When I'm on the track I've been noticing quite a large amount of smoke at full boost (Especially when coming into the straight at Oran). I know its not the turbos, I've noticed oil in the lining of the plenum and it definitely appears that oil is coming out the breather after inspecting the intake pipes. This problem only started after a couple of track days and only occurs on the track and maybe for a day or 2 after a track day. An additional symptom is after several laps I would park the car, When I start it up again (20-50min later there would be huge clouds of smoke from the exhaust One theory is that this could possibly be due to a blocked PCV valve that's stuck open and therefore creating excess crankcase pressure and pushing oil through the breather. Pretty frustrating since I only changed them about 8000km ago. If this is the case then replacing the PCV valves would fix the issue, however I have read that hard cornering on the track could cause oil to enter the PCV pipes pushing oil into the plenum. if this is the case then this could attribute to the early failure of my PCV valve/s as under normal driving condition only oil vapours should enter the plenum. I'm wondering if there is anyone that has had similar issues and has done the PCV relocation and found this it fixed or helped? When I say PCV relocation I'm talking about plugging up the PCV outlets on the exhaust valve cover and relocating them to the 2 high points in the intake valve cover. alternatively has anyone with the same symptoms found any other solution?
That's exactly the problem the PVC re route was designed to overcome. Hard cornering causes excess oil to be sucked through the PVC and into the intake.
Use a catch can.... This will eliminate your oil splash problem on the track without the need to alter the function of the PCV system.
With the catch can solution, are people running 2 cans or blocking 1 outlet on the cover and feeding the other into a custom catch can that has 1 in and 2 outs?
Did you have a similar problem and did this solution resolve it? I have read many posts by people stating that they will or be making this change but never any feedback to say that it has worked.
Simplest solution would be to block one outlet on the exhaust cam cover and feed the 1x outlet into the catch can, then form a 1-to-2-outlet t-piece from the catch can to go to either PCV if you want to keep both PCV valves. When I ran a catch can however I used both outlets on the exhaust cam cover and ran a t-piece at the catch can for both pipes to merge into one. Alternatively, I don't see why you couldn't just run the pipe from the catch can to the 1x PCV valve, bung the outlet on the Plenum for the unused PCV valve and disregard the t-piece altogether. I did the PCV reroute so I discarded my catch can. Haven't had any problems with the new system, but I haven't inspected the plenum or lines since it was done so I don't know how it's really going and if it does stop oil ending up in the plenum. In theory though it should work.
The "one pcv valve" alternative will load up the plugs on that bank when the motor starts to get a bit worn. Also, only running one pcv will lean out that bank on an NA or a TT not boosting. May not be a big deal, but worth considering before planning any PCV mods.
Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm steering towards the relocation and if I still have any issues I'll add a catch can then. Any other feedback is still appreciated
I'm not a fan of the relocation.... The relocation of the PCV valve hoses only 6" away from a fresh air source (the pcv inlets) minimises the efficiency of the whole system IMHO. The relocation will not do any damage but (in my opinion) it eliminates a huge part of the "purging action" which is the basic concept of the PCV system.
My zeds don't see the track.... so I have no need for anything other than the stock PCV system. If I tracked my cars and needed to eliminate the oil splash that can occur under "extreme" cornering, I would use the "T piece" method that Big_al_TT92ZX mentioned in his post. This (IMHO) is the best setup for street cars that occasionally see the track.
Catch Can I used a catch can on my NA at Oran Park. The can was full after 3 laps running semi slicks so I gave up on the catch can idea. Wakefield Park was just as bad so I would suggest a relocation would be the better solution. The constant high 'G' loads in right hand corners cause the oil to get sucked into the left bank PCV. Good luck! Cheers, Dave.
