Breather pipe / valve

[philb115]

I’ve had a bit of a search (both on here and on the net) and I can’t find anything with a definite solution to oil spitting up the breather pipe from the rocker cover and soaking the air filter. From what I’ve read, it’s a common enough problem on higher mileage engines and can be anything from an old valve in the air box to the piston rings being knackered.

Anyway, does anyone have a decent solution? So far I’ve found these:

• Attach a long bit of hose to the pipe on the rocker cover and point it at the ground. I don’t mind oil stains on my garage but others don’t like them on their driveways…!
• Put in a catch tank of some kind. These seem to vary from a coke bottle to a proper metal bolted in job that has filters and stuff in and links back up to the air box. I’m not sure the former would pass an emissions test, and the latter is a bit expensive.
• Cap the breather pipe and plug the entrance to the air box. That one just seems like a bad idea…

Any other suggestions?!

[Housey]

if its only from the rocker cover, and not from the crankcase (take the dipstick out) then its most likeley the splashguard inside the rocker cover

if the rings are extremly worn, it will spit oil from the dipstick tube aswell

take your oilcap of, can you see the cam, or is there a black plastic splashguard in the way?

[philb115]

Yeah nothing from the crankcase… There’s a black plastic splashguard so I can’t see the cam with the oil cap off. I’ve got a spare (new) rocker cover gasket that I was going to fit anyway so I can have a look under the rocker cover when I take it off.

[philb115]

OK, I took the rocker cover off and replaced the gasket. Whilst I was there I had a look at the splash guard, and it’s fine. There’s also a filter type thing that seems to be pressed into the rocker cover – that was a bit crudded up but not too bad. Anyway, as a result I’m still looking for a solution to this – maybe I could stuff the space above the filter in the rocker cover with something to stop the oil spitting up?

[86 Syncro]

Just a guess here, but do you think it’s possible that your oil returns in the cylinder head could be gunked up, and it’s taking longer for the oil to drain back down?

I would think that your always going to get some oil in your filter housing, since it’s a direct connection from the valve cover to the filter housing, without any kind of catch in between.

Another solution for that could be to fit an oil catch can, like what the turbo guys use.

[philb115]

Thanks for the suggestion! I did some tests with only half of the air box on, and it’s definitely only oil vapour condensing within the air box. I did note that the section of the air box that sits on the carb isn’t quite the right part – it’s not got a hole where it should bolt onto the carb – so I’m going to try to find the right one and put it on.

I think I’ll probably also fit a catch can – seems like a neat solution (especially if you use one with proper filters in) so I’ll be trawling the web for a few parts this weekend []

[philb115]

Thought I’d post a pic of what I eventually did – link here.

[philb115]

Of course, now that I’ve sorted all the oil issues, I have a coolant leak somewhere… *sigh*

[philb115]

Oh, and FYI it’s one of these – a bit pricey, but should last a while…

[Chris S]

Having finally seen what system you have I would suggest that you have a look at part nr 9 (pressure relief valve) this may help to solve your problem

[86 Syncro]

In order for you to use that bit, you would need to use a different valve cover, from any of the Digifant engines , or from the 2E/AGG or G60 engines, they all have the vent opening on the top that you need for it to work.

[Chris S]

Looking at the drawing again I think that part nr 17 should do the same job on the original cam cover.

[philb115]

Does anyone know where I can get hold of what is shown on the diagram as part number 17? It doesn’t appear to have a part number in ETKA. Failing that, can I use one of these? I’m guessing that’s basically the same thing but for the smaller engines…?!

[Chris S]

Part nr 17 is P/N 027 103 245A & was dropped without replacement by VW on 01/03/2002 & is also NLA at VW Classic parts [xx(]

It was fitted to the 1985 Golf 1800 carb motor

[philb115]

In that case I might try with the one from the 1100 / 1300 motors as above… worth a go!

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