No Prob. I DO believe I have a clear understanding, but explaining it isn't quite that easy.
There is no (comparable) vacuum on that side of the throttle plate with the throttle closed. At idle, the is more vacuum on the intake side of the TB, than on the filter side of the TB. So, air is actually travelling the path I described.
Further, even with the throttle open, there is no other place for air to ENTER the crankcase. If you are going to pull air through the tube on the valve cover, where is the air going to come from? The PCV valve is drawing from the crankcase, and the only path INTO the crankcase is through the air filter. Everything else is sealed up. So, when the throttle is open, the PCV system is just not as effective, as there is more vacuum in the tube to the TB. Still, if you put a guage on each side of the TB, you'l still have more vacuum on the engine side, so the PCV system would still draw through the tube on the V/C.
Take a tin can, poke a hole at each end, and suck through one of the hole. The other hole is where the air comes in. Same in the engine.
As far as leaing out one side versus the other, that is not how it works. The crankcase is seperate from the combustion chamber. the PCV is drawing air from the crankcase, into the intake to go to the combuston chamber. The combustion chamber is creating the vacuum in the intake. They are seald from the crankcase by the piston rings. That is what blow-by is. Combustion chamber air getting past the rings into the crankcase. It leans out the engine because the air ENTERING the intake through the PCV valve is no getting measured by the MAF, if you just put a breather cap on the valve cover.
Here's a short description:
http://www.lapelec.co.uk/PCV.htm
Another Thread:
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=516650
And Another:
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=510093
Dennis