Kinked PCV-valve hose

Hi,

 

I have an MY99 Legacy RSK with a VF35 single turbo setup and aprox. 15K km's ago rebuilt engine.

 

So I just got done fitting a GC8 front mount in to my car the other day and noticed that there was quite bit oil in the stock intecooler and hoses, so my turbo seals are probably shot AGAIN.

 

Went for a test drive and noticed a oil smell.. So now that it's -10 degrees celcius here, the right valve cover is dripping oil on the headers.. Sweet.

 

Also. Last summer I was messing with my boost control (basically ditching a bleed valve and figuring out a correct restrictor pill size) and I accidentally hit 1.5 bar boost (didn't go lean tho). Heard just a whistle like a vacuum leak but as soon as I opened my hood, I saw that the turbo had spitted oil from the compressor housing vacuum nipple?? The motor still today feels healthy. No smoke from the dipstick and the oil level stays at the top mark so I think it's fine.

 

 

But the real question is, can the kinked hose going from the plastic tee to the pcv valve cause all of this? I'm thinking it could but then again, I'm not sure.

I would want to say yes is that was the only way to relive pressure from the crank case but there are two breath hoses on the each side of the engine. Also a kinked hose it also bad on anything and the PCV is the main way to get oil out if it stuck open you could blow by alot.

Thanks for the response! Yeah, I know that there's a hose coming from the crank case (which is t'd to the pcv valve hose) which goes to intake, and lines from both valve covers also. I just can't figure out any other reason to why it started leaking oil. 15K km's driven engine shouldn't leak like that.

 

I haven't checked the compression yet, because it's a annoying job to do and I can't even warm up the engine due to broken maf.. And because the engine seems to be healthy.

 

However, I'm planning to get a leak-down test done at some point before I start modifying the car more, just to make sure.

when was the last oil change? are you low on oil?

I did the last oil change a little over 1K km's ago and no, oil level is fine. I also change the oil at every 5K km's.

 

 

Update: Pulled my turbo off today to find out that it has zero shaft play and didn't notice any oil in the turbo, so I think that it's fine after all.. Also called to a local subaru-guru and he confirmed that the kinked hose wouldn't cause all of that. But all of that is bad news for me, because if the oil isn't coming from turbo and the kinked hose isn't causing it either, it's my engine.. So next thing is a compression test.

 

There was normal-ish amout oil in the turbo inlet pipe, but it definitely isn't normal that car spits oil from bov.

Sorry about the double posting..

 

So today I did the compression check.. On a cold engine. The readings I got were following:

 

#1: 10.5bar/150psi

#2: 8.5bar/120psi

#3: 10.5bar/150psi

#4: 10bar/145psi

 

Man that really sucks.. Only aprox. 16K'kms/10K miles driven engine and close to stock power (VF35 running 1.2bar/17.5psi).

 

Don't know what I'm gonna do with the car now (except the leak-down test ofc). Had plans for a bigger turbo, E85 and standalone ECU..

 

Since it's not using any oil (can't see on dipstick) and if the problem is in the shortblock, I might just drive it till it blows up and at the meantime start building a EJ207 SCD or even EJ257 to drop in. Or get rid of it ASAP..

do the test warm and repost numbers.

Haven't got the motivation to get the warm compression test done. I got the new maf and now I've just driven the crap out of the car. I'm planning on getting the leak down test done eventually.

 

Kinda hope it's a head gasket issue, which it actually might be. I mean, both left side cylinders (2,4) were lower on compression than the right side cylinders. The 5psi difference in the cylinder four compared to 1 & 3 is nothing, but it might be sign of a hg failure. Or there's something wrong with the internals.. Who knows.

need warm compression test to determine compression. cold test means little to nothing. leak down test is also a good idea.

If the compression in one cylinder is 30psi lower than in the others when the engine is cold, it's not like the 30psi difference will magically disappear when the engine is in operating temp. Or at least that is with my logic.

 

At this point, I personally think that the warm compression test would be waste of time because I already know that the one cylinder is low in compression (that is compared to others). If I would go and do it, it wouldn't tell me where the issue is. That's why I don't see point in doing that.

 

A leak down test in the other hand, would actually lead me to were the issue is, so I'm gonna get that done professionally somewhere.

 

I hope that there isn't anything wrong with the internals so I could fix it easily, sell it and get an eg33 with that money.

It has been few months since the last update but today I finally did the warm compression test.. I did it only for the first two cylinders just to get a reference reading. Cylinder one had a solid 170psi and cylinder two had healthy 145psi. And by healthy I mean that the 145psi isn't that bad reading alone.

 

I also found out that all of the few months old front mount pipes were coated in oil and there was a nice puddle of oil in them too.. they were dripping oil everywhere.

 

I just couldn't see how that one cylinder could have so much blow by when it has "healthy" compression. And on top of that, the car runs and drives fine. So I started thinking.. And after a while, I got a solid idea.

 

What if the pcv valve was stuck open? Then it would let boost pressure escape to crank case. That is in my theory..

 

So I did a test. I plugged the pcv valve and leaved the crank case breather hose open (or the end of the T where the hose coming from the valve goes).. The difference was like night and day. It boosted just a tad more and accelerated noticeably faster and evenly, if you will. It has been a long time since I've got an adreline rush in that thing. And the best thing is that it didn't spit any oil from the open crank case ventilation hose.

 

So I think that I just need a new pcv valve, or I need to take it off and block the port.

 

I should knock on wood lol. Feels just too good to be true.. There's definitely something weird in the cylinder 2, but that could've been from day one I guess. It just felt like a whole different car on boost..

KINKED PCV will cause problems with seals in the engine if pressure gets too high from blow by...

 

 

replace the kinked hose

I agree - PCV valves is a device that causes trouble if they don't work as they should.

 

 

Of course you could replace it with a hose to an oil catch can and then vent it to free air as old time engines did before the 70's where no PCV valves existed. But plugging it is going to result in a world of sorrow.

The pcv valve in these cars is screwed to the intake manifold so you can't just leave it open. It needs to be plugged. Trust me, it's way better to run the car without one, than with one that is open all the time.

 

Mine is basically setup now so when the engine is at vacuum, the cranck case sees no vacuum or boost. But when the engine is on boost the crank case should see some vacuum.

I see, opposite to what later models have, then it makes sense to plug it and lead the engine vent to a oil catch can before leading back the excess to the intake before the throttle.