Oil film from PCV hoses

[ontherocks83]

I know this is a minor nuisance but I have a carb'd 350 alpha one and the pcv valves hoses route back to the carb flame arrestor to be recycled back into the engine. After a while the flame arrestor becomes covered in an oil film along with the top of the engine. Now I know this isn't a problem and it's not hurting anything but is there a better way to route or better place to put the pcv vents so that they don't cover the engine in an oil film?

 

[Gimme Fuel]

First make sure the PCV valves are clean or just replace as they are cheap and no different than generic automotive ones (if equipped, sometimes merc just used a hollow valve as a 90* fitting). Generally if a PCV or breather becomes gummed up, it makes the situation seem worse than it really is allowing more oil than normal.

If that does not cure the problem, sounds like your motor is getting tired and has some blow by. Interim solution could be to install a filtered PCV valve or a baffled grommet to help settle the oil from the vapor before it gets to the arrestor screen. May want to do a compression/leak-down test at this point. A cheap Ebay puke-tank breather may also be a solution.

 

[ontherocks83]

I'll try replacing the valves. I had them out and think they might just be the 90 degree bends you mentioned. I couldn't hear anything rattle inside of them when I shook them so hopefully it's that cheap of a fix.

 

[Gimme Fuel]

If they are just the hollow tubes, you can get a filtered breather with the 5/8 nipple for the breather tube. I looked into them for mine a while back until I found the real source of my oil mist problem. They are $7 a piece and just push into the valve breather grommets.

 

[ontherocks83]

Do you mean something like this?

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/vpe-2164?seid=srese1&gclid=COSw7YDko8YCFdgJgQod_boAPw