Car Fix DIY Videos

KingCobra says:

The vast majority of the public will never do this and will likely never know this to be a problem. In saying this, if one does not do this and has spent 30k on a new car, what is the likelihood of getting 200k miles plus out of their investment? Is there other simpler ways to improve on this problem?
I heard once that if you really get down on the accelerator a few times a week will help keep this carbon blown out and cleaned up? I know when i drive the wife's 2013 escape with the 2.0 i will accelerate hard and it blows all kinds of dark smoke out of the pipes.
Thanks for all your helpful videos! You do a great job for us all! Just really disappointing knowing that i have two eco engines (2.0 and the 3.5) and see a video such as this really has me worried about our situation early down the road. Was planning on driving both for a few years but don't feel comfortable installing this can.

Joshua C says:

Rather than venting into where the oil fill is why not vent into the vent line on that same valve cover you capped?

Larry Harris says:

What size T an kind of T did you use for the turbo side

Russ and Adam's Garage says:

Will this void your warranty? I'm all about catch cans and I'm a firm believer they work but I'm afraid of voiding the warranty. -Adam

Bilal Ebrahim says:

is this required for the new 2017 1.0 ford focus? or is the problem fixed?

M T says:

Does adding a catch can void warranty on new F150 eccoboost engine?

grand unified says:

I need to do this on a lincolin mkt is anything different?

Brad Anderson says:

Make a video on an installation on a 4cyl Escape. Is it ever too late to install this system?

R.J. R says:

How often does it need to be drained

Steve W says:

so let me guess Under certain conditions valves and performance can fail under 40g miles

excelerater says:

planned obsolescence

A Saeefan says:

nice video. I just bought a 2017 Raptor 3,5 Ecoboost. It got about 200 mils only, I notice engine shake at idle, one time the engine shutoff while driving at a turn for an instant and came back on I still do not know what happened it was so quick. I am wondering if the Raptor has this issue. being an Ecoboost engine? thanks

DEEREMEYER1 says:

The catch can is needed because Ford put turbos on cheap, cheesy aluminum-block engines that have lightweight pistons, short piston skirts and thin piston rings for "economy" and had to throw tons of oil at the connecting rods and pistons to cool them under the high temps and heavy loads of forced induction engines being run in vehicles far too large and heavy for the tiny turbocharged boat anchors powering them.

The aluminum blocks and thin cast iron sleeves make for a very flexible, flimsy cylinder block and piss-poor ring sealing. So they have shitloads of blowby, oil aeration and tons of crankcase pressure and oily blowby gas no PCV system for an engine that size, much less one designed originally for naturally-aspirated engines, can deal with. PCV systems are sized for a "worst-case" scenario with a high mileage, worn-out engine operating with excessive clearances and lots of blowby due to wear, crappy and fuel-diluted engine oil, etc. And to handle brief periods of high blowby in healthy engines under high loads, at cold temps, etc.

They're not designed to handle shitloads of oily crankcase blowby on an ongoing basis, all of the "mods" Ford fanfools throw at their "high performance" EcoBoast engines just make a bad situation worse and Ford is perfectly happy to let foolish owners who think/thought "twin turbo" meant "race engine" deal with the negative effects of their own stupidity AND the negative effects of Ford's crappy, bottom-dollar engineering and state-of-the-art, high-dollar propaganda and hype.

Especially since Ford dealers, who REALLY determine what IS and ISN'T covered by warranty since they have to do the work and buy the parts and then seek reimbursement from Ford, can point at a simple "fix" like a "catch can" and say "Warranty voided". PCV systems are actually EMISSIONS EQUIPMENT and they were designed to prevent engines dumping crankcase vapors and the oil contained within into the atmosphere and on the ground.

And since altering emissions equipment is a federal offense if the EPA wants to go into full asshole mode, dealers have all the "jurisdiction" and "right" in the world to void warranties on emissions-modified vehicles. And all the incentive in the world since they would otherwise have to repair or replace engines puking lots of oil out of the PCV system. So yeah, go ahead and "fix" your EcoBoast or other Ford "high performance" engine with a "catch can".

It'll really "impress" the dealership tech that pops the hood on your beloved Ford when you're at the dealership test-driving your next "high performance" vehicle, too. He'll note it on his quick, walk-around inspection form that goes along with the used vehicle "quickie" inspection you probably don't even know they do as soon as you're off the property on a test-drive, the sales department will be immediately informed and your trade-in will take a big hit in value no matter how "clean" and "stock" the vehicle looks otherwise.

