Oil Catch Can Installation
 

I have been researching the best way to install an oil catch can in the E55. I make no claim to be an expert on this; I’m just explaining what I am doing for myself. Here is my understanding so far:

I bought an oil catch can from AMW and yes the quality is great. In its stock form the most restrictive airflow portions are the fittings for the hoses. The ID of the fittings is 1/4 inch. It has been suggested that this is too small for the E55 based on the larger hoses MB uses.

You'll see in the diagram below, the breather system for the E55. Letters A are the outlets from the valve covers which connect to hoses going to the throttle body. Letter B is the hose that inserts directly into the throttle body’s air stream. Letter C is the "make up" air hose, connected to the air box. Nothing has to be done with C as it supplies the fresh make up air being sucked out of the valve covers by the throttle body. If you completely remove your air box both lower and upper you’ll see all this. The hoses route under the surge tanks to the throttle body.

There is no check valve or PCV valve in this system. Mercedes said they typically don’t use them. Considering the throttle body is before the super charger then it makes sense that unless there was a backfire no positive pressure would enter the PCV system via the throttle body inlet hose. So basically, there is no need to install a check valve with the catch can.

I measured the ID of the Letter A and B openings. Gratefully they are both ¼ inch ID! This means there is no air restriction in using the AMW can in its stock form. You’ll see that the MB system Ts the two valve cover outlets together using the hose as a giant T, into one inlet to the throttle body. I intend to do the same thing for the inlet of the oil catch can thereby using the one existing inlet on the can now. This will give the same flow as the throttle body is experiencing now. Then the outlet of the can simply goes right into the throttle body inlet as before.

I should have this all installed in the next couple of days.

what about the info given in the other post...

is his info accurate or am i analyzing the picture wrong because it seems they're already tied together?

Can you please take lots of pictures during the instal? Much appreciated.

As a left field thought - is everyone sure the aerosolised oil has no function in lubricating the supercharger screws? The reason I ask is that MB/AMG must be aware that the oil causes contamination and could so easily have added a catch can themselves.........and had the dealer charge a fortune to 'service' it at each oil change.:nix:

Hmmm as far as I know the S/C screws don't touch but get as close as you dare without touching ... so if anything I would say oil would be worse not better for them ... if oil did get in there there would be hydraulic pressure between the srews squashing the oil - if you see what I mean. Also the one screw is a type of plastic resin type thing - not sure if the oil would corrode this unit - again a guess. But I really dont know enuf about S/C's to know for sure.

Call in the guru's... gee where's Grumpy666 - think he needs to change his sig to Grumpy10000

No oiling required here at all. Rooters should be dry but a little oil won't bother it either. Oil is worse in the chambers. All bearings and gears are self lubricated.

Will post pictures. MB does this on most of their cars, NA or FI. So I agree that I don't see the SC needing it.

Great info DSC...looks easy. Await your results.

PCV Mod
 

DSC
Just saw your post. This is excellent information and goes along with what a MB Tech told me and I could not get my head around since the SRT8 and all other "american" V8's use such a simple one hose system. Here is the system I installed on my SRT8.......very simple install between the vacuum source and PCV valve. Oil is the last thing you want in the intake tract. When I installed my phenolic spacers I was shocked over the amount of oil in the E55 intake tract. This crap will pool up in the intake and cook itself to the intake valve and pistons. The Postive Crank Ventilation System thing is strictly for Emissions and nothing else.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...o/IMG_0256.jpg

My car goes in next week and this really helps!

here is another catch can manufacturer.



http://www.eliteengineeringusa.com/Catch_Can.html

The picture is right, they are already tied together.

I have it all installed. Great location and easy to get at. I took a lot of pics so I still have to sort them and write this up.

Please post them ASAP! Thanx!:y

Here is how I installed the catch can.

Disclaimer: This is what I did, I’m not telling anyone to do it.

Removing E55 PCV hosing (see the Diagram from the beginning of this post):

1. Remove the upper and lower air box completely.
2. Remove the two lower throttle body mounting screws along with the PCV hose retaining clip.
3. Disconnect the PCV hose from both the drivers and passengers sides valve covers.
4. To completely pull the PCV hose out you will need to break it at a couple of the union joints so it can slip out from under each surge tank. Save all the parts you will need some for the Catch Can installation.

