For Those That Think You Don't Need A Catch Can For The Pentastar.

[Mohican69]

I finally got around to cleaning my throttle body while doing my oil change this weekend. After I destroyed the plastic cover on the intake trying to take it off, I got access to the throttle body and holy crap! There was a thick dark ring of carbon build up all the way around the blade. After cleaning it, which took some doing with the spray and Scott towels, I examined the PCV hose and it was dripping oil. The inside of the air box was coated with oil too. The reason I switched to Ram from owning many Silverados was because that crappy AFM design and oil/carbon build up on the top end destroyed my last one and I wasn't going down that road again. I thought I was relatively safe with the Pentastar. Looks l need to invest in a catch can on my Ram too. I'm not taking any chances with these newer engines. I think it's just cheap insurance. Maybe I'll just buy a new air intake at the same time since I now have a nifty barely used plastic cover that has no purpose. At first I was pissed I broke it but then I realized I'd rather see the motor than some cheap plastic piece of crap that reminded that it's not a Hemi! BTW, my truck only has 72K miles on it.

 

[stimpy433]

I didn't think it was possible to install a catch can on the 3.6.... something about the PCV being an internal system???

 

[KevinInVT]

I finally got around to cleaning my throttle body while doing my oil change this weekend. After I destroyed the plastic cover on the intake trying to take it off, I got access to the throttle body and holy crap! There was a thick dark ring of carbon build up all the way around the blade. After cleaning it, which took some doing with the spray and Scott towels, I examined the PCV hose and it was dripping oil. The inside of the air box was coated with oil too. The reason I switched to Ram from owning many Silverados was because that crappy AFM design and oil/carbon build up on the top end destroyed my last one and I wasn't going down that road again. I thought I was relatively safe with the Pentastar. Looks l need to invest in a catch can on my Ram too. I'm not taking any chances with these newer engines. I think it's just cheap insurance. Maybe I'll just buy a new air intake at the same time since I now have a nifty barely used plastic cover that has no purpose. At first I was pissed I broke it but then I realized I'd rather see the motor than some cheap plastic piece of crap that reminded that it's not a Hemi! BTW, my truck only has 72K miles on it.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have been on the fence about installing a CC. I also hate that giant plastic intake resonator, wish they made a MIT tube for these engines like I have seen for others, don't want a full intake system.

 

[KevinInVT]

I didn't think it was possible to install a catch can on the 3.6.... something about the PCV being an internal system???

It is possible, just make sure you have the right hoses. I believe the Pentastar does have an internal system to help with oil going into intake, but it does vent it back into the intake manifold.

 

[SitKneelBend]

Post up if you decide to do this. I've been meaning to but haven't.

Here's what I did to get rid of the "plastic"...

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=78372&share_fid=17770&share_type=t

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

 

[ExpressRules]

What gain in horsepower did you get?

 

[SitKneelBend]

What gain in horsepower did you get?

It's more of a sound thing...the plastic piece is actually a resonator.

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

 

[Joes1500]

Makes you wonder how all those engines out there keep on running for hundreds of thousands of miles that have owners who have never heard of a catch can ?


Hahaha

 

[69GWC]

Makes you wonder how all those engines out there keep on running for hundreds of thousands of miles that have owners who have never heard of a catch can ?


Hahaha

Probably not as well as they could thats for sure.
The build up on it is so slow the owner's will not be able to feel the power loss or how the truck is sluggish compared to what it once was.

 

[Fitz-0518]

That is a fact. Since I put the catch can on my 03 5.7 I have noticed better acceleration. Makes sense that if the air intake is now getting cleaner cooler air rather than hot oil and chemical laden air,,,it breathes better.

 

[Joes1500]

At what, roughly 9000 gallons of air for every gallon of gas to be a perfect a/f ratio ?.

I seriously doubt anyone is going to feel any difference by having a catch can.

Let's put it into perspective.

Let say you get 20mpg. And you go 5000 miles. That's 250 gallons of gas and roughly
2,250,000 gallons of air. Let's say you get I cup or 8 oz of oil from your can. The most I have seen pictures and videos of is way less, maybe 2-3 oz. But let's say 8 for easy of numbers. That is 1 oz of oil every 28,125 gallons of air and 31 gallons of gas. You can easily see how small of an amount we are talking here.

