Ford Performance Air/Oil Separator

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Installed on my 23 Everglades

What has been your experience with regard to the ease of removing/emptying the container? Based upon inspection of the contents what would be your assessment of its efficacy?

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[Helomech73]

Installation is easy, about 15 minutes to accomplish. Fit and finish is good. Bonus it looks like stock equipment. To empty and clean it simply loosen the 4 allen head capscrews and the bottom of the container and a mesh screen drop away from the lid.
I installed it at 5000 miles and will not check it until the next oil change at 10000 so I do not know how much vaporized oil or condensation has been collected until then.

 

[l88m22vette]

Mostly snake oil. In cold climates they fill up w/water for half the year and freeze.

While the freezing part can be true, they are also actually useful and effective. A big problem surrounding catch cans are that a lot of setups are cheap-ass, use undersized or incorrect parts, or don't get set up correctly. A lot of them are too small, but then good setups are usually surprisingly expensive for some cans and hosing.

Catch cans can help turbo cars a lot, with a common example being less oil/blowby accumulating in the intercooler, and they "should" help with valve gunk for the 2.3 since it isn't dual-injection. This is just off the valve cover, correct?

 

[RagnarKon]

Okay so I dug into this a because I was confused as heck... BUT I understand now.

There is actually TWO crankcase vents on the 2.3L:

• Bottom of the crankcase, through a factory oil/air separator, directly into the engine intake manifold.
• Top of the valve cover into the air intake BEFORE the turbo/intercooler/etc.

Most of the aftermarket catch cans are attached to that first hose. This Ford Performance is attached to the second hose.

Pictures below for reference. Note I have a UPR catch can on the first PCV host line.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Interesting. So this specific offering from FP is to provide a sort of "belt and suspenders" approach it would seem.

 

[Bmadda]

Okay so I dug into this a because I was confused as heck... BUT I understand now.

There is actually TWO crankcase vents on the 2.3L:

• Bottom of the crankcase, through a factory oil/air separator, directly into the engine intake manifold.
• Top of the valve cover into the air intake BEFORE the turbo/intercooler/etc.

Most of the aftermarket catch cans are attached to that first hose. This Ford Performance is attached to the second hose.

Pictures below for reference. Note I have a UPR catch can on the first PCV host line.

No that's not correct, the valve cover port is not a "vent" it's where the fresh air is drawn into the crankcase, otherwise you would be pulling a vacuum. They are all part of the same airflow "circuit so to speak" putting a catch can between the air cleaner and valve cover would be doubly pointless

 

[RagnarKon]

No that's not correct, the valve cover port is not a "vent" it's where the fresh air is drawn into the crankcase, otherwise you would be pulling a vacuum. They are all part of the same airflow "circuit so to speak" putting a catch can between the air cleaner and valve cover would be doubly pointless

Okay that makes sense... but if true... makes me wonder why Ford bothered selling a product like this.

It could be perhaps that top line is a two-way line and air can go in both directions depending on the pressure inside the crankcase. Not sure if there is a valve or anything on that line, but it seems to be a single-use hose so risky proposition to mess around with it.

 

[Bmadda]

Okay that makes sense... but if true... makes me wonder why Ford bothered selling a product like this.

It could be perhaps that top line is a two-way line and air can go in both directions depending on the pressure inside the crankcase. Not sure if there is a valve or anything on that line, but it seems to be a single-use hose so risky proposition to mess around with it.

I'm guessing they think it backfeeds pressure when the thing is under boost for long durations. IDK really what the point of this is, but I'm not sure I get the point of my mishimoto can either...I guess I got caught up in the hype?

 

[Mishimoto]

Okay so I dug into this a because I was confused as heck... BUT I understand now.

There is actually TWO crankcase vents on the 2.3L:

#1 - Bottom of the crankcase, through a factory oil/air separator, directly into the engine intake manifold.
#2 - Top of the valve cover into the air intake BEFORE the turbo/intercooler/etc.

Yes! This is a great diagram. Sometimes the OEM diagram text does not always match accurately, so it's tough to decipher. I added a #1 and #2 to your breakdown above.

#1 - commonly referred to as the PCV system. There is a PCV valve in the blue plate under the intake manifold. During normal driving it allows air to flow through to the intake manifold.

#2 - commonly referred to as the CCV system (crankcase ventilation). When you go WOT, the PCV valve closes completely, allowing air to pass through the crankcase vent (CCV) side.