If you are using the AMW Oil Catch Can you will also need a 3/8 nylon Tee & Union, a total of 7 hose clamps, ¼ inch rubber vacuum plug, silicone glue, zip ties and about 2 feet of extra 3/8 PCV hose.


Installing the Catch Can:

1. Clean the Driver side, inside of the OEM Tee removed from the throttle body with alcohol along with the outside of a ¼ inch rubber vacuum plug. Apply silicone glue the inside of the OEM Tee and outside of the plug. Slide the plug into the OEM Tee to seal off the side.
I cut the small hose of the OEM Tee down to 7/16 inch so it would not protrude into the throttle body as in the stock design. The hose originally protrudes into the air stream so oil doesn’t condense on the metal as much. With the removal of the oil I didn’t think it necessary to block air flow with the long tube inside the throttle body. See Photos 1-1 and 2-2
2. If you look directly behind the passenger side valve cover on the firewall behind the brakes lines, you will see a rubber plug in a hole of the firewall. Remove the plug and cut a small hole toward the top of it so you can pass the AMW hose threw it. See photo 3-3.
3. Slide about 20 inches of AMW hose into the plug and reinstall the plug into the firewall, leave a couple of inches to protrude into the engine bay. Photo 3-3.
4. Insert the nylon Tee into the engine bay side of the AMW hose and clamp. Photo 3-3.
5. Run about 2 inches of AMW hose from the nylon Tee toward the passenger valve cover to the OEM hose as viewed in Photo 3-3. Clamp the nylon Tee end and use the OEM barb union to connect the other end.
6. Install the 2 OEM hoses on the Drivers side as viewed in Photo 4-4. Keep the OEM barbed union in the end of the second hose and attach the AMW hose provided. Use zip ties to secure the hose to the brake line running along the firewall to the nylon Tee then attach and clamp.
7. The Catch Can goes into the compartment next to the AC exchange, See Photo 5-5. The AMW hose attaches and clamps to the top fitting of the can.
8. Just to the left and a little higher of the rubber plug you ran the hose threw, is a plastic plug in the firewall. Remove it and insert the 3/8 inch nylon union. See photo 6-6.
9. Attach a length of AMW hose to the side of the Catch Can and run it to the nylon union, clamp both ends. See photo 7-7.
10. Attach a length of the extra hose you bought to the other side of the nylon union and clamp. Attach the OEM hose with OEM barb to the OEM Tee. See photo 8-8. Your hose will be shorter than the photo shows, cut & fit to length.
11. Install the OEM Tee back into the throttle body and replace the PCV hose retaining clip and mounting screws. See photo 9-9.
12. Insert the Catch can into place, curl the hoses so there are no kinks. See photo 10-10. The Catch Can is easily pulled out for draining and reinserted.
13. Make sure there are no kinks anywhere in all the hoses. Reinstall the lower and upper air box.

The location of the Catch Can makes it easy to get at and is a very cool location compared to the engine compartment.

Here are the 5 other photos of the install.

Thats a fabulous write up - many thanks !!!

Also you found a great location for the CC ... !

nice dsc!

how many miles before you check the canister?

I'll check after about 500 miles, I work out of my home so that could be a little while. I'll post what I find.

Thanks dsc, that looks great.
Your instructions should be a sticky in the Performance upgrades forum.

Update: Oil Catch Can Results
 

It's been about 500 miles on the car and sure enough Finny was right, we struck oil! There is about 7 mls of oil in the catch can, see the pictures below.

Where does one purchase this pictured catch can?

At AMW, http://www.accmachtech.com/pcvcatchcans.htm

WOW!!! Great idea and execution!!! This is what this forum is all about!!!

How about you put a kit together and sell it!!! I do not know about the rest of the forum members, but I'm too busy (with kids, work and etc.) to put all of this together. However, if there was a kit, with instructions, I would purchase it and then just give it to my tech and he installs it. So what do you say? Just look at VRUS and his great ideas. Or, how about this, you put the kit togther for me and tell me how much I need to pay you to by the kit.

Thanks jcjmw. You really don't need many parts. Just order the can from AMW, get a little extra hose, unions and clamps which your tech probably has. Give your tech the instruction and your done.

I appreciate your vote of confidence, I'm just sharing not making kits. :)

Great thread!