The can also does nothing to cool the air. It is still hot, just has less vapor in it.

I find it very hard to believe anyone or a dyno would see or feel any difference in having one or not.

Then their is the cost. Yes only around a hundred bucks. So the question is, are you going to keep that vehicle for say 100-200 thousand miles. And even then will it actually make a difference? Probably not. There are literally millions of these engines out there with those kind of miles on them , and guess what, no catch cans.


But it's your money , your truck.

 

[69GWC]

At what, roughly 9000 gallons of air for every gallon of gas to be a perfect a/f ratio ?.

I seriously doubt anyone is going to feel any difference by having a catch can.

Let's put it into perspective.

Let say you get 20mpg. And you go 5000 miles. That's 250 gallons of gas and roughly
2,250,000 gallons of air. Let's say you get I cup or 8 oz of oil from your can. The most I have seen pictures and videos of is way less, maybe 2-3 oz. But let's say 8 for easy of numbers. That is 1 oz of oil every 28,125 gallons of air and 31 gallons of gas. You can easily see how small of an amount we are talking here.

The can also does nothing to cool the air. It is still hot, just has less vapor in it.

I find it very hard to believe anyone or a dyno would see or feel any difference in having one or not.

Then their is the cost. Yes only around a hundred bucks. So the question is, are you going to keep that vehicle for say 100-200 thousand miles. And even then will it actually make a difference? Probably not. There are literally millions of these engines out there with those kind of miles on them , and guess what, no catch cans.


But it's your money , your truck.

NOBODY is saying the catch can will give you any power from adding it to the system .!

Where you are going to lose power and a snappy throttle is over time as your throttle body gets covered with oily crap and the intake gets covered and the back side of the intake valves get covered and caked up so thick that it slows and disturbs the incoming air and fuel charge.

It also takes far less than 100k to cake up the back side of the valves with this crap, a more ready example is the Egoboost motors it happens even faster on them.

Yes millions of trucks and cars with out them out there and the owner's wont even realize how bad their vehicles run as the power loss and the sluggish throttle response takes so long to happen.


Have $45 bucks in my CC but I also care about my truck and want it to last, I use a great oil and change all my oils before they are due , I also wash my truck often and wax it and clean the inside out and none of that is needed to keep driving it to 100k.

 

[stimpy433]

So does anyone with a 3.6 actually have a catch can installed???

 

[KevinInVT]

Here is the pcv location.


Many people have CC on the Pentastar engine.

 

[TXCOMT]

NOBODY is saying the catch can will give you any power from adding it to the system .!

Where you are going to lose power and a snappy throttle is over time as your throttle body gets covered with oily crap and the intake gets covered and the back side of the intake valves get covered and caked up so thick that it slows and disturbs the incoming air and fuel charge.

It also takes far less than 100k to cake up the back side of the valves with this crap, a more ready example is the Egoboost motors it happens even faster on them.

Yes millions of trucks and cars with out them out there and the owner's wont even realize how bad their vehicles run as the power loss and the sluggish throttle response takes so long to happen.


Have $45 bucks in my CC but I also care about my truck and want it to last, I use a great oil and change all my oils before they are due , I also wash my truck often and wax it and clean the inside out and none of that is needed to keep driving it to 100k.

Agreed; my house would be perfectly usable if I never vacuumed the carpet or swept the floor, either, but guess what? It's much nicer when I do! Same with the engine...if you can keep a little cleaner on the inside, why wouldn't you?

TXCOMT

 

[Mohican69]

I didn't think it was possible to install a catch can on the 3.6.... something about the PCV being an internal system???

On the back right side of the resonator is a vent tube that connects into it. It's where I noted the oil going into the air box. I can't see where it originated but I assumed it was the PCV vent tube since it connects to the airbox and had oil drops in it. I can't think of what else it could possibly be. Mine is a 2014. I did note what I thought was a disconnected vacuum line just laying on the engine under the air intake. It leads you to believe something is wrong but by design it just lays there. It's a vent tube from the transmission. I had to look that up because why on Earth would would there be a random vacuum line just laying there? Poor design choice if you ask me.

