I've been combing the forum and reading about the different cans. From what I've read they seem like a necessity with any kind of forced induction. I've also read that some seem to have an issue with oil in the intake and others do not.

Am I safe in assuming this is a "wait and see" type of mod and not a necessity? I don't have the car yet but it went to "3000" this morning (Z51). I'm just looking for reasonable input on whether I need to put one on the day I pick it up or wait until the 500mile oil change and see what things look like?

Thanks.

 

The loudest proponents of catch cans are the manufacturers of such. If you drive the Vet as a Sunday car (like most owners do) then save your money. You will get rid of the car long before "coking" becomes an issue.

 

Right... I would think if it was such a big issue then GM would have addressed it in some way. I'll take the wait and see approach for now.

It'll be a DD-ish but I mostly work from home.... Usually go to the office once a week, maybe twice if they're lucky. Oh and I have no plans in the foreseeable future of "getting rid of it".

 

Yea...oil blowby is historically more of an issue with FI engines, but blowby in direct injection engines is pretty common and can be a problem way down the road, but we are talking past 50k miles.

I had to walnut blast the intake valves on my last rig that was DI to get the carbon buildup that occurred over about 40-50k miles. Was bad, but not horrible.

 

Interesting.... maybe the reason for the reduction of the drivetrain warranty on 2016's

If a can reduces this risk then it may be worth it.

 

Read Fyrant's thread on catch cans. It was my first purchase. I have them on my 2 G8's which aren't turbo'd or supercharged. I get lots of oil recovered in my catch cans that would have gone into the intake and eventually into the engine. ANY DI engine has no way of cleaning the intake naturally.

 

Na warranty was bc GM decided it wasn't worth it, not bringing in any business so hell with it.

Catch can is easy and cheap, so if it puts your mind at ease go for it. Def won't hurt

 

I've been following the debate on catch cans, sort of, and I've been on the fence as to whether I need one. I have a wet sump base model and I don't usually drive aggressively. Blow by, while always there to some degree, isn't a big issue but with DI technology being a dry intake with no cleaning ability I'm uncomfortable with the idea of oil being sucked into the intake system. Sure, coking the valves is a "way down the road" issue, probably why GM opted out of the catch can in production. But I plan to have this car "way down the road" so maybe I should address this issue myself. So.... who's got the most effective can for a reasonable price? Thanks

 

Are they making cach cans for the new ZO6 yet? Does this affect warranty in anyway?

 

Would definitely check out UPR, all plug n play fittings.

 

FYI, I'm not sure of any DI platform, FI or not, that includes a catch can as an OEM item straight from the factory. One of the reasons is prob the frequency that it would have to be checked and emptied thereby requiring more maintenance on the part of the driver who may not be mechanically inclined like us and is just bothered by it.

It's kind of a tricky issue. This is one of the few negatives of a direct injected engine and no auto manufacturer has really come up with a good solution to this problem as of right now that I am aware of.

Most catchcans on the market will most likely only catch a portion of what they need to, let's say 30-40% or so. Catchcans (although you think it's a simple inlet/can/filter/outlet) are not created equal, and some do a much better job than others at this simple task. So yeah, research is important, but also its really hard to tell how good of a job a can is doing. You will see oil accumulate in all of them. I haven't started researching brands yet...but I will when I get the car soon.

It's also important to remember that you are still going to have some coking down the road no matter what, can or not. But yes, in my honest opinion a *good* catch can will slow the buildup process and is a worthy investment on any DI engine. Also, coking is fixable via processes like walnut blasting every 45k miles or so depending on driving habits, mods, etc. so you aren't screwed if you don't use a can and you might want to clean the intake system anyway even with a can years down road. Blasting can be expensive, though.

 

This is what I drain out every 2,000 miles. This appears to be of more value then $150 of chrome doo-dads.

 

Catch cans are not really specific to model/brand and engines...it's a can with an inlet and an outlet tubing. However tubing size and brackets to mount the cans can be specific. Point is, you could easily install one now if you wanted.