I recently did this mod on my C32, except I used a dual inlet catch can from Jaz products. I plugged the bottom of the throttle body with a rubber plug and routed two 3/8" PCV lines to the catch can. It came with a small tube for draining the oil out and it works great. I paid about $60 for the unit. It even has a breather on the top with a mini K&N type filter.

Sorry about the pic...it's the only one on their website.

LINK TO THE PRODUCT Click on overflows and then 1 pint mini breather.



http://www.jazproducts.com/overflows/1ptminism.jpg

The only problem with venting it like that is that after a while you will be able to smell the oil fumes in the engine compartment. Just my 2 cents.

Very true.

Make a custom panovac system and install the check valve after the cat and o2 sensor?

You don't have to vent it....you have a choice.

Secondly, I ran this on previous vehicles for 15k miles and no smells or anything else. All you have to do is clean it about every 3k.

Right on jrocket..

I think you will need a check valve. If for some reason you forget to check it or the catch fills, you dont want that oil getting sucked back in the TB.

The reason I installed the catch can was because oil was getting sucked in my S/C and IC. I know some oil is normal, but not this much.


Take a look...

http://www.renntechc32.com/oil/index.html#8

Yep,that seems like an excessive amount of oil.I could be wrong though.

A panovac system is actuall old and quite crude in todays technology but it works well.You could run the lines from the bottom of the catch can down to the back side of the cats and it should be ok.But then I dont really see the point of the catch can then,just run the lines from valve covers down to the back side of the cats?I might not be thinking clearly right now though.

I know its an old thread but how about one of these style on each side would that work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Oil-S...spagenameZWDVW

Thanks
Justin

Interesting to see this mentioned on mbworld, as its popular with big inch domestic motors that mostly run big open headers. I've messed around with a few different PCV/Cranckcase vent systems on this car and this was the first method I tried. It was the most functional, simple, and clean aproach to venting the cranckcase I could think of. I was told that any street exhaust shy of open headers wouldn't work. I tried anyway with the pan-evac valve that moroso makes, and everyone was right. It threads into an exhaust bung at a 45 degree in the exhaust section with most velocity to create a scavanging vacuum effect. I mounted the line to a vac/psi gauge found that I could only make about 1-2in vacuum at 5000RPM and about 1-4psi of pressure anything below that. I've got pictures of the setup if anyone is interested. Failure for a street vehicle where you would be sending hot exhuast gas into the crankcase 90% of the time. So I'm pretty certain it needs to be mounted at the collector on an open header. It would have been awesome if it did work though. :rolleyes:

Do you know if anyone used this kit or will it work well?

I know I'm bumping an old thread, but what did you do with the bigger hose that comes off the drivers side valve cover and plugs into the accordian hose between the drivers side airbox and the y-pipe?

Remains connected, only the two lower breather pipes are connected to the catch tank.

I am using a closed catch tank system like DSC's,
was the conclusion that an open system was not suitable as use need the crank case pressure/vacuum connected to the TB......it would eliminate the need to have to check the catch tank level?

I understand that but can't oil travel through the other breather as well? Hence my question.

If your intresed in doing a crank case evac setup let me know, Thats how mine is. I still use a catch can in my set up.

Correct. While under normal operating conditions (ie. vacuum), air is drawn into the crankcase through the larger hose. At WOT, excess crank pressure is pushed out that same hose.

LOl You were answering the same time. Neon, did you run an electric air pump as a evac pump? Racetronix makes a clean p-n-p harness for this.

Old school, Ties in the exh for the negative pressure, creates better ring seal, makes more power and keeps octane robing oil out of the intake. This should come as no suprise, Its a low buck mod.

me too was surprised reading that he didn't do anything to that hose (letter C) saying that it supplies fresh air ..

it was much time ago but I remember I checked under load and it was blowing, not sucking air ... so, it was the first I just sealed !

Yes it does blow crank case preasure, so not sure if sealing it up is a good idea?

my air filters did not get change for a over 10000miles and one of the filters had a bit of oil on it, so it would be a good idea to also catch the vapors.

