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Deleted oil separator help!?


xricer
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Hey guys, I just bought an 87....turns out the entire separator system is gone! The cr has what looks like tep hard pipes. Can anyone tell me what I need off of my parts car at minimum or fabbing to get it back? Is it just the line from the back of vcover(atmosphere now, looks like my car is steam powered) then to the intake and drain to pan? The pan is capped off. .any help would be great! Seems like I've been reading for hours on the subject...lol Edited by xricer
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Thanks ak....but did not see it in those 66 pages...saw the two lines going to the air box but very vague...I stole part of this from another post on here...

 

There are three lines, the bottom one out to the pan, the middle one that goes to the valve cover and the top to the intake boot. So is that correct? If I pull the catch can that's mounted to the factory air box off and install a fitting into my turbo inlet pipe, run the drain and the line from the back of the valve cover...is that the whole system?

Edited by xricer
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The tubing can be replaced with 3/8 rubber fuel line correct?

Hn

 

You could replace it with a 3/8 rubber line from one end to the other ... the only draw back to that is the fitting on the VC sticks straight up so you get an awkward bend after running a line horizontal and then try to bend it on the fitting. You really need a need pre-molded 90 degree hose to make it sit right. Not that it couldn't be done ... just depends how picky you are.

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I think I might get some stainless tubing from work and bend it up? Always wanted a cleaner look than stock. For now though I'm going to get it working. Thanks
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Thanks TQ.....I was just curious if it would hurt anything to run it to the ovc pipe so it didn't run through the turbo and piping? I still have to drill and weld a fitting but was wondering if it had been done?
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So I hooked it all up...still smokes like mad!Seems to run perfect but I guess I should do a compression test. It also blows oil out of the oil fill cap? Even when the cap is on I get oil coating the valve cover? Looks like my 5.0 swap might happen sooner than I thought?
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What color & smell is the smoke? And when do you see it - idle, when boost pressure is present, deceleration?

The oil separator system supplements the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) system. PCV operates during idle and off-boost conditions (i.e. when there is actual vacuum in the intake manifold). The oil separator system takes over when boost is present. So if a StarQuest smokes a lot during idle or off-boost driving, it likely is not caused by the oil separator system.

 

Oil separator system operation: when the turbo is making boost, the turbo inlet is sucking a lot of air through the air filter... thus there will be a small vacuum between the turbo inlet and the slightly-restrictive air filter (inside the accordion hose on a stock StarQuest). The oil separator taps into this vacuum to draw crankcase fumes from the top of the vavle cover. The separator tank itself is just a large plenum chamber with internal baffles; the plenum lets the crankcase fumes+oil vapors slow down... hopefully leading to the "heavy" parts falling out of the airflow. Those heavy parts are any oil mist/droplets. The baffles also make the internal airflow follow a zig-zag pattern. Air can navigate the zigs and zags easily; heavier particles have more inertia and don't zig-zag so well... they end up collecting on the plates until those particles accumulate into oil droplets. The droplets eventually fall down to the lowest port on the tank and drain back to the oil pan. Dirt simple. As long as the canister isn't clogged with solids. Removing it from the car and flushing each port with spray carb cleaner is all it typically needs.

 

Black smoke = too-rich or other fuel system issue

 

Gray smoke = oil burning. Compression test or better yet a leakdown test will help identify the cause.

 

White smoke = coolant getting to the combustion chambers. If you use green antifreeze the exhaust will have a sweet maple syrup smell. Not sure what the orange stuff smells like. Usually white smoke is pretty continuous - idle, off-boost, on-boost. If it only shows up after the engine warms up a bit then think cracks in the head or block that open up from thermal expansion. StarQuests with neglected antifreeze can suffer erosion inside the cylinder head, letting the coolant seep into the combustion chambers even though no cracks are visible. Though I don't have a lot of evidence to support this for StarQuests, metalurgical changes in several Japanese heads in the 1988 time frame (across several car manufacturers) suffer from this quite a bit. My local machine shops says they see this on 88-89 heads from the Toyota 20/22R families... those legendairly tough Celica & pickup motors. And some 2.6 heads from 88-later too. Gasket failures at the head-to-intake manifold or throttle body-to-manifold are also common sources of coolant getting into the exhaust.

 

Oil smoke during boost = often signs of a turbo needing a rebuild.

 

Oil smoke after idling a bit = worn vavle stem seals

 

Oil smoke continuously = oil in the exhaust or cat converters - takes a LONG time to burn off - or shot piston rings.

 

When a turbo fails it often dumps a lot of oil into the exhaust pipes... right into the cat converters which pretty much destroys them. Oil also flows into the piping between the turbo and intercooler and ends up pooling inside the intercooler. Gotta remove all those pipes/parts to cleam them.

 

mike c.

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Thanks for that info! Great stuff! I will do a comp/leakdown test tomorrow....not much at idle but if I snap the throttle....a plume of blue grey smoke puffs out and when I drive it it smokes on accel. Also worried about the amount of blowby forcing oil out the filler cap??
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StarQuests have some funky baffles in the block webbing that restricts air movement between the undersides of the pistons. As a result funky pressure pulses move from the crankcase area, up the timing chain area, to the top of the valve cover. It is normal to feel rapid-fire pulses out the oil fil port. That's why the cap has a fat gasket and the strong metal ears to hold it tight to the valve cover. Cracks in that gasket are not acceptable. It must also fit tight to the valve cover.

 

mike c.

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