Now continuing my efforts to debug this bugger...I went and
bought an oil separator from Harbor Freight tools and added this into
the PCV line. The parts cost around $10. The other option is to
buy a new valve cover with the corrected baffle inside to keep oil from
coming through. You could also attempt changing the baffle yourself by
comparing pictures of the old and new to see the 2 changes I saw. If you
have the 3.8 liter Ford in a Mustang, you may find that it has the same
issue, I am not sure which years exactly, but somewhere from 1999-2002.
The reason is to keep the oil from continuing up to the intake which
causes carbon buildup in the intake and cylinders. The carbon buildup
can lead to pinging or predetonation by taking up room within the
cylinder walls which creates a higher compression ration causing
detonation earlier than that which the engine was designed to run at.
You can see a needle valve on this separator which can be drained,
however, this should be turned about 90 degrees so that the needle valve
is at the lowest point. If you use this method, you will want something
below the valve when depressing it to catch the oil. I will probably go
and buy some more hose so that I can make it point downward instead of
the mostly horizontal direction it is pointing now. I had used to
short pieces I had with the fuel filter I attempted to use (someone
else's idea I had read about) that failed to keep the oil from passing
though.
