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RagnarKon

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Anyone put any thought into oil catch cans on the 2.3L since it is direct injection?

This will be the first engine that I've owned that doesn't spray fuel into the intake manifold. Worried about the PCV value shooting junk into my intake manifold/values that won't get naturally cleaned out by fuel.
 

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Anyone put any thought into oil catch cans on the 2.3L since it is direct injection?

This will be the first engine that I've owned that doesn't spray fuel into the intake manifold. Worried about the PCV value shooting junk into my intake manifold/values that won't get naturally cleaned out by fuel.
I have thoughts. I installed a catch can on my Focus ST and was glad I did when I saw the gunk and crud I was not putting back into the 2.0ā€™s cylinders via the PCV. Even though the 2.7 in my F150 is DPI I installed a UPR catch can in it. Same story, lots of gunk intercepted and not reburned or deposited in the intake manifold.

UPR just released their 2.3 catch can/mounting bracket kit and Iā€™ve ordered one for my yet-to-be-built Bronco. With supply and manufacturing capabilities being sketchy globally still, I donā€™t want to be waiting for products I want to have for Day 1 installation on my Bronco.

No doubt in my mind over adding a catch can to DPI engines, though others will have differing opinions.
 

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Anyone put any thought into oil catch cans on the 2.3L since it is direct injection?

This will be the first engine that I've owned that doesn't spray fuel into the intake manifold. Worried about the PCV value shooting junk into my intake manifold/values that won't get naturally cleaned out by fuel.
what does a catch can do for the engine?
 

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what does a catch can do for the engine?
On combustion engines, some air pressure from the cylinder can get through the piston rings into the crankcase. This is known as blow-by, and some amount of blow-by is natural for an engine, especially a turbocharged engine.

There is a pressure stabilization component called the PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) system, that regulates the air pressure in your crankcase. In short... this system routes excess pressure from the crankcase back into the intake manifold. That excess air can contain pollutants (primarily oil & other carbons) from your crankcase... and those pollutants simply get dumped into your intake manifold.

On vehicles that inject fuel into the intake manifold--which is most post-carberatur vehicles on the market--this usually isn't a huge deal because the fuel acts almost like a natural cleaning solvent to help keep the intake manifold & intake valves clean. But the 2.3L EcoBoost in the Bronco has direct fuel injection... fuel is injected directly into the cylinder instead of the intake manifold. So there is nothing there to clean the intake manifold and intake valves to ensure there isn't an excess of carbon build-up.

An oil catch can is an extra component that goes between the PCV and intake manifold to that is design to catch all of that extra pollutants before the air gets sent back into the intake manifold. Which, in theory, should keep your intake manifold/valves free of unnecessary carbon buildup.
 

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Great explanation, thanks. I am a mechanic but I work on big industrial engines running on natural gas. So the blow by goes to the intake of the turbo? If not how does it overcome the Boost?
 
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Any warrantee concerns with installing one?
 

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Great explanation, thanks. I am a mechanic but I work on big industrial engines running on natural gas. So the blow by goes to the intake of the turbo?
Ya know.... I don't actually know where the PCV valve sends the excess air to. I assume it's post-turbo, but at the same time I would expect the crankcase pressure to be much lower than the pressure out of the turbo... so maybe it is pre-turbo? Or maybe they have some manifold vacuum thing that allows them to send it back into the intake manifold? Not sure.

Usually air travels to the engine along the following path...

Air intake -> Air box -> Air filter -> Turbo -> Intercooler -> Throttle body -> Intake manifold -> cylinders

But I don't know exactly where the PCV is connected in that chain.

Any warrantee concerns with installing one?
That is the one question I have, and I don't think we have an answer yet.

I know @Bronco wild outdoors mentioned during his live stream tonight that he was going to look into it.
 

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Idk, on my engines we just let it go to the air with old school crankcase vents. But we run up 50# of boost (PSIA) so there is no way to except turbo inlet and donā€™t it in an inner cooler.

what is IMAP on the 2.3 ?
 

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Any warrantee concerns with installing one?
If there is an engine issue and that could possibly be traced to that part they could void warranty work.
 

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Ya know.... I don't actually know where the PCV valve sends the excess air to. I assume it's post-turbo, but at the same time I would expect the crankcase pressure to be much lower than the pressure out of the turbo... so maybe it is pre-turbo? Or maybe they have some manifold vacuum thing that allows them to send it back into the intake manifold? Not sure.

Usually air travels to the engine along the following path...

Air intake -> Air box -> Air filter -> Turbo -> Intercooler -> Throttle body -> Intake manifold -> cylinders

But I don't know exactly where the PCV is connected in that chain.


That is the one question I have, and I don't think we have an answer yet.

I know @Bronco wild outdoors mentioned during his live stream tonight that he was going to look into it.
Itā€™s a non-standard non-factory approved part so there is significant potential to void the warranty. My gt350 has a factory supplied one approved by ford. Typically under normal driving I only find blow by in the passenger side one. Drivers is always clean. Now after a track day I find it in both. Iā€™ve got the 2.7 Iā€™m my f-150 and have had 0 issues. If this truly were an issue ford with offer this part, just saying. And as an fyi Iā€™m a mechanical engineer who has torn down and rebuilt every type of motor.
Also not exactly sure what one poster was talking about finding ā€œcrudā€ in his AOS the way the system works is it re-condenses oil vapor. So you arenā€™t going to find foreign debris in the system unless you have a serious mechanical issue.
 

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And also the way to avoid build up is to not ā€œlugā€ the engine. When it is up to temp donā€™t hesitate to do some wide open throttle. That will burn out the excess carbon these DI engines let build up. Typically you will see a poof of black smoke under hard acceleration. If you drive like that typically there is usually no chance of build up. And Iā€™m not saying floor it from every stop light, Iā€™m saying once a week possibly getting into an off ramp or on a road you can winds it out to 50ish floor it.
 

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Modern direct injection engines are designed with full knowledge of expected crankcase pressures. The Ford DI engines have two systems that cope with this crankcase over pressures. one operates at lower power and the other operates when the turbo is spooled up. Catch cans are generally attached to the low speed PCV system (which has an included air/oil separator) and thus are only valved in during the low speed engine operation when the blowby to the crankcase is least and so provide no benefit during boost. These engines have another system built-in to deal with crankcase over-pressures during the boost regime obviates the need for an after market catch can.
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