Oil Catch Can Fix*
 

First off, let me say this. To anyone I have recommended the Corksport Oil Catch Can to, I apologize. The routing on this kit is the best method, I still firmly believe that. However, the can is flawed and the hoses are let’s face it, complete junk.

A little background on myself- I'm a former tech & have been wrenching on everything I could get my hands on since the age of 6. I have built a couple turbo cars and I'm in the process of building a twin turbo Mustang that up until this rebuild was running a supercharger. I am no stranger to boosted cars and crankcase ventilation setups.

So here’s my story-


I had been researching the MZR platforms for over a year when I finally purchased my 2011 MS3 used back in October so I was familiar with its inherent problems. Needless to say my first mod was an OCC and I thought I was making the right move when I purchased and installed the CS OCC with 13,500 miles on the odometer.

I installed the CS OCC with the help of a lift here at work (I now sell cars instead of wrench). Everything went smoothly except for the hose that was provided wanted to do nothing but continuously split. Of course after a couple of tries and some careful trimming it all went together after following Corksports directions to a T. The "outlet" or "vent" if you will goes into the intake pre-turbo, just as the instructions say.

All was well, everything was running and working fine after the 500 mile check & drain. Approximately a thousand miles later and plenty of crap was being caught just as it should have been. Man was I happy with my purchase and I let anyone know who would listen. I drain it every thousand miles.

Well, I just hit 17k miles, It was a rare warm mid-winter day here in Ohio so I decided to wash my car. I figured I would just go ahead and drain the OCC while I was at it and to my surprise when I popped the hood, the freakin top was missing to my OCC!!!!

Needless to say, I was pissed... how did this happen? WTF? I installed it the "correct" way!! This should have never happened!!!

I called up Corksport and talked to Derrick, he told me to shoot a couple pictures and e-mail them directly to him. I also sent him a couple pictures of there the vent line goes into the intake, pre-turbo of course.

Holy crap was his response fast (called me right back)! Nice guy too. He then said he would send the pictures to Kelly who would help me out. Needless to say I was expecting more of the same that I had seen with Derrick (I'm in a service industry as are they; I try to never let more than 2 hrs. go by before contacting a customer). However, even though it was still only 2PM their time she waited until later in the following day to respond with this.-

So obviously I was a little irritated that I had pretty much been told "We don't care what proof you give, it’s your fault".

I replied Immediately

Overall, is the solution a good one? Not really.

I get a replacement can, that’s awesome, but why would I want a replacement that has no real promise of being any better? Why would anyone want to wait a month to have an issue resolved? My warranty is now void, why should it be when I can provide proof that the install was correct?

Below I have attached the pictures that I sent in the first e-mail to Derrick that were then sent to Kelly.


Feel free to draw your own conclusions but I will no longer recommend the CS OCC and wouldn't feel that great recommending their other products now that I know how they handle a warranty issue. They have some great things to offer, I just hope they step up a little on customer service when a customer has a total failure of one of their products.


Sorry for the long rant.

welding the top with fix the issue of the top popping off but not of it seeing boost. From my understanding the can shouldn't be seeing boost pressure.

There is a guy that lives up the road with a ms6 that had the exact same problem with the cs occ... I have the same one and haven't had any troubles yet with 3 thousand miles or so on it but will be pissed if my top blows like that...

This has been addressed before and im sorry to say it, the only way that can will ever see pressure is if it was routed wrong. I installed this can on an MS3 running a precission 6262 @ 24 psi and his never blew. Tell us exactly how you had the hoses routed? Not trying to say "this is your fault" but i mean... if the shoe fits :/

i am editing my post here to announce that my lid has blown off ... somehow :/ maybe my CV failed, who knows, but alas... it did happen.

In fact, welding the OCC will move the fail to somewhere else in line, or make a bigger boom.

How are you boosting the can?
Is there no check valve?

no, corksport routes the valve cover + PCV together with a T to the inlet of the can (they provide a cap for the intake manifold) and have the outlet going to your TIP. Realistically the can under this set up should never see boost... or really even positive pressure if the TIP is constantly pulling a vacuum on it.

Damn...I was going to buy one of these this week...

Well then he should do a compression and leak down test to see how he's boosting the crank case enough to blow up a catch can.

Reading this part has me curious, you didn't notice any drivability issues, no noise, no oil vapor and no boost loss ?

I can only think of two scenarios where the top would pop off of a OCC.

