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WARNING FOR FREEZING CATCH CANS!!

riceburner

Autocross Champion
After myself and now a few others recently have discovered this issue, I wanted to give a friendly reminder to anyone using a catch can!!

They fill up with oil and water vapor, otherwise known as an emulsion.

During the summer they do not fill up very much and draining is required only so often, and generally you don't need to worry about it...

in the winter however, it fills up FAST with alot more water/condensation vapor and CAN AND WILL FREEZE. if this happens, and it is full, your excess crankcase pressure has nowhere to go which can result in white smoke, rough idle, blowing out the rear main seal, and probably a whole bunch of other stuff.

I forgot all about my catch can until I thought i lost my headgasket out of nowhere.

A few friends of mine suggest draining it every other day in the winter, and I think that is a very fair estimation - my O34 catch can is almost half full after just 150 miles of driving in 0 degree temps!

You definitely do NOT want to risk it!

cheers,
Adam
 

DELETE

Autocross Champion
I got so freaked out I uninstalled my Africa plate and hoses and reinstalled the oem pcv the can sits where it mounts, disconnected, spending the rest of the winter in time out. To all can-users I would suggest having one onboard in the winter incase your can/hoses freeze up on ya.
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
Or keep a hairdryer and an dc adapter on ya!
 

zef

Drag Racing Champion
I just use a MAP gas blow torch lol

It also depends on how far you drive... if you do a lot of short trips its gonna fill up a LOT faster versus guys doing longer trips

I commute probably 10-12 miles to work one way and I can safely drain mine once a week in the winter and be ok
 

HYDE161

Go Kart Champion
This is why I went through 3 catch can setups. Several catch cans themselves have a baffle tube running from the top to the bottom of the can, as the blow-by mix freezes it blocks the breather holes on the tube blocking airflow back to the turbo inlet and raising crankcase pressure.

Catch cans such as the ECS can have an empty can with the battles at the top near the AN line connections to prevent any chance of the freezing blow-by from blocking the airflow and raising crankcase pressure (unless the can is 100% full).

After emptying your catch can, one trick is to add a little bit of water methanol, gasoline or even WW fluid to try and prevent the blow-by from freezing. Regardless, frequent emptying is necessary.

Baffle Examples:





*I am in no way insinuating these designs above are good or bad, I used to run the 034 one and absolutely loved it but ran into freezing when I didn't empty it weekly.
 

DELETE

Autocross Champion
I have CTS which is similar to the top pic posted there. Mine was completely full and frozen solid and once I emptied and dried it out the engine was still about to explode. The hoses/Africa plate might have been blocked too, idk. Once I put the oem valve back on I had no problems. I blame old man winter and myself for not emptying the can early enough.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
If the lines are full too try using an olg hanger to gently finger **** the ice out
 

gdub09

Ready to race!
On my MK5 I just switched to a block off plate from BSH in the winter and put the can back on when it was warm. As for my MK6, I'll probably run the stock PCV for winter, much easier solution.
 

DELETE

Autocross Champion
If the lines are full too try using an olg hanger to gently finger **** the ice out



Lol, I blew the lines out and the Africa plate looked oily. I couldn’t confirm that there was any ice left after cleaning and I still had an issue.
 

lilonespaz

Drag Race Newbie
ahh the good life of living in florida... where it may hit freezing temp once or twice a year for maybe a few hours..
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
long as you enjoy the storms and daily rain!
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
Winter isn't over bump
 
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