of the engine oil will increase the amount of oil mist coming from the pcv valve


very nice mod

 

this might just be due to the length of the hoses so give it a few months to dirty up the hoses and then he will probably see a little build up over time, but you shouldn't see much if you don't overfill the oil

 

I can say my Dad did this to his 4.0 after he boosted it. It catches quiet a bit.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was different on our motors, but be curious to see the results.

i know its a common practice on boosted vehicles so im pretty sure it won't do a ton to NA ones..but can't hurt to try.


Ill also add my dad got a very similar "cheap" catch can off ebay. Idk what yours looks like inside, but it needs some sort of baffle or something for the oil to catch on. Just putting steel wool in will help. His had nothing so it wouldn't have caught much of anything..just something to think about.

this is what my dad did: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-builds/255483-supercharged-frv-7.html#post6456243

 

Sorry for the dumb question but where does the oil mist go if one doesnt have a catch can? I changed my oil and filter last week and notice a couple drips of oil on lower a arm a day or two later. i couldnt tell where it was coming from. I ended up removing my oil filter thinking I may have left the old oring on but it checked out ok. I did the double oring trick many years ago. So maybe thats what im noticing now?

 

It goes back into the motor through the intake where the PCV valve attaches on the side. My truck does not have a super charger and the catch can still traps a good bit of oil and since I've added the catch can my idle is a lot smoother.

 

That's good to know. How many miles on your truck?

 

155k

 

Thanks, I will take that as a complement. The jaws really drop when folks that don't know any better find out it has north of 230K miles on the clock, sees 50-75 significant back country trips a year. Then there is the seven 10K+ mile off road oriented road trips in 3 countries including the length of Baja.

Mr Pliny, take an "Atta Boy" out of petty cash for actually reading the OP. I would never have installed it on the 3.4 if I hadn't started obsessing on the overfill thing. I just got curious and you know how that goes.
I keep a pretty good eye on things and after around 70 oil changes I have a pretty good idea what's going on. At the next oil change I will put in the full 6 qts instead of the recommended "fill" of about 5.5. Again, pretty confidant on what will happen but we will find out for sure in another month or so.

In the OP I mentioned that it has been in service for 1K miles, more like 1500 now and still bone dry including the hoses. The 3.4, in good shape is well known to consume very little oil. Usually undetectable on the dipstick.

Yea, I am not recommending this for NA 3.4's at all, just an experiment with the overfill thing since so many folks do it.
The "ADD W1 revision 2" can is far from cheap. This thing lists for well above $100 and is a beautiful piece of CNCsmanship, that's the only reason I could not resist $58 shipped.
It has 2 internal baffles with a removable inner chamber where us OCD folks stuff a wad of stainless steel scouring pad (Chore Girl or Scotch-Brite).

I would be looking into why. If there is enough crap to effect idle quality there is likely an issue. Take a look at the inside of the inlet hose for the PVC system. It's the thumb sized hose plugged into the rear of the rubber intake tube just ahead of the throttle body. If there is any oil at all in it then the engine is producing more blow by gasses than the PVC valve can handle. This could indicate a problem with the valve or the engine has seen better days.

 

UPDATE
After about 3K miles, still no measurable accumulation. Definitely "wet" inside but not enough to pool.
Coming up on on an oil change, I added the half quart "overfill" and gave it another 500 miles. This put the level about 1/8" over the full mark. I could not detect any more accumulation and the level did not drop. This leads me to believe the previous rapid consumption of the overfilled oil I thought I had observed, was all in my mind, dipstick reading error, sticking PCV valve or some coincidental combination of the 3.
I'm not saying the "full 6 quarts" thing is good or bad but I will be sticking to the recommended 5.5 qt fill cause I always have a use for the extra around the shop or topping off the thirsty 4.0L.

A note on a semi defect in this particular can. As delivered the o-ring sealing the can to the body was on the inside. Some folks on the second gen threads had found it to leak. I put a vacuum pump on it and sure enough, that o-ring was not reliable. It appeared to get displaced when the can was screwed on because its not held captive in any sort of groove. Loose, tight, it didn't matter.
No biggie, the original was replaced by a #73, 2-3/16" X 2-3/32" placed on the outside (see pic). Seals perfect every time.

I did observe a pretty fair bit of water condensation once our weather went from above to well below average. So I will leave the can installed and get another for the 4.0.
The pic below is after several short trips of 10-15 minutes. From a heated garage into 10-15 degrees. After an hour or so of driving this accumulation would get dried up. To me this points out the value of thoroughly warming up an engine as opposed to short trips. In the case of the 3.4, the PVC hose dumps into the throttle body (EDIT, make that "intake manifold" very close to all the IAC passages. I don't see water setting in there without getting cooked off as a good thing.
And yea, I got time on my hands.

 

@Dirty Pool Are you still running this on your NA 3.4L? Any long term feedback?

 

Why yes, yes I am.
Only after many months and lots of long mountain grades do I collect a small bit of really dark residue, maybe 1/8" deep, does not reach the dip stick.
Frankly, I forget about the thing most of the time.

This engine still consumes no detectable amount of oil between changes at 3-4 K miles. That's since new with 275K on the clock now and not to be overlooked, maintained by me.
I attribute the minimal crud collected to the engine condition, not any deficiency in the catch can design. Literally everyone using this one in the 2nd gen thread collects all kinds, so proper function seems pretty clear.

Kinda related stuff.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2000-sr5-smokes-terribly-on-start-up.690019/page-2#post-24374967
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/what-the-heck-is-this-thing.687610/#post-24276285
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1st-gen-3-4-oil-catch-can-install.520583/page-2#post-16554672