Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Crank case vent idea and question......

[Jim Ross]

Ever since I read the article by EricBu12 of Salt Lake City on page 52 of the May/June/July issue of the TDR magazine, I have been thinking about this blow-by problem and how to come up with a simple solution. Perhaps someone else has already thought of this and I'm not aware of it as I don't visit here very often. Instead of pulling the valve cover and drilling a hole in it like writer/member Eric did (and he did a nice job); why couldn't one of us figure out a way to simply modify the oil filler cap to achieve the same results? Fabricate an oil filler cap with a PCV attached to the top and run a blow-by hose out to the right rear side, like Eric did? It would be a simple, clean, and easy solution to a problem that has been bugging us all. It would seem to be a rather simple thing to fabricate and if one of our vendors made this unit they could probably sell one to each one of us.

 

[Rman]

There is member I thought was making billet caps drilled with 1/8 npt fitting for oil returns on bypass systems... perhaps you could have him fab another fitting for a vent line. The problem with this though, is the oil cap isn't quite large enough to fit the size hose, you'd have to reduce the hose, which might cause a bit of a problem.

 

[HOSS]

I have seen a stock cap drilled out to accept a filter. Seemed to work just fine and cheap and easy also.

 

[Rman]

So Hoss, would you cap off the old oil line and just vent with a filter on the top of the valve cover? Sounds easy enough. You guys might be on to something.

 

[Jim Ross]

That is the general idea that I had in mind. I don't see where we would have a problem just closing(plugging off) the original vent tube and adding a commercially available pcv to the oil filler cap... I would like to see a nice billet cap instead of the original plastic one, though! I'm not aware of the member who is making the billet cap referred to in the above post... anyone have his contact info?

 

[EricBu12]

Jim Ross,



I like your Idea except for 2 things. 1, It is still toward the front of the engine and although it is at the top of it, I made my vent toward the rear so I didn't lose oil on steep downgrades. One of the benefits of where it is that it is almost out of sight.

and 2, I like the look of my custom oil cap shown here.



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I also replaced my engine oil dipstick handle.



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Contact Member name "bob wagner" for those items

 

[LaserBob]

Eric, What's with the two water temp probes?



LaserBob

 

[Jim Ross]

Eric, I had/have the exact problem you had... I lost a whole gallon of oil on just one steep down grade while on a dirt road! The road was steep enough that I don't think I could have climbed it with my truck, at least it was questionable in that regard. I didn't even know I had lost the oil until a few days later because I still had nearly normal oil pressure showing on my gage. It was a shocker to find out how low it was when I pulled the dip stick!

I like the location of your PCV at the rear, it is out of sight and clean, but I still think a lot of us could be satisfied with a modified oil filler cap unit... it is much higher than the oem arrangement and I really doubt I would be on a steep enough road that oil would be pooled on top of the head... ... ?

 

[EricBu12]

The two water probes are the practical solutions Grid heater saver.



www.psdieselproducts.bizland.com/index.html

When the water temp is over 70 deg. and like you went to the movies or to the store or whatever, and it is still very cold outside like 20-30 deg, it will prevent the grid heaters from running when the engine is warmed up already. Gets very cold here and it minimizes the amount of time the heaters run making them last longer... .