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[Mohican69]

I like that. I'm using a K&N drop in filter in the stock airbox now so I would like to just use the pipe from one of their intake kits to hook up the stock air box to the throttle body. That resonator and plastic cover are just ugly.

Post up if you decide to do this. I've been meaning to but haven't.

Here's what I did to get rid of the "plastic"...

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=78372&share_fid=17770&share_type=t

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Mohican69]

I'm not suggesting a catch can will do anything for performance. I had a Silverado with the active fuel management. The motor died prematurely due to excessive carbon build up on the cylinders that they deactivate as part of that technology. That's when I started to research and discover how modern motors suffer from excessive carbon because of the design and oil being redirected back into the intakes as part of the PCV systems. This is exaggerated in the GM AFM motors because the carbon is literally baked on by not firing those cylinders like normal. Mine was an early AFM design and they make updates all the time so it's getting better. But I know people that use catch cans to keep the excess oil out of the intake and haven't had a single issue. I thought by getting a Pentastar I had avoided this whole issue but after looking it over it appears that might not be the case. People can decide for themselves as to whether it's worth the investment in time and money to install a catch can. I'm going to install one as soon as I can because I've been down this road before and if I can avoid making this mistake twice then to me it's definitely worth it.

At what, roughly 9000 gallons of air for every gallon of gas to be a perfect a/f ratio ?.

I seriously doubt anyone is going to feel any difference by having a catch can.

Let's put it into perspective.

Let say you get 20mpg. And you go 5000 miles. That's 250 gallons of gas and roughly
2,250,000 gallons of air. Let's say you get I cup or 8 oz of oil from your can. The most I have seen pictures and videos of is way less, maybe 2-3 oz. But let's say 8 for easy of numbers. That is 1 oz of oil every 28,125 gallons of air and 31 gallons of gas. You can easily see how small of an amount we are talking here.

The can also does nothing to cool the air. It is still hot, just has less vapor in it.

I find it very hard to believe anyone or a dyno would see or feel any difference in having one or not.

Then their is the cost. Yes only around a hundred bucks. So the question is, are you going to keep that vehicle for say 100-200 thousand miles. And even then will it actually make a difference? Probably not. There are literally millions of these engines out there with those kind of miles on them , and guess what, no catch cans.


But it's your money , your truck.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Gary's Hemi]

I'm not suggesting a catch can will do anything for performance. I had a Silverado with the active fuel management. The motor died prematurely due to excessive carbon build up on the cylinders that they deactivate as part of that technology. That's when I started to research and discover how modern motors suffer from excessive carbon because of the design and oil being redirected back into the intakes as part of the PCV systems. This is exaggerated in the GM AFM motors because the carbon is literally baked on by not firing those cylinders like normal. Mine was an early AFM design and they make updates all the time so it's getting better. But I know people that use catch cans to keep the excess oil out of the intake and haven't had a single issue. I thought by getting a Pentastar I had avoided this whole issue but after looking it over it appears that might not be the case. People can decide for themselves as to whether it's worth the investment in time and money to install a catch can. I'm going to install one as soon as I can because I've been down this road before and if I can avoid making this mistake twice then to me it's definitely worth it.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Yup. We have a 2018 Camaro RS w/ the 3.6. As impressive as the car is in stock form it also unfortunately has this problem. I have been reading about how people just changing to ported tb & intake manifolds at even 10,000 miles are finding gunk everywhere. There have been quite a bit of them that I have read that have had motor failures at around 80,000 miles. Thats just sad. The motors are impressive from a power standpoint but all the manufacturers have went way backward on longevity. Look at the 5.7, needs cam & lifters to get past 130,000 miles. Unfortunately the catch can kits for the Camaro's are much more expensive than the 5.7 Ram unit.

 

[Fitz-0518]

Agree. CC is not a "performance upgrade" What I think some of us have noticed after installing a CC. No oil or engine combustion vapor is going straight into the TB intake plenum. Because the catch can filter sends clean air to the intake, our TB stays clean. If that translates to a slightly improved cleaner acceleration and smoother idle, that may be what we are noticing.