Curious of what that little round orange thing is from my valve cover to my air intake. all it's doing is coating it all with oil for the dirt to stick to and causing me to replace filters more frequently, or so I think...

Is it absolutely necessary? any solutions, fixes, modifications?

I'd really rather have better, cleaner airflow than what it appears I am getting.

It's part of the Positive Crankcase Ventilation System (PCV). If your PCV valve itself is clogged, that might cause the problem, or, if your rings are bad, that would definitely cause it (lots of blow-by). On a normally operating engine, you won't get oil on your air filter from that hose.

Okay, well it is a crate engine and only about 15k miles old. I sure hope it's not bad rings

And just to be sure we're talking about the same part, orange guy, top left.



Also, found this, I remember I was told long ago to not lose it because it's hard to find and replace. But I can't remember what it was exactly...

That orange thing is the breather filter. The only orange ones I've seen are made by Fram, and the one I have on the shelf has a manufacture date of 1991. Most parts stores should have the breather filter in stock. The PCV valve is the other thing sticking out of the valve cover, next to the oil filler cap.

Also, you should replace those all original vacuum lines, they're probably clogged with crud or ready to crack by now. The EGR valve is missing the vacuum line in that pic, too.

Oh and judging by the tiny heatshield in the back there, it looks like the car never had the fire recall performed? The new engine looks like it has the exhaust manifold heat shield, though.

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1984 Fiero SE

i just replaced my breather filter. i had the hardest time getting the parst store to understand what it is. my engine supposedly has 12500 on it currently and it was full of oil and gunk

quote Originally posted by RWDPLZ: That orange thing is the breather filter.... The PCV valve is the other thing sticking out of the valve cover, next to the oil filler cap. Also, you should replace those all original vacuum lines.... Oh and judging by the tiny heatshield in the back there, it looks like the car never had the fire recall performed....

Okay, so my list of things for the parts store would be,

valve cover breather filter
pcv valve
vacuum lines

And, will GM still do the recall, or what should I do to properly protect myself?

quote Originally posted by Shill: Okay, well it is a crate engine and only about 15k miles old. I sure hope it's not bad rings And just to be sure we're talking about the same part, orange guy, top left. Also, found this, I remember I was told long ago to not lose it because it's hard to find and replace. But I can't remember what it was exactly...

That "thing" is from your trunk lock, if you haven't found out already.

Does that EGR have 2 vacuum ports?
Oil in the air filter is probably a sticky PVC valve.

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84 Duke, Holley TBI, Manual Trans 4.10, CompuCam, White

[This message has been edited by White 84 SE (edited 08-03-2009).]

quote Originally posted by White 84 SE: Does that EGR have 2 vacuum ports? Oil in the air filter is probably a sticky PVC valve.

Yes, one straight off the top, and one from the bottom that comes up,

My PCV valve does leak due to it not sealing against the valve cover. but that is just a leak at the seal. anyone care to explain what the PCV valve is/does and how it ends up getting to the air filter?

The PCV is for crank case ventilation. If the PCV is plugged or not working correctly, the breather (orange guy) becomes the PCV and it will pull oil from the valve cover into the air filter. Once the filter in the (orange guy) gets saturated with oil, it will allow the oil to go right to the air filter. Make sure that the PCV seals in the valve cover.

quote Originally posted by katatak: The PCV is for crank case ventilation. If the PCV is plugged or not working correctly, the breather (orange guy) becomes the PCV and it will pull oil from the valve cover into the air filter. Once the filter in the (orange guy) gets saturated with oil, it will allow the oil to go right to the air filter. Make sure that the PCV seals in the valve cover.

Many kudos, great explaination

Rockauto.com sells it as: "crankcase breather element"
That's under '84. I assume they call it the same name under other years.

Michael

Some info I seek would be, PCV valve size, Vacuum line sizes/lengths