Help with Oil Catch Can Location on S/C RS4

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

So the rs went in for an oil change and filter at 15.000 kms after the S/C installation, (doing changes every 5000 kms) and as I had some issues with smoke due to a faulty jhm pcv check valve (jhm NEEDS to improve the quality of this check valve/spring), we decided to remove the intake manifold, check the condition and see what happens.

Things were very oily and dirty to say the least almost everywhere.

We will clean everything, will do a proper carbon cleaning on the intake valves, flaps, maf, manifold, lines, s/c intercooler, change the spark plugs, change the jhm return oil filter, and in general anywhere we find oil we ll either clean it or replace it.

due to the oil mess I decided to install an oil catch can to help everything. one thing the s/c is doing as I am seeing is pulling more oil mist from the crank case. trying to safeguard everything I do believe the catch can is the way to go.

I wanted to ask your advise on where to install it.

a) Before the intake
b) at the return line of the intake and before the pcv
c) after the pcv and before the s/c intercooler
d) somewhere I am not aware of…

In addition kindly please let me know if there is a specific brand you can recommend that works well. I have been told about provent 200 - not pretty but def works very well, mishimoto or something else. Functionality is the key here and not looks

As we had to empty the intercooler I just wanted to ask if keep using G12 is ok or if there is any other fluid with better characteristics

thank you very much!

P.S: other stuff that failed apart from the pcv check valve in the time of use are 2 of the 4 bearings that hold the s/c belt and the bearing which is on the belt tensioner. In general terms kit is extremely solid in quality and constant delivery of performance and dont see these faults as significant.

#2

Wow, you have done quite a bit of mileage comparred to mine so I will be watching this thread with interest to see progress and feedback regarding the oil/catch can and pulley/bearing situation.

Mine I am glad to say at this stage doesn’t smoke and the bit that is visible under hard acceleration both on the road and Dyno I believe is normal, I have seen worse from standard RS4’s so in my situation it’s probably caused by overfueling. I did however replaced the PCV during the Stage 1 install because at that milage I knew it was still running the factory fitted one and they do tend to go bad. That could be part of your problem but I don’t know!

The failed pulley’s/bearings are almost of a bigger concern to me, that means stripping and pulling the front core to replace. :’( Given I haven’t done close to you kind of mileage I am now worried that this might be a looming problem for me and the question is should I start planning for any preventative pulley maintenance/replacement on 10-12000 km’s? or 7500 miles to avoid failure? That seems very low!! :-\

To be honest it’s something that I didn’t see coming or planned for at such low milage :frowning:

I for one would be so gratefull if JHM could come in at this point and give their take/feedback on the situation.

I would have thought that those pulleys shouldn’t fail on that kind of mileage unless it was a bad pulley/s from the word go or perhaps their are some other factors that could come into play and if so I would like to know what those factors might be. The though that I might get stranded somewhere due to a pulley failure is not something that inspire me with confidence. I am planning for belt failure/replacement but that is a serviceable item and is something that I have planned for to replace every 7500-8000 miles just to be safe. Any thought on this??

Anyway, thanks for the feedback and will keep watching your progress and updates.

#3

PaladinRS4 The PCV system is set off of the pull of the supercharger on the low pressure intake side. So your going to get massive amount of pull on the crank case when in boost. This is by design to keep the motor and rings happy but that much pull will consist of oil particles at some point.

You want to make sure not to have a vented catch can system as that will cause a vac leak. You want to have a closed system but you want to have it before the oil separator and normal PCV system. Its a hard balance but if you can get it right it should be a nice piece.

As for the intercooler tank and fluid. There is zero need to use G12. You can use any coolant you wish even consisting of standard geen coolant. I would actually recommend different coolant in the intercooler system than oem as its not a connected system and any possible leaks would be easier to identify due to the difference color scheme.

#4

I don’t know fully about JHMs pulleys but in the domestic blower cars you only see pulley failure on the roller pulleys and you see that when there is an over tightening of the blower belt. Nobody wasn’t belt slip but with an auto tentionsor system JHM uses your going to be getting more belt bite per load so you want to make sure the belt slack is as recommended from JHM. Any tighter and your going to get pre mature roller pulley ware.

#5

My apologies, was maybe using the wrong description, I meant the roller pulleys. Thinking back when I did the 1+ upgrade and install the new belt was super tight, so much so that I queried it with JHM at the time and Jake explained that it was normal so I went ahead and elbowed it on. It certainly wouldn’t slip over with just slacking off the tensioner, there just wasn’t enough slack so had to keep the tensioner at full tilt whilst forcing the belt over the bottom pulley. Hope that was the way it’s supposed to be but I guess I will find out soon. If mine fails then it could only be that there is to much tension on those roller pulleys.

Agree, I just went with BMW OEM coolant, Greenish in colour and did so exactly for the reason as mentioned, to be able to distinguish between which system is leaking should that occur.

#6

Good afternoon gents and thank you for the comments.

As with rs4fan I also had to keep the tensioner at full tilt and it was tightas JHM recommended it. I dont think we did anything wrong there.

On the catch can. So a closed type can (any brands to have a look at?forge maybe?) and have it before the oil separator and pcv. So effectively directly at the intake manifold and before the pcv i think I can fit it but will need to have a look.

with G12 I am very happy. my question was if there something even better. i ll just keep using the same…I am waiting for rs4fan to complete the killer chiller tests so I can order the “finalised” kit!!