catch can

[arod412]

What is a catch can and how does it work? What are the pros and cons of having it installed, and is it worth it if i wanna keep my truck long term?
Last but not least, is that something that any joe schmo like me can install without damaging anything else or voiding any kind of warranty?

 

[tkyle486]

Yes it is very worth it and very easy to install. Moe has them for around 130 and is one of the best things you can get for you vehicle if you plane on keeping it long term. There are really no cons that ive heard just pros. Keeps oil from being recirculated back through your intake manifold and throttle body , leaving it much cleaner and helps cut down on carbon build up. If you do a search in the engine and performance thread you will see tons of pics showing what these catch cans pick up.

 

[arod412]

Ok...where is moe so i can hit him up with some info. Also is there any maintaince involed with a catch can and when do i do it? Sorry for all the questions. Just new to this type of device. Never heard of it until about a month ago on here.

 

[Burla]

Ask your local smog guy if he will pass you with one of those. They prevent the PVC from allowing the engine to re-burn crud. Anyhow, your engine oil takes away all the crud from the combustion process anyhow, so why go to all this trouble to spare your engine oil like 3% of crud while it still gets 97%? Gas is nothing more then refined oil, burning it is a dirty task. You would also have to be draining it all the time. For about the same money you could set your engine up with a by pass filter, this will keep your engine from getting any contamination re-circling in it and will extend the time you have to get an oil change. Much better choice of you ask me. A lot of these upper cylinder lubes are just mineral oil. Engines have no trouble burning this stuff.

Plus the bypass lets you put the oil filter in a much easier place to access it. So changing your oil is easier and you don't get it dripping over your axle like they always do right now. I have to park my truck in the street for 2 days every time I get an oil change.

Actually the by pass is a little more, i was wrong. Check it out.

 

[tkyle486]

go to moesperformance.com

 

[TXKID]

Trust me the catch can is where it's at. I just emptied mine and its not just gas, it's a thick sludge. The thing really works

 

[BAILEY1]

Trust me the catch can is where it's at. I just emptied mine and its not just gas, it's a thick sludge. The thing really works

^^this!

 

[ram-head]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the oil that goes in the catch can would never make it to a bypass filter. A bypass filter isn't part of the line from the pan to the engine (nor is a catch can), but a separate line that filters the extra oil in the pan that isn't being circulated, right? Furthermore, if you've ever burned gasoline on a fire and also burned motor oil on a fire, you'll know why you don't want motor oil being mixed in with your air/fuel mixture and then being burned in your cylinder, lowering your octane rating and increasing the risk of knock retard, which is what the catch can prevents.

 

[Burla]

Yes, but what we are talking about is a couple of drops of oil per gallon of gas (refined oil). Whether or not you run a catch can, your engine is going to still going to leave contaminants (soot) in your oil and grime in your top end. And if you run a bypass filter the size of soot will be next to nothing with a 99% efficiency rating if you have oil pressure. Really my only point here, I'm not saying a catch can is a bad thing at all, I'm just saying a bypass filter is a great thing for keeping soot that causes wear out of your engine. Any oil that would have went through your oil filter would have went through a bypass filter, only the bypass will trap much smaller particles then your favorite fram filter.

I believe it is about 2 ounces caught per 3000 miles or so, or in other words 187 gallons of gas used through your hemi to catch 2 ounces of oil. You could mix a couple quarts of oil into 187 gallons of gas and you wouldn't know the difference.

Gas is dirty all by itself, watch this gas burn versus alcohol - video.

Considering that, do you think it is worth the effort and investment to remove 2 ounces of oil from 187 gallons of gas using a catch can?

 

[ram-head]

It's not the cylinders that I'm worried about so much. I'm more worried about the throttle body getting gunked up. I've seen the pictures of how much some trucks put in a catch just between oil changes. I plan on a bypass filter, too at some point. I plan on keeping my truck long term, so every little bit I can get will help in the long run.

 

[Burla]

It couldn't hurt! I am tired of buying new vehicles, it seams like every two years I have a new truck or SUV. I'm driving this thing until either it or I die first. I guess another good area for this thread to go is whether or not you run a catch can clearly we need to run some type of cleaner just because gas is so dirty. I personally use Techron concentrate but I hear BG and Shaeffers make good cleaners too, and I believe some guys run straight solvents too. Not brave enough to do that, but probably could be talked into it with science. Anyone running fuel system cleaners?

 

[HLram]

I do. I occasionally run Berrymans or STP or whatever I can find. I run them regularly when I have a 7.3 (not berrymans etc, i use diesel kleen) with todays diesel fuel, but not so often with my gas burners. I fill up every day or two, so I run enough fuel thru mine to where it gets rotated out quite often. Lol. If I ever kept gas in it more than a couple days, I'd probably run something that was more proven then the over the counter easy to get at a gas station type of fuel cleaner.

 

[jojo750]

just to give an idea what the TB looks like without a catch can. i have a 2011 ram.. now has 21k miles on it... installed ported TB in april, and catch can a few weeks after. this is what my TB looked like when i took it off.
first pic, i swiped my finger across it to see if would come off. so you can see the little mound of sludge that was on it.
second pic is the bottom of the TB.
third pic is old TB and new, ported/polished TB.