I got a little problem, I've built a catch can for my 2006 MINI S, I used a spectre breather filter, don't remember the part# but it's the bigger one with the white filter element and comes with the grommet. I've been wondering if having this big filter would not allow the intake to make enough of a vacuum to pull the fumes from the Pcv valve. Recently I've been noticing some white condensation build up on my filler cap, I was writing it off as just not burning off when I take short drives to school, or the crazy weather changes were having. But could this be from the system not having enough of a vacuum to pull vapors out of the Pcv valve? Should I try a smaller filter? Or no filter just use my baffling? Any advice is greatly appreciated. P.s. I ran head gasket fix through the system and flushed and changed my coolant, so I don't think it is the head gasket, but are there some other symptoms i would notice to tell me its the gasket? Thanks, Ben
:cornut: No help here as I'm an R56 type with a catch can and no problems with it. So I'll bump you to keep you on top and wait for the R53 crowd to show up. Jason
My advice to you is remove the catch can from your R53 because you don't need it at all. It is going to cause more problems than it's worth.
can you give me examples?, not devaluing what you said, just i like to know reasons before i spend more wrench time under the hood
:cornut: R53s have indirect fuel injection such that the fuel does coat and clean the intake valves. Jason
It will cause vacuum issues and you don't need it because you don't have the oil blow by and carbon issues the newer 2nd Gen R56's do. Also you have the last of the R53's and the 2006 MINI had all the bugs worked out. Oil catch cans for MINI's only became popular with direct injection cars because of the wonderful engineering mistakes that were made with the French 2nd gen motor.
But about the white moisture build up, is it most likely due to the can? ir should i be worried about the head gasket?
I'd say that white residue you are seeing is from short trips in cold weather. Your car needs to be run enough to warm up. Short trips are hard on an engine. Go for a long drive & have fun getting that engine good & warm.
What you are seeing is a water/oil emulsion.... Looks like nasty mayonnaise... Do what Crashton said.... Take a run on the freeway and get the temperature up and hold it there for a while.... Long enough for the heat to separate the water from the oil emulsion and it will vent as steam..... In effect you are needing to create a distillation process and the oil water moisture will separate.... Short runs are not letting the temperature get high enough to cause the two to seperate....
As one who has had a catch can for 8+ yrs on my R53 I can say with certainty that it is indeed a good idea to have one as there will always be SOME blowby. But the biggest concern is to make sure you have it installed correctly. If you don't you can and will get the mustardy/mayo-looking oil residue. I have attached the correct way to install the can. You want to make sure that it is connected to the gray high vacuum line located under the IC NOT the line that connects next to the throttle body(leave this one in place).
Scott you really don't need one just like that Red MSD coil. Those MSD coils are known to burn up BCM's & ECU's. I don't want to see you cook your cars computers.
I've got both of what I don't need Dave. :biggrin5: I installed and plumbed mine the same as yours Scott. No issues with it at all. Not much blow by at all... Guess my car doesn't really need it, but you gotta admit its a cool bit'a bling! :lol:
Old pic.......no red coily-thingy anymore. I don't collect a lot of oil residue, but it sure does do a great job of keeping it out of my IC!
Cool, I just don't want to see you guys f up your great cars. Did you get also get rid of the silicone IC couplers? Those things are known to cause boost leaks and kill power output. I know this because I had them at one time myself and had low boost issues. I went back to a new set of OEM boots and they seal better and all my boost leak have never returned.
:lol::lol: Oh yeah now I remember, those were your very favorite from your all time favorite AEM (drum roll) ALTA. Dave just loves anything ALTA and recommends ALTA to all of his friends.:wink::frown2::rolleyes5::yikes::deadhorse: Jason
Yeah that's what I've been writing it off as, but just thought I'd ask you guys who know a bit more than me. But at 17 going to highschool and working 30 hours a week, those long drives are few and far between now haha. And one more thing if anyone has time, I changed my oil a few days ago. I should have done a long time ago, but hadn't go around to it. I was rather appalled at what was sittin in my engine. Pulled the dipstick,couldn't even see the level indicator. Drained it and it was black as black gets, it felt thicker. Basically it was almost entirely oxidized sludge crap. Could this have had any effect on the moisture not getting burned away? And I'm going to change it again soon because I want to clean it out and make sure all the crap is out. Does anyone have any opinions on what flushing liquid I could use, or if I should even bother flushing it?