PCV questions!

[dvandoormaal]

I guess I've developed a little oil leak on my '03 5.4L, and oil ends up on the headers/exhaust on the right rear of the motor and smokes up a little. Thought it might be something difficult to isolate (I hate troubleshooting oil leaks).

Any way, I just glanced under my hood after reading a bunch of stuff about PCV valves and I noticed, holy shit, my PCV valve and hose are COVERED in oil, and oil that looks fresh.

Could this be my problem?? The oily goo is all over the valve and quite a ways up the hose. Should I be doing the valve and hose? If so, does anyone have any tips or a guide to changing it? I've checked all over the net but everyone's PCV setup seems a little different than mine (looks like I have 2 hoses out of mine).

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[Hamfisted]

Could just be clogged up. Pull it out and spray some carb cleaner into it to clean it out, make sure there's a good strong vacuum there with the motor running. Check the rubber elbow at the rear of the motor where the line connects, no vacuum leaks. Then clean the whole area of oil and watch it for a week to see if the oily mess returns.


-Mike

 

[dvandoormaal]

Could just be clogged up. Pull it out and spray some carb cleaner into it to clean it out, make sure there's a good strong vacuum there with the motor running. Check the rubber elbow at the rear of the motor where the line connects, no vacuum leaks. Then clean the whole area of oil and watch it for a week to see if the oily mess returns.

Thanks a lot! That sounds like a good approach. The truck has 306,000km on it now so I think I might just opt to replace the valve if not the whole thing, as I have a 2000km roadie to go on over Christmas.

I also found this post on another forum that looks very helpful in case anyone is interested.

PCV Valve- How it works, how to replace it - Ford F150 Forum - Community of Ford Truck Fans

 

[dvandoormaal]

Case 1: If vacuum is felt with the PCV valve connected, the system is working properly.
Case 2: If vacuum is NOT felt with the PCV valve connect, but vacuum is present at the hose, then your PCV Valve is bad.
Case 3: If vacuum is NOT felt at the PCV valve or hoses, replace both. They are super cheap, and definitely a good maintenance idea.

Ok so small update, I went out and got greasy on my coffee break and followed the steps above from the other post...

I pulled the valve out of the valve cover and held my finger over the tip. Nothing. No suction.

Then I pulled the hose off the top of the valve and TONS of suction.

Moral of the story is it looks like I just have a bad valve. Will be replacing it tomorrow. Hopefully its related to my small oil leak but if not, hey, maybe Il get a few MPG back before my roadtrip.