Question about CRC intake valve cleaner

[Websitesdown]

unfortunately, it's the valve deposits we are worried about.



i'm interested how the OEM oil separator works. So, it catches the oil vapors then lets it drip back into the crankcase? Would help to have a diagram to understand what it's doing. I wonder how an aftermarket catchcan compares to the OEM system, long-term.

Would the oil that's caught in the catchcan drip back into the engine normally? or is it just sent through the intake?

From my understanding the can, catches it. You dump it out every so often.

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[Cueyo]

I did some digging and found only one or two examples of people looking at their valves for the k20c1. For some reason basically no one who owns the fk2 has ever posted about cleaning the valves. Civicx was a better with the following result:

https://www.civicx.com/forum/threads/carbon-buildup-on-valves.89524/

Caveat here is that the op bought a salvaged engine and looks like the buildup on that one specific valve was due to unrelated issues. The engine was 98k miles, and the rest of the valves looked significantly better.

Unrelated, but someone with a L15 SI posted their valves after 205k miles and they look pretty damn good for the very minimal amount of maintenance the op said they did (replacing pcv):

https://www.civicx.com/forum/threads/borescope-of-intake-and-pistons-at-205-000-miles.103842/

There's also this article thats about misfires that suggest the timing may be so that some slight fuel spray gets on the intake, but it's just a guess seems like:

https://www.go-parts.com/garage/obd-p0300-honda-civic-type-r-2017-2021

Im gonna go ahead and say that it's not a bad idea to use a catch can, but at the 200k miles that civic SI was at above (which is already prone to fuel dilution and head gasket issues), I don't think they're necessary. If you're at 200k miles, then it's not a bad idea to walnut blast the intake manifold and valves anyways. These Honda DI engines seems to be incredibly resistant to buildup.

 

[MrBBQ]

The K20C1 PCV system is pretty good at doing it's job when compared to other DI cars. However, it's still not perfect and some oil vapors do get by. I haven't heard much about our engines with high mileage having valve carbon deposit issues, perhaps the rate the oil vapors are getting by the PCV and back into the intake manifold isn't a problem leading to significant valve carbon buildup. A catch can is still cheap insurance with visible results catching those oil vapors. My good friend with an 2018 Audi A5 is already dealing with valve carbon deposits again after having it walnut blasted a few years ago. I told him to install a catch can and he's seriously thinking about adding one now.

 

[ThunderPigeon]

If the PCV system in the Honda engines is that good, then I would be worried that installing a catch can would be fixing something that isn't broken. I know plenty of companies sell them, but that doesn't mean they are needed or doing anything meaningful.

 

[Cueyo]

If the PCV system in the Honda engines is that good, then I would be worried that installing a catch can would be fixing something that isn't broken. I know plenty of companies sell them, but that doesn't mean they are needed or doing anything meaningful.

This was the same reasoning I was given by an old engineer friend I have. He was saying how if the Honda PCV system is so great, that introducing a catch can could potentially mess with that system and create problems down the road.

Will there actually be problems, idk, but also I've yet to see anything to the contrary. If I'm at 200k miles, I'm Walnut blasting the intake regardless.

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