No PCV valve?!
 

I have been looking into doing a pcv catch can for quite a while now and finally acted on it today after finding a parts list for exactly what I needed, but when I went to Autozone to get the hose I needed I asked if they could show me exactly where my PCV valve is (because I hadn't found it myself and had herd that volvo's in the early nineties had them in a very hard to reach spot somewhere under the intake manifold) he said that my car didn't have one! what the heck? I thought that all cars after a certain date had to have one. So does anyone know if he's wrong? I'm thinking I might have to just scrap my plans and move on but if someone can tell me otherwise that'd be great!

My 2006 Ion and my wife's 2007 Ion do not have one either. If you want to find out for sure, open the oil cap while the engine is running. It might stall or stumble and you should hear a sucking sound from the engine if it does not use a pcv valve. Audi was another automaker to vent the crankcase internally without an external pcv valve.

It would not hurt to look some more. On my Buick the PCV valve is mounted on the intake manifold behind the carb, not on the valve cover like most cars.

-Jay

Me or the OP? The ecotec 2.2L does not have one.

Sorry about that... I meant the OP... For quite some time I thought my Buick didn't have one until I found it digging around in the service manuals. Its a pain in the butt to change as the rubber gasket that it sits in usually gets hard from the heat of the intake manifold, and it either resists letting go of the old valve, or falls apart when you try to put a new one in. After that happened twice I just buy a new rubber bushing whenever I plan on replacing the Buick's PCV.

-Jay

My '88 Escort doesn't have a PCV valve either but it has a hose that goes from the valve cover to the air cleaner. I just removed that hose and ran another hose into the jar and another one from the jar to the air cleaner. It still does what you want it to do by removing the contaminants. The engine has to have some type of ventilation system to let it breath so even if it doesn't have a PCV valve you can still rig one up. You'll just have to find out how the ventilation system works. I think you told me in private message you had a friend who was a mechanic, he should be able to help you out with that.

That is probably the make up air hose. One end of the crankcase has to get fresh air from somewhere in order to vent. On older engines, they didn't use a second hose, just a breather. since emissions became an issue and an open breather could actually vent into the air, they had to "seal" it more or less and the second hose drawing fresh air from the air cleaner. Even on our Ions that don't have a pcv valve, there is still one hose going from the valve cover to the air intake.

I've seen pcv valves in valve covers, in the middle of hoses, and even some threaded into intake plenums. Had a 98 Caravan with the 2.4L 4 cylinder and the pcv valve was in a hose. One end went into a hose coming from the bottom of the valve cover (bad design) and the other hose came off it and up to the plenum for the vacuum source. On the Intrepid with the 2.7L, it had a pcv valve that was threaded into the intake plenum near the throttle body. Other than the large brake booster vacuum hose, just look around for a large hose like it.

FWIW, my lawnmower has a hose going to the inside of the air cleaner which spits a bunch of icky goo when it's not running right; I assumed it was the PCV, but maybe it's the make up hose.

under certain conditions gunk and oil will come out thru the breather or make up hose. Its not uncommon on cars to find oily residue on the inside of the air tube around and downstream from the hose and onto the throttle plate. When valve covers are baffled good, this residue is usually minimal or not existent. The basis for a catch can is to keep this crap out of the intake and combustion chamber. The same can be done on the breather side.

Flame Trap vs. PCV valve.
They both serve the same purpose.

https://www.fcpgroton.com/category-ex...26/by_year/41/

Check your flame trap nipple for build up and replace the actual flame trap. The Turbos did not have the trap... only the nipple and hoses.

For a 740/940 that are not hard to get to. :thumbup:
The 240's are a whole different story. :(

William