I think I have a decent picture of how the system is supposed to work but my god these things seem to dump alot of oil into the turbo.. I recently replaced the PCV disk that was torn in the valve cover. Before that I dont think the system was doing anything.

The ports to the intake tract to the head are puzzling since the engine doesn't operate at vacuum. Anyone have any tech information on this?

 

I can't explain it but there were a few threads awhile ago about catch cans and some in depth discussions of PCV routing, etc. Might want to search for those.

 

I dug through many of those and most refer to the N14 rather than the N18 I thought.. I see. I tried to do a boost check on mine the other day and was pushing ALOT of air out of the valve cover.. something has to be wrong in there but rather than spending 350 dollars on a stupid valve cover that doesn't really work properly anyway I wanted to try and make it better.

 

Just as an aside, the engine can produce a vacuum under light (and negative) load.

 

So I had an M7 Catch can on the car and haven't been happy with it.. It doesn't seem to be catching anything at all and from what I can tell the sight glass tube is leaking PCV vapors under the hood..

When I purchased the car I had a hissing coming from the valve cover.. found the Russian guy selling the PCV disks bought two.. installed one.. and once the system started to work properly (had been torn for quite some time it would seem) the car began to leak oil and reak of oil vapors like an old honda..

I really do like the car other than this stink / leak.. I cannot for the life of me grasp how this thing is supposed to work. It would seem that regardless of how it is SUPPOSED to work that it is not closing off it's CCV path during boosted conditions and that it is allowing boost leak thru the crankcase and pushing oil into the turbo.... I am sure that the real answer is a new valve cover but my god I cannot hardly spend that much on a car that I honestly didn't pay much ofr..

 

Looks like you're at a 150k miles, things start to get funny up there.

What oil weight are you using in your engine?

 

Have you done a compression test? Excessive blow-by sounds like it could do what you are describing. Given the miles, it wouldn't be unheard of.

 

5W30 Castrol as suggested by original owner

No compression test but I would expect there to be a bit more blowby than normal.. I have had this thing apart and back together a dozen times.. internally the engine is spotless.. Every since I changed the PCV diaphragm it seems to have been smelling like this / leaking worse.

I think the aftermarket diaphragm is just crap. But overall the system seems to be hilariously inadequate. I'm considering just replacing the system with a catch can and some check valves..

Anyone in here actually boost leak check their car? The PCV hose from the catch can was getting ALOT of air out of it.. like.. put you thumb over it and it blows it back.. which tells me that the PCV system is allowing intake boost thru the system which is likely the cause of my low boost code.. I'm guessing I have essentially got a crankcase sized boost leak.

 

Also.. A Couple of weeks ago I was left stranded by this thing when the throttle body decided to stop working.. I limped to a parts place and found the throttle body to be completely saturated internally with oil.. Cleaning the motor itself helped but it didn't last long.. Replaced with a unit from a low mile MINI from a local salvage yard and it's back working but now I am getting a dozen and a half fault codes for everything from misfire to MAP thermostat to Intake temp past throttle body..

I legitimately want to burn the car..


However.. I think ALL of this can be related to the MASSIVE amount of oil being BLOWN thru the oem PCV system and into the intake tract.. I think the oil is fouling the spark plugs causing misfire.. which is causing the intake MAP / temp sensor to wig out and send "implausible" signal to the ECM.

Realistically I think it's time to get it as good as I can.. polish it up .. and get rid of it

 

Hopefully you can figure that out soon!

At the minimum, for now, I would recommend going with a 5w40 or 0w40 oil, especially as you go higher in milage. Turbos tend to like that better than the 30 weight.

 

Well.. had a wrench thrown in the works..

We got a considerable amount of snow this morning and as I was on the way to work I had a Buick covered in snow play chicken with me so I got over and the snow pulled me into a ditch and through a field.. Now the car is leaking oil much worse than it was.. reaks of oil burning after pegging it to get it out of the ditch / field.. and there's a clunk in the front suspension when going from reverse to drive and applying the brakes. The front bumper / inner fenders appear to be loose but I'm not sure if I turn it into insurance or try and take a look at it myself..