1. pressure is present in a can with a design and install path that by nature prevents it
2. something lit the contents of the can.. (they kind of do look like firecrackers and the contents are flammable, but I jest).

having had experience with CRAPPY pcv I can tell you that the noise and mess from one is pretty clear, to a former tech it should have screamed.


that said, every CS OCC fail picture I have seen has had residual glue all over the place, from what I have read about CS, they are fairly good lot of precision oriented folk... is it possible that this 'glue' is being dissolved and/or soften enough to be pushed into the intake side of the can? essentially plugging and and only allowing for one other way out?

for those that have had them fail, was the glue soft? was any to be found in the intake side of the can?

Exactly, my OCC should never have seen boost. You can see in the pictures where it is routed into the intake pre-turbo. I said the exact same things to others but turns out I was wrong. Its not the routing because mine is like you said, from the vc and pcv into the supplied plastic t and then into the intake, again, as pictured. My only thought is that MAYBE, the bypass valve is being released so quicky that the intake is seeing boost pressure.... this still makes no sense but it is routed the correct way. I have not taken it apart yet because I wanted to wait and see if corksport asked for picture proof.

Idk, if Ihave time tomorrow ill take it somewhat apart and take some pictures.

Please post a diagram of how you have it routed in your car, and pictures of connections.

EDIT: are you sure you didnt connect the intake manifold instead of the PCV??

Tapatalking

I still think something is wrong man, and Yatta raises a good point. you said you noticed the can lid was missing when you went to do an oil change... routed properly... or hell even improperly would lead to a MASSIVE vacuum leak one way or the other if the top of the can is missing.

If there is not a vacuum leak and driveability continues as normal then yes, it would seem like the outlet of the can was blocked somehow which allowed pressure from the VC + PCV to pressurize the can. i imagine it would not take a lot of pressure to pop the glued top off since it is not put on there with the intent of holding pressure. My only concern with this theory is that the can has a 5/8" outlet... thats a fairly good sized hole for some "residual glue" to collect in and gunk up.

I suspect a suck test on the PCV outlet should be in the directions, but who wants to do that? (you know, put the hose in your mouth, suck works, blow fails? if the PCV has failed and a hole on the can is obstructed (that is a crapload of residual glue, really) it could act as a flap/ diaphragm valve and plug it while under boost (and blowby) thats a lot of ifs/maybes but would explain why some have seen this and others have not, I think this revised install method is really good and like that the can has a cap, would prefer a screw top or a latch but having it open to inspect is a good thing in my book.

I'm at work currently, If I have a chance to dissassemble tomorrow I will.

In the mean while, heres my craptastic diagram in MS Paint.

Basically- PVC+Valve Cover Vent-->Supplied Plastic T-->Corksport OCC-->CAI (Pre-turbo inlet pipe)

Actually, its not a vacuum leak, persay, think of it more as a post MAF air leak. A vacuum leak is post throttle blade, this was pre throttle (with CS's routing you plug the manifold vacuum source). And yes, I had noticed a very slight smell increase but I attributed that to the catless downpipe I had just installed. My bad.....

ok, my next question is, are your sure you connected the hose to the pcv and not the intake manifold? thats the only thing i can think of that could have gone wrong.

As to the blowby theories, keep in mind my car has 17k miles.

Absolutely positive. That thing was a bitch to put on and I thought I was gonna break the PCV, lol. The manifold plug on the other hand went on with little trouble.

Like I have said, it really doesn't make logical sense unless there was a backfire (which, how the hell would I not notice) or if the bypass valve momentarily pressurizes or even sends a pressure wave to the intake. Hell, I'm running 19psi. That would probable be more than enough to pop that sucker with a good pressure wave.

Shit, im drawing a blank then. I guess just take it apart and take a look at it when you get home :thinking:

Yup, I have no fawkin idea volt. I appreciate all the questions because trust me, I did the same to the other guys with this issues and I know you guys are just lookin out.

hmm... lotsa glue on those ports in the can...

Yup and holy fawking shit batman.... did you have to quote the whole big ass picture? haha

Do a compression and leak down test.
It seems you're boosting your crank case and subsequently your catch can.
I feel like I've said that already.

And I will say my statement again, the car just turned 17k Miles. It runs like a champ, no smoking on a catless DP or any other signs. Either way, even if I was sending a MASSIVE amount of pressure towards the can, it should essentially be an open orifice for the blow by to go through. However, take this and reverse it, you'll have the PCV close and make pressure due to the PCV being a one way valve.

Would sure love to see how much glue was on the other side of the can (the lid) I don't buy the bypass closing causing a pressure wave (no offense, just can't see it the whole point of the bypass is to avoid this and I think if such pressure were in place the original PCV system would be prone to blowing up as well it breaks way to easy..), the only way I could is if you were running a stock air box (that thing might as well be a plug). Corksport is watching this thread, what kind of glue is this? will oil or gas swell or act as a solvent on it? I don't know anything about chemical interactions of OCC sludge but a plug is the only thing I can imagine that would produce enough pressure to make a lid vanish. (but I am somewhat crazy). I am actually interested in buying one of these cans (still) as the routing and post throttle block is a really good thing, could do this with another can but it (to me) implies someone actually looked at our cars and came up with a better way.

a back fire would do this (as you said) but I don't see how you would get one, or how you wouldn't notice a big boom....

