Still Not Sold On A Catch Can? Check Here...

sdeeter19555 · January 3, 2017

The stuff I catch in my Elite basic can don't look like that at all. It's dark, watery, and I usually only get about 1oz. in about 1-2000 miles of driving.

Depends on the time of year.

I get the dark watery stuff in summer, get the brown milkshake in winter...the latter is because of additional condensation from colder temps.

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enroberts · January 3, 2017

The only time a catch can will allow oil - fuel odor out is when there is a small leak at the fitting or one of the hoses. Usually one of the fittings will need to be resealed with Teflon tape or a thread sealer. Be sure to check all your hoses are pushed all the way on. Leaks like this are so small they are almost impossible to find and that I have even seen the threads of the catch can needing to be retapped if there is any chatter when they're manufactured as taps wear out in production. Leaks are really frustrating and can always be found and just require a thorough review of the system.

It's frustrating when you have to sit in a truck with your family and smell gas in the cab.

Joe

Thanks Joe. Not the case here. No cracks or leaks at all in my system. The problem for me was that the hoses my can came with were NOT vapor hoses. My Camaro RX can came with all Vapor barrier hoses and it's never smelled. My firend also has a can on his turbo Kia and had the same odor. We swapped my Elite and his can over to Gates' vapor hoses and now...NO MORE SMELL! Elite should really be shipping their cans with vapor barrier hoses. I can STILL smell the outside of the hose and smell fuel/oil.

66deadhead · January 3, 2017

I ended up buying a UPR plug and play catch can. Went with UPR since it came with hoses and factory fittings. It made a loud whine for the first hundred miles but now it's quiet. I can't open it up to see what's inside but however it's made it seems to work. The picture below is after ~1,200 miles. It is a thick oil sludge and I'm glad it didn't go into my intake. It's roughly 2oz.

I hope this picture works, it was a pain to reduce to the correct size.

Have the same can. I think you have to back out the side hose barbs on the can to get it opened, as the barbs interfere with getting the guts out if the are screwed in to far. I read they recommend to clean the inside of the can every 6 months, so there must be a way. I was able to get mine partially apart , but not all the way out. Gonna wait for warmer weather and try again.

Joe@UPRproducts · January 3, 2017

Thanks Joe. Not the case here. No cracks or leaks at all in my system. The problem for me was that the hoses my can came with were NOT vapor hoses. My Camaro RX can came with all Vapor barrier hoses and it's never smelled. My firend also has a can on his turbo Kia and had the same odor. We swapped my Elite and his can over to Gates' vapor hoses and now...NO MORE SMELL! Elite should really be shipping their cans with vapor barrier hoses. I can STILL smell the outside of the hose and smell fuel/oil.

Wow, that's crazy as I've seen that before and it can be a real PITA. Thank you for sharing that as I was curious if you figured it out yet. You are right as a consumer and enthusiast you should not have to deal with things like that. That is why we only ship all our systems with Continental Braided lines specifically for the task of handling the fuel and oil. We got away from generic rubber hose years and years ago for many of those reasons.

I am curious on your friends KIA can you you send me a link to pictures of the catch can he runs if you don't mind ?

[email protected]

Have a great night, Joe

Joe@UPRproducts · January 3, 2017

Have the same can. I think you have to back out the side hose barbs on the can to get it opened, as the barbs interfere with getting the guts out if the are screwed in to far. I read they recommend to clean the inside of the can every 6 months, so there must be a way. I was able to get mine partially apart , but not all the way out. Gonna wait for warmer weather and try again.

The best way to clean the system does not require any disassembly. You can do it easily with warm water and dish soap if you remove the top center plug n play line and just fill the can to the top and let it sit then drain it out and right away pour more hot water through it to flush it out. But to be perfectly honest the can really doesn't get buildup because the heat keeps the contents soft and loose. So as long as you drain your catch can right after driving it then you will have done the best flushing without any real work as you can just leave the ball valve open for a bit with a cup under it and the excess always drains out.

Joe

66deadhead · January 3, 2017

The best way to clean the system does not require any disassembly. You can do it easily with warm water and dish soap if you remove the top center plug n play line and just fill the can to the top and let it sit then drain it out and right away pour more hot water through it to flush it out. But to be perfectly honest the can really doesn't get buildup because the heat keeps the contents soft and loose. So as long as you drain your catch can right after driving it then you will have done the best flushing without any real work as you can just leave the ball valve open for a bit with a cup under it and the excess always drains out.

Joe

Great information Joe, noted and thank you for the reply. You just made my life a little easier

sprint_9 · February 8, 2017

Decided after reading through this and a couple other threads on the topic to do a little investigating on my truck. I havent owned it that long, about 2 months. I noticed that it didnt seem to start as easily as it should.

I had some time so I tore the intake off yesterday, and found a mess. Well first I would like to punch the designer that fastened the wiring to the intake with those stupid push clips, seriously, especially the big ones on the back of the cover. If you take your intake off, take the 4 bolts holding the cover out and slide the intake under the cover to remove it, then you have enough room to manipulate the top cover and get the clips out of the back.

