Question for the Brain Trust about 7.3 powerstroke

Truck is a 2000 F550 with 7.3 PS diesel. My question relates to the crankcase vent deletion mod. I've researched this and am finding two schools of thought. First is that the mod is a good idea as the oil that gets into the turbo and intercooler from the vent will gum things up, plug the intercooler and this will cause problems long term with the turbo and intercooler. Second is that it's a bad idea because the vacuum the turbo creates on the ccv is needed to help actually vent the crankcase and that deleting it also causes problems long term to the engine because it no longer is vented apprpriately.

I know that the length, size and number and degree of elbows that are placed in a pipe will restrict the pressure. I wonder if part of the problem with these mods is the size of the tubing, number of elbows, length of the tubing, etc, that are installed. The older engines that had the ccv vented to the atmosphere had a relatively short tube with one 90 degree elbow. This would cause significantly less restriction than a tube several feet long that winds and twists here and there eventually coming out well to the rear of the engine. I wonder if a short tube with no more than one elbow would adequately vent the crankcase on these engines.

What are your thoughts about this? Good idea to do the ccv delete, bad idea, won't hurt the turbo/intercooler, will hurt the engine, etc?

International truck of that vintage do not have the same set up the pick ups do. They have the "delete". The problem is, with the pick ups, oil will spray all over the bottom of the truck. I had it on my 01.

You had the "delete" on your 01? If yes, did you have problems related to not venting the crankcase?

Do the Internationals have the same engine? I know they put the 7.3 in some of the larger International trucks, but not all of them. Why would a 7.3 in a Ford pickup put more oil out the ccv that a 7.3 in an International?

GOOGLE "Donaldson Spiracle" or "Mann ProVent".

They are oil separators that clean the oil mist out of the crankcase ventilation stream before it gets to the turbo and aftercooler, if so equipped.

The recovered oil can be returned to the crankcase or collected and dumped periodically.

These or similar units are now standard equipment on many emissions-controlled diesels.

I bought a Spiracle to try on my 6.5 Chevy diesel, but the tranny failed before it got it installed, dang it!

Duh what?
powerstroke crankcase vent deletion scheme opinion

No problems at all. Just went to the IH dealer for big trucks, ordered it, put on like 3 days later.

Edit: I looked for the unit I used, but didnt see it when I was reminded that I took that off and used this:

http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/engine/1008-8l-bd-diesel-crank-case-vent-filter-kit/

Coworker reminded me that the boss was ticked about the oil in my parking place.

The Navistar T444E does not have a CCV return, it vents to the atmosphere. The CCV on the PSD pickups was done simply to prevent oil drips all over fancy concrete driveways.
AaronSEIA

This looks to me like it filters the oil out before it gets sucked up into the turbo/intercooler/intake as opposed to actually venting the ccv out to the atmosphere. It looks like a modification, but not a delete per se. With this I presume you would still have the vacuum effect from the turbo helping to vent the crankcase.

I took a look at that video, and all I can say is that the guy has little credibility. He is decidedly NOT good at public speaking. Er...uh....er... uh... and all of that hee-hawing around.
He is certainly NOT any kind of engineer, and strikes me as not much of a mechanic either. He apparently thinks that he is smarter than 50 million dollar engineering departments at Ford and IH.

Lotsa luck.

Now, to answer the original question...
All engines have some combustion gasses that escape into the crankcase. If the rings had a perfect seal, the engine would not last long due to lack of lubrication of the cylinder walls.
As such, the escaping gases need to go someplace, hence the vent. Venting to atmosphere is pollution. EPA frowns on that. Earlier diesels used a CDV system to take care of crankcase emissions. This is the equivalent to the PCV valve on gasoline engines.

If a problem occurs from this being vented into the turbo intake, it would only be because oil droplets were not properly trapped from leaving the engine. In general, it should do no harm.

It has made it 20 years and how many thousand miles stock and hasn't caused issues, why mess with it. A high mile 20 year old 7.3 probably needs more pressing things than the vent system reworked. The only reason people call the vent system a problem is because they have something to sell. If you are just itching to do preventative maintenance, I would recommend pulling the injectors and replacing the injectors cups. Leave the vent system alone

This makes perfect sense to me. Is the turbo creating enough of a vacuum that it is helping to ventilate the crankcase or is simple venting to the atmosphere good enough?

Good point. My question is more academic than should this be done I guess. Maybe I didn't word it right.

Venting to the atmosphere was done on all of the older engines up until around the 1980s. Simply venting to atmosphere will not hurt anything but the EPA's feelings. No real harm, just a bit more emissions.

Hello drussell,

Its 20 years old, you state no issues? Crankcase pressure will lead to oil consumption, that is why the vent system is needed. Piping to the turbo with elbows is done just for convenience, nothing to do with pressure.

It is a closed ventilation system just like your car has it. I would have a hard time fixing what's not broken...Leave it alone. It is EPA compliant as is,

Guido.

why do you want to do this?

Leave it alone. Not worth the trouble and dose not do anything for engine.