@finalspeed;


Tappin

If I can find the lid I'll post it. As far as the bypass valve. I'm actually talking about when the throttle closes and the bypass dumps all of the boost into the intake. The original pcv was not routed this was, just the valve cover vent. Basically, with the stock system, if the bypass pushed boost it was counted acted as the pcv would pull vacuum at the manifold. With this routing they would both see any potential pressure in the intake.

My cc did the same thing. My experience is top blew off while pulling into my driveway. You can see the glue substance inside or as Dano calls it whale jizz. While I was pulling on the hoses the cc separated from the mount from the inside and the tee broke off on each segment. I could also smell a faint oil and gas smell while driving. Also intake manifold plug had started to have tiny cracks. Check yours, guys. Let's just say I'm running a JBR stage 2 now.
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mileage has nothing to do with compression, are your rings seated? My last car ( a VW VR6 GTI ran wet until around 50k miles when I suspect the rings finally set, it happens)

again, you were a tech, you would know best.

clearer pictures would be nice!! but this is what I would expect from what I have seen, that is an awful lot of glue and the pieces I see would be large enough to block one of the inlet/outlet connections, I still think this would require a fail on the PCV and/or large amounts of blowby.

if you can get a clear picture of the bottom, (near the inlet/outlet) that would be great.

Thanks!

I agree, you can have compression issues with a brand new engine. But again, no oil is being burned nor any other evidence of issues. Will I do a compression test? Yes, but it may not be tomorrow and I highly doubt that's my issue as I should have other issues if it were blow by.... at the very least I should have oil that smells strongly of fuel.

I have to say again, I have had no issues with mine after months of driving 100 miles a day and racing. Even ordered another one for our second MS3. Hopefully going to a welded top will eliminate all these issues. Corksport is a great company and has always taken care of their customers. Derrick has emailed me every week with an update on our OCC order just to assure me it still coming.

You're not going to see BOOST in the intake.
Even when the bpv is recirculating.

Oil that smells like fuel, I thought that was a stock feature of DISI motors :) Mazda likes us rich as pigs... my point really is that something in all of these failures is common and it might not be installation error, it might be a combination of conditions.. I think the CS design is good and shouldn't require media/substrate, I also think that something is causing a lot of air flow through the can and that design (cyclonic) might be leading to some of the whale jizz (yikes) to plug a hole, which leads to POP.... a lot of ifs... knowing how much (if any) blowby is present might help. Excessive pressure, excessive glue, -> pop.... looking at the pictures above we see potential cracking of the tee and the hose? that is a LOT of pressure, certainly more than CS (or any) should have to plan for, I still think a blockage is causing this.

again opinions and conjecture...

hmm, shouldnt the boost in the can if there is any travel to the tip much like a BPV? weird that it didn't.

Seems like glue might be a bad idea.
Did corksport test the glue against petroleum distillates to see it's reaction?

Seems to me Corksport is doing the right thing in sending you another once they get them in stock tho.
My guess is that Glue is getting hotter than they had expected, and its melting into the lines and blocking it up. Probably Getting hot (Leaking into line), cooling (hardening up), then blocking it up every hot an cold cycle.

Didn't the Ferrari 458 have a problem with glue...?

Tapatalking

Saw a guy on Facebook this happened to as well. Blew the top off the can. 3-4 failures in the same way isn't installation error.

The bottom line on this is that they will work with you and if they have revised the design they will likely try to get you the revision, I learned this will Apple products, never rev a, there is always something that needs tweaking, sometimes big, sometimes not and internal/beta testing never catches it all, your willingness to purchase a brand new design and put it on your car should speak to that, jumping up and down when it fails won't help. I am not convinced that glue was a bad idea, but there are few glues that can tolerate gas/oil/heat, I have seen materials dissolve, swell and gunk up, take some of the meth/e85 junkies in here and you also have alcohol messing with it.... I also remember fixing a turbo outlet/boost tube reference line with shoe goo, that 'band-aid' out lived the motor/car it was put on.... on a non-intercooled dodge colt, so even if glue isn't the preferred method for some, using it is not entirely wrong, its easy to poke at these things and say we would do them differently, truly, if we would, you would find most of us down at the home depot in the PVC section trying to picture some schedule 40 in the engine bay, it'll work, right?