Anyone Know What This Bit Is On The Side Of My Zetec?

[Guest Dave Skirrow]

[knights_templar]

its an oil separator.

 

allows crank case emissions to escape into recirculation system and any oil to pass back to the sump.

 

the engine is designed to be at an angle, fitting it vertically makes it redundant.

 

a healthy engine will be quit happy breathing from the upper vent

[Guest Dave Skirrow]

Cheers guys, I'll take it off then I reckon

[Longboarder]

Crankcase pressure is produced in the bottom end of the engine mostly. Why make it travel up above the head to escape against the flow of oil returning from the cams? Could this slow oil return significantly? (Possibly.) Why did the designers of the zetec put it there when to do so meant they had to go to the trouble of making an oil separator? Ford don't usually waste money on useless parts. Why didn't they just rely on the breather in the cam cover? Can you get away with blanking it off? Probably. Does blanking it off have any longer term problems? Don't know but the older the engine the greater the blow-by.

Is there an advantage in removing it? Perhaps weight saving. Is there any disadvantage in removing it? I don't know. When in doubt..... I kept mine but removed the suction valve in the outlet (which is just like the pinto one) and piped it to a catch tank.

 

Nigel

[Andy Spencer]

If it helps I ran a Zetec in my old 2b for 6 years with it blanked off and never had any noticeable trouble, and think it's still going strong now somewhere in the club. As Nigel says, may not be the optimum solution however.

Cheers

[speedtripledan]

Mines on and staying, with a the small outlet pipe running to the ground, then the rocker cover is breathing through a tank as it stank the car out with oily vapour smell

[Guest Dave Skirrow]

Just come in from the garage. Looks like I'm going back out to refit it!

 

Was just trying to get rid of any un-needed stuff but yeah, there's no real reason to remove it and it save the job of making a blanking plate keeping it anyway.

 

I assume it doesn't leave an oily film over everything if I dont use a catch tank? Catch tank will be eventually added but it'll end up at the bottom of the to-do list...

[blue]

See I took mine off but now after reading this I'm not sure if I should put it back on ??

After reading the burton article it seems that it has an PCV valve fitted which if I fit a tube to it and aim it at the floor will remain closed anyway and do nothing as it won't have the engines vac behind it to pull it open ?? Or am I missing something ??

[knights_templar]

plenty of views.

 

it is an emission device, not a breather device.

 

like active charcoal filters, and EGR, which were fitted to the Zetec, it is totally redundant on a performance kit car set up.

 

It will not matter if it is left on, as Richard says, it is not connected so will not work, and the rest of the system is missing anyway, such as the link to the top breather, and the vac control.

 

it will not matter if it is removed, as the engine was designed to run with PCP it will be more than happy breathing from the top, assuming a good engine.

 

just my opinion I know and the internet is full of people who will say different.

[Guest Dave Skirrow]

Plenty of different views on this one, think I'm gonna leave it on and vent to the floor. Mainly because it's quick and easier than making a blanking plate!

[Mitch]

That's the beauty of rhocar ....... You never get a simple answer .. several technical ones but never a simple one .... And usually all different so you are none the wiser at the end lol

 

Mitch

 

[sj-bradley]

Same here. I had a crate engine and left that bit on but just plugged the outlet further up.

 

I thought that this would increase the crankcase volume slightly so would help reduce any pulses due to compression.

(It also saved the cost of a blanking plate - but that was a bonus ... )

 

I also thought that assuming zero blow by (new engine) then the volume in the crankcase is constant (since as two go down, two go up etc) so breathing is not a problem.

 

Simon.

[Guest davidimurray]

The volume in the crankcase is constant, but the air will expand as the engine heats up so as long as it can breather should be ok.I have seen a pinto with both crank and cambox breathers blanked off which would shoot the dipstick out in quite an impressive fashion! Personally I would always put an oil breather into a catch tank. My logic is that if something bad does happen and the oil does start being pushed out at least it won't be all over the road/your tyres.

[richardm6994]

The volume in the crankcase is constant, but the air will expand as the engine heats up.

 

Don't forget blow-by from the pistons will cause a pressure build up and is probably the primary cause of crank case pressure?

[brumster]

You also want to breathe to allow impurities to escape from the oil, including water vapour. I can't really add much to the excellent article on the Burton site, linked above. On my race engines I have them breathing into a catch tank via no valves whatsoever (ok, replace "catch tank" with "lucozade bottle"... which has become a bit of a tradition/in-joke with the service crew now, but it's lighter than an alloy tank and cheaper so I don't get upset if it's ever damaged!)...