After reading about a steeda oil seperator I decided to build one for my car. A trip to the parts store and about 23.00 later I have one on my car and it works wonders. I highly recommend it to anyone with a boosted or higher compression motor! All you need is a air compressor oil seperator/filter and two 1/4npt to 3/8 hose fittings, and about two foot of 3/8 fuel line and pipe it in between the pcv and it's vacuum source.
Made Oil Seperator for less than $25.00
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SeventyMach1
Keep it lubed .... keep it straight .... and keep
nmcgrawj
Advanced Member
Yea there have been plenty of threads about this exact same setup. But glad to hear it works well for ya!
rio95
Member
Are you using synthetic?
I had bought everything, but returned it all yesterday, because I thought I'd call steeda and ask them if theirs is alright to use with synthetic. If the usually ones didn't say don't use with synthetic, I wouldn't have had second thoughts. We'll see I guess.
I had bought everything, but returned it all yesterday, because I thought I'd call steeda and ask them if theirs is alright to use with synthetic. If the usually ones didn't say don't use with synthetic, I wouldn't have had second thoughts. We'll see I guess.
95cobraguy
Member
the one i got cautioned about synthetics also but i will use synthetics anyhow. they put that warning because they think that separator is plumbed into a high pressure air line and dont want the thing blowing apart but the pcv line will never see that type of pressure (we hope).
Swarzkopf
Member
fawcett
Member
So just to clear things up,
Using synthetic oil and a oil seperator is ok as long as the seperator does not get put under too much pressure? Would we ever see that in our cars anyways? What if the engine is about to blow up? This is more likely to happen with forced induction right and not (at all?) if you are N/A?
Does synthetic oil compress less than conventional oil (thus causing more pressure?).
I am no oil tycoon all I know is that synthetic oil is better (and more costly) than conventional oil and its all I use. Thats how I roll.
Looking forward to reading up on this,
-fawcett
Using synthetic oil and a oil seperator is ok as long as the seperator does not get put under too much pressure? Would we ever see that in our cars anyways? What if the engine is about to blow up? This is more likely to happen with forced induction right and not (at all?) if you are N/A?
Does synthetic oil compress less than conventional oil (thus causing more pressure?).
I am no oil tycoon all I know is that synthetic oil is better (and more costly) than conventional oil and its all I use. Thats how I roll.
Looking forward to reading up on this,
-fawcett
Swarzkopf
Member
BlueOvalStangGT
Active Member
I tried using the separator from Home Depot, this unit warns against using synthetic oils. It worked great for a short period of time, about 1/4 inch of oil in about 150 miles, and then stopped. My guess is that this is a chemical compatability problem because the line seemed to be clogged. Steeda claims that their unit WILL work without any problems with synthetic oil.
SeventyMach1
Keep it lubed .... keep it straight .... and keep
95 Laser GT Ver said:
Mine has done the same thing. I think I'm gonna start running a non-synthetic oil & replace the element in the seperator & see if that makes it start working again. Worst case, I'll break down & get the Steeda one.
Even with no element in there, the separator, if mounted up high, should work like a catch can and gravity will help knock down some of the oil-laden air.
Funny that you guys mentioned it - I run dino oil in the 94 and it initially puddled up the bottom of the basin (maybe a tablespoon of oil) and then no more additional oil was added. I should see if it clogged up.
It might well turn out that folks like Andy (who used the Steeda item - we know his fills up, so it works) might have outsmarted us guys using air tool separators.
Some shops do use a PAO based synthetic in their lines and still use the separator elements like we have. They also will use sintered bronze elements, which might work better. I wonder if the volume or pressure difference makes ours not work so hot compared to an air compressor.
Funny that you guys mentioned it - I run dino oil in the 94 and it initially puddled up the bottom of the basin (maybe a tablespoon of oil) and then no more additional oil was added. I should see if it clogged up.
