Please forgive my noob ignorance, but what does a catch can do?? Y’all seem excited about this, should I be looking into one too?
Hey
@danielle2019,
I'm slightly biased, but we have a pretty good article on blow-by and catch cans that you can read here:
Blow-By 101
In short, all internal combustion engines produce what is known as blow-by. Blow-by is a combination of crankcase gasses, oil vapor from the crankcase and cylinders, fuel, and other natural by-products of combustion (like water). These vapors and gasses make their way into the engine's crankcase during normal engine operation, but in order to keep the crankcase from becoming over-pressurized, they need to be vented. In the past, this venting was done by simply connecting a hose (known as a draft tube) to the crankcase and venting the blow-by under the car. As emissions and environmental concerns became more widely recognized, that venting system evolved. Now, manufacturers usually vent blow-by back into the vehicle's intake to be re-burned in the next combustion cycle. That system for venting the blow-by and reburning it is know as the crankcase ventilation (CCV) or positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) system.
While modern CCV systems make for cleaner engine operation, that routing of the blow-by into the intake can cause some issues. For direct-injected vehicles, the lack of fuel washing over intake valves can cause carbon buildup on the valves and lead to very poor performance. In the case of port-injected vehicles (like your Ram), the effects of blow-by are less acute, but can still be detrimental to performance. For one, the oil and fuel vapors build up in the intake system and can eventually cause issues with any sensors in the intake. These sensors often control fueling and when they become dirty, performance and efficiency suffer. The more constant effect of blow-by in a port-injected engine is the lowering of your fuel's effective octane (or its resistance to knock). In newer engines, the amount of blow-by entering the cylinder is not usually enough to worry about knock, but as the engine wears, the rings allow more oil and fuel into the crankcase and the potential for knock goes up.
The job of a catch can like this is to intercept the oil, fuel, water, and other contaminates in blow-by and filter them out. The vapors condense in the can and the intake receives only fresh air. Many of the effects of blow-by buildup take time to become noticeable, but we think prevention is always better than treatment, which is why we offer this kit.
Hopefully that answered your question and didn't bore you to death
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Thanks,
-Steve
