I decided while servicing my car this weekend to check and see if my catch can had any oil in it. I popped the drain cap off and was greeted with about 2 cups of foamy oil and water. It scared me at first because it smelled like gas, but I think it was just the oil / water combo.

It has been raining here for the last couple of weeks, so is this where the water is coming from?

I have a cobb intake and I am using one of the hose nipples on the bottom of the intake for my catch can. Is all of this, water that would have been in the intake and is draining into my catch can. Its scary to think that without the catch can that water would have run into my valve covers or PCV valve.

Has anyone else see this sort of thing before? The next time it rains I am going to check the can again and see if it was just a fluke.

J

If it has been raining for a while then I think you are just accumulating water vapor from blowby. This could be gas quality related. As long as it does'nt smell like coolant I think it's doing it's job.

I used to get that in the Honda all the time- I always assumed it was normal. You're taking the excess moisture and oils out of the air and motor.... Of course I was running a bit more lines to mine than I have now.

I would assume a little of bit of moisture, that might be the case, but this was like 2 cups of capaccino. A lot more than made me happy.

Have you been making a lot of short trips and not letting the engine warm up?

my trip to work is only about a mile, and thats about all I drive.

my trip to work is only about a mile, and thats about all I drive.


That is one of the most demanding conditions to put your engine oil through. The engine oil doesn't get fully up to operational temperature for a good 5-10 miles (depending on ambient temperatures). When the oil doesn't reach normal operating temperatures, the moisture is allowed to build up in the crankcase leading to diluted engine oil. When the oil heats up enough, the water is boiled out and processed through the PCV system.

It also helps to have the Subaru oil cooler/warmer.


Jay

I tried to install the oil cooler but it wont clear my borla's :(

J

I was just wondering today as i empty'd my catch can, why it seemed like mostly water.