We have done many, many miles of testing on multiple 2.3L EcoBoost engines and, historically, we have found little-to-no accumulation in the CCV side. The Bronco is not designed as a 'WOT-all-the-time' type of vehicle, as opposed to someone bashing a Focus ST or Mustang at the track, so we did not bring to market a kit for the CCV side (2.3L). [we DID find blowby collection on the 2.7L EcoBoost engine in our Bronco Badlands, however, so we do have a dual kit for that engine]

For more info, give this a read - Blow-by 101: What is Blow-By and How to Keep it from Ruining Your Engine

Hope this helps!

- John

 

[RagnarKon]

Alright... curiosity killed the cat and I bought one.

I'll report back in 3-4 months to see if it actually did anything. Based on what John (@Mishimoto) said above this was probably a waste of money. But... Memorial Day sales got the best of me.

Install video below for those curious—wasn't too difficult at all.

 

[Wilbur's son]

Alright... curiosity killed the cat and I bought one.

I'll report back in 3-4 months to see if it actually did anything. Based on what John (@Mishimoto) said above this was probably a waste of money. But... Memorial Day sales got the best of me.

Install video below for those curious—wasn't too difficult at all.

Thanks for the 'how to" video. Timing was just right. I picked up my separator, plus a console vault, last Saturday. The console vault is already installed. I downloaded the pdf instructions, but the video filled in the blanks. Also curious here. Wondering if just disconnect and drain or disconnect, unscrew/separate top and bottom housing parts then drain or wipe out.

 

[BigHoof]

Yes! This is a great diagram. Sometimes the OEM diagram text does not always match accurately, so it's tough to decipher. I added a #1 and #2 to your breakdown above.

#1 - commonly referred to as the PCV system. There is a PCV valve in the blue plate under the intake manifold. During normal driving it allows air to flow through to the intake manifold.

#2 - commonly referred to as the CCV system (crankcase ventilation). When you go WOT, the PCV valve closes completely, allowing air to pass through the crankcase vent (CCV) side.

We have done many, many miles of testing on multiple 2.3L EcoBoost engines and, historically, we have found little-to-no accumulation in the CCV side. The Bronco is not designed as a 'WOT-all-the-time' type of vehicle, as opposed to someone bashing a Focus ST or Mustang at the track, so we did not bring to market a kit for the CCV side (2.3L). [we DID find blowby collection on the 2.7L EcoBoost engine in our Bronco Badlands, however, so we do have a dual kit for that engine]

For more info, give this a read - Blow-by 101: What is Blow-By and How to Keep it from Ruining Your Engine

Hope this helps!

- John

In this case, what purpose does a catch can on the PCV side serve since the engine comes from the factory with an air / oil separator on that circuit? Or does an aftermarket can catch the oil rather than depositing it back into the pan like OEM which although not ideal is much different than plumbed into the intake where it will eventually accumulate on the valves?

Thanks

 

[Mishimoto]

In this case, what purpose does a catch can on the PCV side serve since the engine comes from the factory with an air / oil separator on that circuit? Or does an aftermarket can catch the oil rather than depositing it back into the pan like OEM which although not ideal is much different than plumbed into the intake where it will eventually accumulate on the valves?

Thanks

Hey @BigHoof - that large blue 'air oil separator box' component on the side of the engine helps to separate a small amount of the blow-by, but not nearly as much as a dedicated in-line oil catch can. Correct, a catch can like ours will catch blow-by instead of sending it back to the engine through the intake. It's important to remember that blow-by consists of more than oil. It can include condensation and unburnt fuel, neither of which you want on the valves or back in your oil pan.

- John

 

[Dayton1984]

Yeah this is a "traditional" catch can while the factory oil/air separator drains the oil back into the oil pan to be filtered/reused.

I'm mostly confused about the pictures they have in the instructions, because it looks nothing like the Bronco engine bay from what I can tell. I'm assuming the pictures are from the Ranger and that's the reason why I just don't recognize it. Once I'm done with work I'll have to put eyeballs on my Bronco's engine to see if I can figure it out and align myself.

Does the 2.7 come from the factory with one also?

 

[BigHoof]

Hey @BigHoof - that large blue 'air oil separator box' component on the side of the engine helps to separate a small amount of the blow-by, but not nearly as much as a dedicated in-line oil catch can. Correct, a catch can like ours will catch blow-by instead of sending it back to the engine through the intake. It's important to remember that blow-by consists of more than oil. It can include condensation and unburnt fuel, neither of which you want on the valves or back in your oil pan.

- John

Thank you!

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