I was probably going to add a catch can to the dirty side, after tearing into it I think Ill add a clean side separator as well.

Here is what mine looked like, 2014, 5.3, 40000 miles.

Edited February 8, 2017 by sprint_9

Joe@UPRproducts · February 8, 2017

Feel free to PM me for a great deal on the latest UPR Plug n Play™ System.

Joe

sprint_9 · February 8, 2017

Much Better...

jrob56 · February 8, 2017

Much Better...

20170208_101733.jpg

20170208_103313.jpg

Guessing this is after picture, how did you clean yours?

Mine was without a catch can until 44k miles so Im assuming mine will look similar.

sprint_9 · February 8, 2017

Yes thats after, kind of hard to get decent picture.

I would say I got about 90% of it off, what I did first was to figure out which valves were open, in my case 2 and 7 were open, the other 6 were closed. So I worked on the other 6 first, I used some Seafoam to soak them. While that was in there I used the combination of a tooth brush, parts washer brush, and a 410 shotgun bore brush bent at an angle to try and brush the valve. After that sat for a while I sucked it out with a baster into a container. The baster worked ok, but not as I had hoped, a better suction tool would be alot better, maybe the aggressive chemicals ruined it. Alot of paper towels were needed to keep the mess off of the injectors and wiring as the baster wouldn't hold suction.

After all that was out I switched over to carb cleaner and did the same process, while also focusing on the walls of the port. On the first 6 I let this sit in the port and soak over night, I didnt need the truck so figured it wouldnt hurt, and it didnt, these 6 valves came out better than my other two with less work.

After letting those sit over night I sucked all that out, and rinsed one final time with carb clean. Sucked that out, and then shoved a paper towel down into the very bottom of the port to soak up what I couldn't suck out. After that I blew compressed air into the port to blow out any debris.

Then I re taped those ports to keep debris out of them, rotated the engine by hand until the other 2 valves were closed and did basically the same to them, with the exception of not letting them soak as long

With all that done I took the truck out for a drive and can notice a difference, it starts better, idles better and just overall drives better.

Q8_TwinTurbo · September 9, 2017

Yes thats after, kind of hard to get decent picture.

I would say I got about 90% of it off, what I did first was to figure out which valves were open, in my case 2 and 7 were open, the other 6 were closed. So I worked on the other 6 first, I used some Seafoam to soak them. While that was in there I used the combination of a tooth brush, parts washer brush, and a 410 shotgun bore brush bent at an angle to try and brush the valve. After that sat for a while I sucked it out with a baster into a container. The baster worked ok, but not as I had hoped, a better suction tool would be alot better, maybe the aggressive chemicals ruined it. Alot of paper towels were needed to keep the mess off of the injectors and wiring as the baster wouldn't hold suction.

After all that was out I switched over to carb cleaner and did the same process, while also focusing on the walls of the port. On the first 6 I let this sit in the port and soak over night, I didnt need the truck so figured it wouldnt hurt, and it didnt, these 6 valves came out better than my other two with less work.

After letting those sit over night I sucked all that out, and rinsed one final time with carb clean. Sucked that out, and then shoved a paper towel down into the very bottom of the port to soak up what I couldn't suck out. After that I blew compressed air into the port to blow out any debris.

Then I re taped those ports to keep debris out of them, rotated the engine by hand until the other 2 valves were closed and did basically the same to them, with the exception of not letting them soak as long

With all that done I took the truck out for a drive and can notice a difference, it starts better, idles better and just overall drives better.

sprint_9,

Thank you for sharing the steps you took to cleaning the valves and surrounding areas. That helps greatly.

Rams01 · September 13, 2017

I think having to do any of this to a brand new vehicle that's still under warranty is dumbfounding. I probably won't keep my truck forever but fact of the matter is I refuse to do any of this . Outside of checking my oil (isn't burning much if any) I haven't needed to do anything like this with my truck despite having similar issues to members in here (rough idle, long starts etc.) I think it's kinda BS to have to on brand new trucks esp when you follow all the best practices from the beginning and yet still have filthy looking valves and all that garbage the PVC system should have done correctly. Amazing to see all that BS in the catchcans on stock ass cars lol. That's the kinda crap I see in my race car usually.

Brandon · October 27, 2017

Hi all. Just wanted to share my experience thus far. I have a 2015 Silverado with the 5.3l and 46k miles. I installed an Elite catch can 2,500 miles ago and figured I'd check it last night since I normally change the oil every 5k miles and was told that's the best time to empty it. I couldn't believe how much it caught in so little time. Guess I'm going to need to check it every 1,500-2,000 miles.

Grumpy Bear · October 27, 2017

So we're draining a cup of 'oil' from these cans every thousand miles or so and yet we are not showing a loss on the dipstick?

That's a neat trick. If you're old enough to have worked on motors with draft tubes and carburetors you still saw intake runners fouled if you given them enough miles. Sooner if worked hard.