Catch can

[jun85]

I fitted a Flashlube catch can to my V8 79 series about a year ago. I check it every few thousand miles and it seems to deposit little, to any, waste oil.
Is this normal as I was expecting a good amount would poor out l when I open the tap. Cheers. John

 

[iwashmycar]

If you are driving longer drives - which is way better for the truck - then you might not trap a lot of moisture and oil.

I found that if its colder and wetter you get way more moisture than just oil. If its dry and warm you get smaller amounts of mainly oil.

I am surprised to see after looking at a video, that that kind of can appears to have a filter element inside of it? I bet that takes a good long while to start shedding oil into the bottom vs. absorbing or clinging onto the filter, so you probably are trapping a lot more than it looks like - especially by the time it all comes down the tube.

My catch can on a gas engine did catch a lot, but it just had a simple screen that "knocked" the oil/water from the air stream.

The bottom of what it would catch would usually be very sludgy due to water content. That would be very tough to drain. Make sure you are draining it when its as warm as possible in your case.

I think this was like 7k miles - lot of short trips ect. Its probably 1/4 oil, and the rest water.

tl:dr - A little oil from a can designed like the Flashlube one, after only a few thousand miles - seems pretty normal to me. Again its only trapping vapors of oil and water from the air - shouldnt be all too much.

 

[jun85]

If you are driving longer drives - which is way better for the truck - then you might not trap a lot of moisture and oil.

I found that if its colder and wetter you get way more moisture than just oil. If its dry and warm you get smaller amounts of mainly oil.

I am surprised to see after looking at a video, that that kind of can appears to have a filter element inside of it? I bet that takes a good long while to start shedding oil into the bottom vs. absorbing or clinging onto the filter, so you probably are trapping a lot more than it looks like - especially by the time it all comes down the tube.

My catch can on a gas engine did catch a lot, but it just had a simple screen that "knocked" the oil/water from the air stream.

The bottom of what it would catch would usually be very sludgy due to water content. That would be very tough to drain. Make sure you are draining it when its as warm as possible in your case.

I think this was like 7k miles - lot of short trips ect. Its probably 1/4 oil, and the rest water.

Thanks - I do a lot of highway driving and never tow so the engine is never pushed very hard. Just checked it today after 3 - 4 k and just a little bit of water came through.

 

[davegonz]

That looks like my morning cup of coffee!