Oh, one more thing. Those "mods" that supposedly don't leave a "footprint" in the controllers definitely DO leave an "electronic trail" of exceeded factory operating parameters, pressures, temperatures, sensor readings, etc. Even when they don't set check engine lights or trip codes or show up in "tuner software". All engine tuning is done using sensor voltages returned from myriad sensors based upon a signal voltage sent out by controllers. All "tuners" and "tunes" create engine operating conditions outside of "normal" and add fuel/air outside of what the engine would otherwise get. Those changes cause funky readings from sensors, etc.

Even an engine that accelerates much faster than "normal" (aka the speed the controllers would otherwise let it accelerate given various other engine operating conditions) in neutral during "throttle blips" can create "red flags" that don't trip codes because they're not "standard" failures/malfunctions requiring a fault code. All fault codes these days are "standardized" and are from a list of thousands of codes and conditions that create them determined by the manufacturers for their FACTORY vehicles because they don't want any AFTERMARKET products or "tuning" creating codes they might have to "fix" and they don't want any longer list than is necessary since the codes apply to a huge range of vehicles, engines, fuel types, etc.

But each manufacturer has its own special list of "critical engine/vehicle operating conditions" that its controllers and software store in multiple places and communicate on a CAN-bus network so even replacing one or more controllers doesn't "erase" them. And they use "weird" and seemingly "harmless" parameters and data such as key-on cycles, key-on cycles vs. engine starts and the time/date or at least mileage of those events to determine when someone was doing something probably "diagnostics related".

Most vehicles have an ACCESSORY position on the ignition switch for listening to the stereo, etc without powering up the ignition system/controllers, etc. That goes back to breaker point ignitions when leaving the key in the "IGN ON" position could burn the points or overheat the coil. Now they use it to determine thinks like how clueless the driver may be if he or she is constantly going to key "on" to do something besides start the vehicle. Lots of key-on/key-off cycles in a short time are also an indicator some shadetree OBD-I era "mechanic" is trying to get the vehicle fault codes using the old on-off-on-off-on approach.

Regardless, even though some of those things may not "prove" the vehicle has been modified, they're flags that draw attention and a more in-depth "investigation". Usually while a potential new-car buyer is deep in "negotiations" with the salesman and service department personnel are checking the vehicle's "history" of warranty repairs, recalls, updates, service and maintenance by dealerships and independent shops in the "system" (yeah – some of them report what they do on late-model vehicles to dealers/manufacturers in order to make nice with them and avoid their customers/friends/families ending up with "modded" junk, too), insurance claims including AAA roadside assistance/lockout service/tows, and by digging into the computers on the vehicle itself. Of course nowdays they can do that remotely through OnStar and other "in-vehicle" apps made for "driver convenience".

It's also worth mentioning that more and more manufacturers and dealers are considering major modifications that eliminate or modify major factory equipment and systems such as emissions systems including EGR and PCV not only "warranty voiding" but "vehicle destroying" actions/events. Especially when the body and/or chassis is drilled into, welded on, etc. Used to be you could weld a steel plate across the rear frame rails of a pickup truck to install a gooseneck ball and cut a hole in the box and have the ball welded into the plate.

Now with hydroformed or fully boxed frames that are "hermetically sealed" to keep out moisture and corrosion and that are precisely engineered to be a certain strength and no stronger or weaker, that will get even a brand-new pickup a "salvage title". Even if a vehicle still has a clean title, dealerships are increasingly walking away from "modded" vehicles because the person wanting to trade them always has some ridiculous "estimate" of the value of his or her vehicle based on the "mods" and they always think its much HIGHER than a stock vehicle's "value".

Or they get into "negotiations" and want to start taking off "mods" to try to strengthen their hand or get themselves a better deal or to make the dealer think they're willing to walk away, etc. Regardless, dealers don't want or need to deal with the bullshit, modded vehicles are even more "worthless" at an auction than damaged or high-mileage stock vehicles because there's a much smaller "market" for them and far fewer valuable factory parts on them and they won't pass inspections or qualify for financing even at a lot of "buy here/pay here" used-car lots.

Then there's the fact that its ALWAYS cheaper to buy the higher-performance version of any vehicle than to buy a low-performance new vehicle and "upgrade" it, there's millions of old vehicles out there that can be purchased and upgraded and end up being cheaper, higher-performance vehicles than anything new for a fraction of the price, manufacturers sell high-performance parts FOR their older vehicles and many dealers have parts departments that specialize in them and in general its in nobody's long-term best interest to have wannabe "hotrodders" buying late-model new vehicles, adding all sorts of "mods" and going out and tearing up the streets with them until they blow them up or crash them.