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| Joined: | 07-06-2005 |
| Location: | Eugene, Oregon USA |
| Posts: | 162 |
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I, too, had been finding emulsion on my dipstick, as well as oil leaking around the oil filler cap, both signs of breather problems as I understood them. When I pulled the breather hoses off, set up for my K&N filters by the PO, they were all full of the mayo-like oil emulsion as well. I thought that they'd just gotten full of gunk, stopped up, and caused the other breather problems. Not so simple.
Once I got the hoses off that connect directly to the crankcase and the oil filler, I discovered the PO had wedged little pieces of kitchen scrubber sponge into the hoses. Presumably, when I bought the car in 2005, they were relatively clean bits o' sponge, and had let some of the crankcase gasses through, but by now they were completely clogged with oil gunk. I think those bits of sponge were the main cause of my breather problems: too much pressure in the crankcase, and when the oil tried to escape, either through the dipstick tube or around these sponges, it created that milky emulsion. Yuck.
So, two questions: 1) should I be worried about running my JH with the sponges removed from the oil breather? 2) why did the PO put said sponges into the pipes in the first place?
My wife pointed out that the PO last drove the car while it still had to meet CA smog rules, so the alteration of the breather system might have been related to passing a smog inspection. That's the best explanation we've been able to come up with.
Thanks,
Edward