Yea definitely interested! Let me know
One valve cover has two breathers and the other has one. Do you really think plugging the extra one will have detrimental effects?

yes, if there's no output at all it is bad.

your options depend also on the particular TB you have: not all TBs have an inlet for vapours !

unfortunately did not get to doing it yet, but after installling the 80mm TB I considered indeed the other option of using that intake outlet as the main one (so, without any T connected to the TB anymore)
... after filtering done by a thing like this

:D

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/4...elcatchcan.jpg

...is EVAC this thing, right ... :eek:



http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/7...ombafumias.jpg

Yes, that it. The only issue would be that these were designed for use with open headers. If you are running a closed exhasut system, you would need to monitor the the pressure in the crank case and make sure you are not adding to it. For example, it might work at WOT, but actually create pressure at part throttle. Not saying it's a bad idea, but you have to verify that it is helping.

What exactly does this do for our cars? Yeah, I'm a slow...

as I understand it, that black hose connected to the exhaust does nothing bad as far as it originates from a filtering can

but if it just originates from the valve cover, you'll get an old time 2-stroke smell :smash:

The dc3 dual is better >> http://www.saikoumichi.com/

Where are the outlet lines routed? Are they used to relieve crankcase pressure by routing to the exhaust, or simply connected back to the hose going into the throttle body?

quick question guys.. what is the pro and con about just blocking off the outlet from the valve covers completely? i don't see the engine building a lot of pressure there.. I tried doing it tonight by hand and after a bit, still no pressure. even raving the engine up. any thoughts??

thanks

I would not do it

Can you elaborate a little more besides "I would not do it".. i have had the covers off and there's aboslutely no pressure coming out of the 2 smaller hoses. the big one, YES.. the vacuum from the intake is what keeps sucking the oil out of the valve covers, so there is no pressure at all. When i blocked them off, the car ran much smoother and quieter.

I would still leave the main big hose (2nd hose on driver side) on as that one does build a little pressure.

thoughts?

Not a wise thing to do at all...In fact you should look to improve the ventilation as you run more boost....

When the engine is under boost you will get a lot of pressure that needs to be released...

At idle and revving the engine, you are operating under vacuum....When you are under load and generating boost, you will see that plenty comes out of the three vents....

I understand.. just a little confusing to me as to why none of those are clamped at all.. they come of freely.. you'd think that if there's any pressure, that there would be clamps or at least zip ties. :confused:

also, we are talking about lower end of the motor, where the pressure "should" be minimal.. unless of course you have a lot of bypass.

Here is a good read for you : http://www.106rallye.co.uk/members/d...hersystems.pdf

Bumping this up to ask a question. On the accordion snorkel there is a tube that comes from the valve cover on the driver's side. Could we not just route that tube into a catch can to avoid oil getting into the filters/intake? Just a simple hose from there to a can?


I don't fully understand PCV so please help me here.
Regards

nope, that hose just lets fresh(filtered) air into the top of the valve cover.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/positi...ion-system.htm

Did anyone come up with a good solution for a throttle body with no inlet port? What can/parts did you use?

I'm thinking about adding an inlet port on my homemade intake for that fat tube on the drivers side.

Oh really? That's fascinating.

I lol'd

Hello , I have been wanting to install a catch can as well buy have been a little confused as to which hose is connected to the can . Is it the larger one that connects to the air cleaner or the 2 smaller ones that come off of each valve cover ? Man if you could shed some light on that , I would be greatly appreciative ! Thank you so much for you time . I am new to the Forum but not to the E55's . Thanks again .

Its the two smaller ones that come off of each valve cover. "T" those two together like it shows in post #12 above, run that combined hose to the can inlet and then one from the can back to the factory "T" under the throttle body. Make sure to block off one side of the factory "T." I made a custom bracket for my can and mounted it right behind the driver's headlight housing. It works well and is already catching oil.

Man ! , Thank you so much for explaining that for me . I have been struggling with that for some time now . I'm not sure why I've had such a mental block on this project but I am very appreciative of you taking the time to reply that info to me . Thanks again . I have a double style can so I can use one for each side . I will post some pics when I'm done .

One more dumb question , What should be done with the fat tube . I have a cold air set-up going on and it does not have a port for that hose . I would assume to just block it off ? Or am I wrong ?

Yes, you should be able to use one for each side. Just connect them back to the "T" under the throttle body.

I wouldn't feel comfortable blocking off that valve cover fat tube port. Maybe others can chime in if it's okay to do.

yea sure , If anybody has any ideas or info on what they did or to do that would be great . Thanks guys .

Where would the optimal spot to place the catch can on a 07-09 E63, so that the oil in the can, could be easily drained?

bump for Yuille's question

I wouldn't block it off but I can't see no harm in running it to a 2nd catch can