16v Crankcase Breather Question

[Conker]

When I was removing my cylinder head (16v K-Jet) I also removed my crankcase breather pipe and the metal unit itself to give it a clean. I discovered that it was full of mayo gunk. After searching the forum and Haynes, there doesn't seem to be much about the breather so...


1)  Is the breather unit as simple as an opening into the crankshaft to release the vapour buildup, or is there something more complex to it that isn't easily visible e.g. a valve, that could break??

2)   Is there anything related to the crankcase breather actually in the bottom-end that might also need cleaning, e.g. a duct or channel?

3)  The breather gauze can be seen in the image below with an arrow pointing to where it was in "the gunk". Where is it supposed to go when I refit it?






Cheers,
Dave

[Uruk Hai]

I dont think its any more complicated than it looks (I may be wrong  ) so I would put it all back together the way it was and clean the breather every other week or something like that, I did a lot of short journeys in my 16V which makes it worse so I was cleaning it out quite often. I just used to pull the rubber pipe off and clean it in hot soapy water.

[Conker]

Cheers Uruk.

Anybody else got any further suggestions??

[Leon R]

I agree with Uruk. From what I saw, the breather is quite crude where is seperates the oil vapour and returns the oil back to the bottom end, there doesn't seem to be anything that goes inside or that can fall off.

The pipe that comes off and goes into the airbox is £50! Mine collapsed at the breather block as the oil contaminated it, but it was never full of mayo.

Was it thick enough to stop the oil vapour coming out of the crank? Or was it just lining the inside?

[Conker]

Was it thick enough to stop the oil vapour coming out of the crank? Or was it just lining the inside?

The pipe was totally blocked, the metal unit was just heavily coated.

Any idea where that gauze is supposed to sit?? I don't want it to fall into the crankcase!!