Does the oil trap even go bad?

[abscate]

If I'm reading up-thread correctly you are using a quart of oil every 300 miles? That's really high.

[screwdriver]

I betting if he looks under the distributor he will find the rear cam seal has blown out. I kept putting my dipstick back in and that's what happened. doing a complete pcv/oil trap service as soon as the parts arrive

[chrisjm91]

Sorry my post never got put up that I made last night. But I drive at the most about 100 miles per week just to and from work. I have a new oil trap in hand now. My next question is how do I tell if the EGR valve is still operational? I have it out and in hand. Its pretty clean already but I lightly cleaned it up some more with a tad bit of carb cleaner, being cautious of the rubber diaphragm. I took a pick and inserted it into the rear end where the copper tube goes too and pudhed in on the nub and it comes right back with no hesitation. Is that good?

[chrisjm91]

Also I was able to get the oil trap overnighted but not the dipstick gaskets. But they are in transit. So now I have all new : intake gasket, EGR valve gasket, silicone vacuum lines, and new oil trap. Like I said im judt curious about the EGR operating correctly or not. Thanks for everyones help and advice by the way, especially during the holidays.

[oragex]

Not sure on your year model, but later models also have an pcv oil passage inside the oil pan that can get clogged when the pcv box gets clogged. you can check this passage by blowing air by the lower block port to the pcv box to hear for bubbles in the oil inside the oil pan.

as for the poor mpg after the pcv job, I would suspect a leaking intake manifold gasket or a throttle gasket. this can affect the fuel mixture. also a good idea is to disconnect the battery before disconnecting all electrical connections for a pcv job.

[rspi]

Just my opinion but the smoking oil dip stick is useless. Do the glove test.

Matter of fact, it sounds like the motor is shot. I do my best to avoid purchasing cars from elderly people that drive 5 years and 20,000 miles without checking or changing the oil.

Do a compression test before anything. If the motor is shot, PCV servicing is useless.

[precopster]

Sounds more like some of the energy could have been put into replacing valve stem seals however that is not an easy job. When valve stems are worn some intake/exhaust pressure gets transferred to the crankcase.

There's a great write up in the repair database here without the need of head removal.

[chrisjm91]

Okay, its all together and running great. Still waiting on the oil cap seal and dipstick gasket to arrive. But on the short one mile trip I drove it, there was no oil spewed but tgere was very light smoke coming out of the dipstick tube.

I had a compression test done when I had the timing belt and water pump replaced and it was all in spec. But on another note, I really pulled a dumb move and let my brother do the gasket surface cleaning. In his process he used a wire brush and 400 grit sandpaper ugh! Its all back on already. So once I get a chance to check to see if its leaking and if it is, do I have to get it milled to repair it?

[chrisjm91]

Heres the final look.

[oragex]

Just my opinion but the smoking oil dip stick is useless. Do the glove test.

I also had moderate smoke from the oil dip stick tube. Opened the pcv box and was clean as dandy. So I also think some smoke from the dipstick is normal. Shooting/pressurized smoke from the dipstick tube is another story.