Oil Catch Can Froze Up...Car Consumed Excessive Oil

Why not use a can koozie to wrap the can?

 

I finally had some time to work on my car these past two days. My car has 138,000 miles on it. Here is what I found:

1) Compression Test:
Comp 1: 160
Comp 2: 163
Comp 3: 160
Comp 4: 162

2) Spark plugs looked okay to me. Re-gapped them to 0.028".


3) Changed the oil and opened the filter. Oil appeared normal, didn't see any glitter or sparkles in it. It was definitely over filled, so I probably didnt lose a full 2 quarts...maybe closer to 1.75 quarts.

When I opened the filter, I did find some (approx. 10) magnetic metal flakes in it. There wasn't much there, and I saw roughly similar amounts when I opened a filter 16,000 miles ago. So not sure if this can be considered normal wear and tear.

4) There were signs of a recent oil leak on thr front main seal. It did not drip, only enough to weep oil. I beleive this was likely due to high crankcase pressures.

I cleaned up the area and will check it for signs of continued leaking in 1,000 miles or so.

5) The intake tract was full of oil. It appeared to come from the valve cover breather hose connected to the intake.


I cleaned everything up (with exception to the intake manifold).

6) I'm unsure about the turbo. Impeller blades looked to be in good condition. When I gently / slowly turned the wheel by hand, it felt like it was sticking in spots, but maybe I was putting pressure on the bearings causing it to bind. However, it would spin for about a second if I gave it a twirl.

Play in the bearings seemed normal...however, I thought it felt maybe like there was a tiny bit of axial play. I'm not 100% certain though.

7) There was no oil in the exhaust...I pulled the test pipe and it looked normal.

 

Yup. Herpes monkeys, Deathsantis and hurricane. But my face doesn't hurt when I go outside and the only white stuff here is sand and cocaine.

 

At this point I think as long as the car isnt exhibiting any obvious signs of damage, you might as well assume it survived. I dont think you could get any definitive answers on the bearings or internals without opening the engine.
I think your engine built up pressure while cruising and proceeded to vent through the valve cover vent. Lucky I guess, it could have been worse.
Keep an eye on it, you might have a issue or 2 pop up later. I had to replace my o2 sensor shortly after, because it was bathed in oil. You already have the weeping in odd places...mine disappeared with a good degreasing. Good Luck!

 

@Raider / @Easter Bunny, do you know if the throttle body coolant lines are 5/16"? Did your friend just use barbed brass tee fittings (is brass okay with coolant)? Or maybe it would also just work to extend either the inlet or outlet coolant hose from the throttle body, and wrap it around the OCC to avoid using fittings altogether?

Also, what about the inlet and outlet lines to the OCC...can these also freeze up and be the culprit?

I might look into doing this.

@SyntheticAtmosphere, thanks for the feedback...really appreciate your help. I assume your engine ended up being okay despite no oil on the dipstick? I can fit my inspection mirror down the front of the block to monitor the front main seal. So far it's holding up. Fingers crossed I'll be lucky this time.

 

I am not sure on the size. But barbed Ts are how I would do it.

 

Yes the lines can freeze up, thats where my slug was. Make sure the lines slope down towards the can and have no sags. The lines are a smaller and condensation could freeze before the can does. However the can will also take longer to thaw if it were to freeze.

Also to consider...If anything were to freeze up it would happen most likely when the car is parked for an extended time such as over night, also when temps will dip the lowest. Perhaps a low wattage heat trace cable plugged in much like a block heater would serve northern folks better. OCC shouldnt freeze while the engine bay is hot. If it gets that cold while driving you need a "winter front", LOL.

 

Winter front may not be a bad idea as the freeze did happen to him when driving in the cold on aong highway trip. Pretty common that I see folks with some sort of mesh over their bumpers in the winter to help. Big trig's have purpose made rugs almost with flaps than can be opened. Got a friend who even runs one on his 1500 diseal other wise it doesn't get hot enough in a reasonable time

 

Interesting idea guys...I remember when I was a kid, my dad used to block off the radiator on our cars when it was really cold.

I'm pretty sure I cut the lines to fit when I did my install to avoid any significant sags. I think I will insulate the lines and then I'm going to extend the throttle body outlet hose to wrap around the OCC a few times. I will then wrap insulation around that as well.

I don't like the idea of installing tee fittings to tap into the inlet and outlet lines to the throttle body (parallel run). Fluids always travel the path of least resistance, which would be the shorter throttle body run. So I feel like the coolant would mostly sit stagnant in the loop added for the OCC. If I tap into the outlet of the throttle body, that would keep the OCC in series with the throttle body, ensure there is some flow maintained. The tee fittings could also be potential leak points.