It could affect your warranty, yes. Especially if the dealer can make any kind of long shot connection between a problem you may have down the road and the catchcan you installed.

I'm not sure how bad GM is with red flagging cars that have mods. I'm new to GM in total. On my past BMW's, we had to be VERY careful as BMW was horrible with red flagging cars at dealerships that went in for service and had any kinds of mods. They would send regional reps to dealers who would look for these kinds of things and if they saw you had mods, they would flag the VIN and poof...your warranty was gone.

 

I installed a catch can at 3K miles because it was easier than removing the throttle body to see how much oil had accumulated every 1K miles -- which was too much, in my opinion.

My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. It was the third mod I made to the car, after oil filter magnetic wraps and splash guards (I used GM's, but there have to be better options available!).

I recently saw some valves out of a BMW with about 35K miles on them that were badly coked. Yes, the coking can be blasted off, but that costs a lot more than adding a catch can. Plus, the blow-by that makes it past the valves can lead to increased deposits on the piston face and ring grooves. And coking deposits can crack off and lead to mild cylinder scoring, according to the BMW mechanic.

I went with a Mighty Mouse PCV catch can. Cost was less than $200, it took 45 minutes to install and can be removed to return to the stock PCV hose in 15 minutes.

Here's some info on my experience:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...an-review.html

I'm looking at changing the mounting location, so I still haven't cleaned up the hose routing. I would like to find a cooler location to mount the catch can, since condensation of the vapor on the can's walls is one of the mechanisms that removes the oil & water. This location is close to the exhaust header.

Some engines seem to have more blow-by than others. That's probably a combination of engine tolerance variations, driving styles, weather conditions, etc. But in my experience, blow-by was greatest during the first 4K miles, then seems to have reduced a lot after a long trip. But I haven't driven the car hard since then.

 

The Z06 has a different pcv system than the dry sump Z51, there is an internal check valve inside the blower and a typical dual catch can will not work on the Z06. I tried the UPR dual for the Z51 and it did not work. Hopefully someone will come up with something. It looks like the Z06 has an auxiliary can below the dry sump with a plastic return tube, maybe it is GM's version of a catch can? These days just about any mod will potentially void a warranty, its at our expense to prove it does not.

 

Can you further explain these two sentences? I am unfamiliar with the Z06's PCV system but catch cans are very simple, no matter the application. Also, why didn't the dual setup work on your Z51?

 

People can argue the need for and value of a catch can forever. There's little doubt, however, that a well designed can does trap oil, water and other compounds that will otherwise go through the intake system. How serious a problem that is may be debateable. There is certainly ample evidence that it's a serious problem on some DI engines. There really aren't enough high mileage LT1 engines yet to see what the long term impacts are.

But catch cans are pretty cheap, and easy to install. Most of us spend more on cosmetic mods than the cost of a catch can. I'd rather waste a couple of hundred bucks on something that's not really needed than not spend a couple of hundred bucks now and regret that decision later. A catch can is cheap insurance. And if you have a dry sump car, you really should get the clean side kit, too.

As for brand, not all catch cans are effective. Some are little more than a soda can with a couple of fittings attached. To be effective, the can needs a way to precipitate the contaminants out of the air flow and prevent them from being sucked back out. The Elite E2 has been shown to work very well. I'm sure there are others, too.

 

I have a Z06 which has a supercharger unlike the Z51 which is NA.
The dual catch can works on a Z51 because the throttle body has both ports for external connections to the catch can. The Z06 only has one port on the throttle body and the other location port is inside the supercharger manifold. No one has found a way to access the internal port to connect to a catch can.

 

Yup...got that part.

Ok, so you are talking about the dirty side feed up into the blower, correct? Is it the (little "U" hose on the Z51) that is inaccessible on the Z06?

By throttle body on the Z51, i'm guessing you mean the connection downstream of the TB on the plenum/intake manifold where the dirty side hose connects? The rest of the connections are on the plastic intake tubing on the drivers side.

 

Yes, it is the "dirty" side that is inaccessible.