It might well turn out that folks like Andy (who used the Steeda item - we know his fills up, so it works) might have outsmarted us guys using air tool separators.
Some shops do use a PAO based synthetic in their lines and still use the separator elements like we have. They also will use sintered bronze elements, which might work better. I wonder if the volume or pressure difference makes ours not work so hot compared to an air compressor.
SeventyMach1
Keep it lubed .... keep it straight .... and keep
Hey JT, do you know where I can get a sintered bronze element that will fit the CH tool oil seperator? If I get one, do you think running synthetic will matter anymore?
Justin, I will have to do some hunting online to make sure that is the best media for the application, and see if I can find one.SeventyMach1 said:
I am going to open mine up and take a look at it. I might just remove the filter and see what happens. Beforehand, I need to look at it with the car idling - I used to see the oil in the basin swirling around. If it still swirls, I might assume the filter is not clogged.
FWIW, though we dont want to trash our separators, a clear fuel filter is another option. I would add one inline after the non-filtered separator (to let the separator act like a catch can and do all it can). I dont want to get too Rube-ish with all this though. I think finding sintered bronze fuel filters will be easier (as you know, carbed stuff back in the day used sintered bronze filters). I think SB filters are generally used on higher-end air-tool separators, but I could be wrong. I am just rambling aloud here.
A dedicated separator would be easiest and simplest. As you can tell, I am too tired to figure this out.
I will post info I find out.
I just removed my upper today to send it out to Ken for polishing...First thing I looked for was oily ports...The separator's do work far as I'm concerned..
bone dry...
Spacer was dry...my last one was soaked thru with oil..
This is the look I used to get before the separator...
bone dry...
Spacer was dry...my last one was soaked thru with oil..
This is the look I used to get before the separator...
Andy, I was going to point out a spot of dirt in your pic, but it was on my puter screen instead. 
Justin, I farted around with the separator today. I run only dino oil and yet when I removed the separator's filter, it was resistive to being blown through. Now I have NOT done this same test on the separator on my compressor, so I dont know what kind of resistance is normal on a saturated element. I was not comfy with it so I removed the element. The separator is mounted high on my firewall and should still function as a catch can. I will let ya know if oil containment in the basin rises significantly.
I really dont know if the resistance was normal. For air tools flowing significant pressures, perhaps a resistive element really does not matter (a 2-3 PSI drop on an air tool cranking at 80 PSI is kinda inconsequential).
I just did not like it on my PCV (though people run restrictors in the line, which would likely have the same effect).
Justin, I farted around with the separator today. I run only dino oil and yet when I removed the separator's filter, it was resistive to being blown through. Now I have NOT done this same test on the separator on my compressor, so I dont know what kind of resistance is normal on a saturated element. I was not comfy with it so I removed the element. The separator is mounted high on my firewall and should still function as a catch can. I will let ya know if oil containment in the basin rises significantly.
I really dont know if the resistance was normal. For air tools flowing significant pressures, perhaps a resistive element really does not matter (a 2-3 PSI drop on an air tool cranking at 80 PSI is kinda inconsequential).
I just did not like it on my PCV (though people run restrictors in the line, which would likely have the same effect).
SeventyMach1
Keep it lubed .... keep it straight .... and keep
I tinkered a little today as well. I cleaned the bowl & element with soap & water. I'll see if cleaning it makes it work effectively again. Let us know if your "gravity" method works.
rio95
Member
No offense, but don't you think you guys are being a little cheap. You are spending tons of time online talking about this topic nonstop, paying gas to drive around and find all the parts, then have to take the time to make it along with a bracket and probably extra vac line, along with extra elements and time to clean them. All that to save $25-35 and in the end it still shouldn't be used with synthetic.
I think I'll just buy the steeda one and know that it is the best to use with synthetic.
What do you guys think?
I think I'll just buy the steeda one and know that it is the best to use with synthetic.
What do you guys think?
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