Catch It If You Can

A TRICK WAY TO KEEP YOUR ENGINE, TURBO AND INTERCOOLER IN CHECK THAT’S LEGAL AND HASSLE-FREE.

- Ron Moon

ONCE upon a time any blow-by gasses produced by a vehicle’s engine were allowed to escape into the environment. As environmental restraints became more stringent, manufacturers fed those gasses back into the engine via the air intake. That’s all well and good, but returning air containing oil and other impurities including water vapour into the air intake of the engine not only decreases the engine’s power and efficiency, it increases the carbon build-up in the inlet manifold and the EGR valve, corrodes turbo bearings and allows a layer of oil sludge to build-up in the intercooler, greatly decreasing its cooling ability. That all adds up to not only a loss of power and performance, but increased fuel use, and it could lead to more expensive damage.