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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

I may have over estimated the amount of oil and water that poured out of my provent and into my used oil (was changing oil at the time), but I was surprised at the quantity. The reason for my post was to ask the question about the provent filter. Mine was dripping wet with oil and I wiped it clean - are they designed to work that way and are you supposed to clean them in some way?

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05 CRD Sport, Inferno Red (240K miles, Jan 2016)
Westin Brush Guard, Hella 500, Hidden Hitch
Magflow Muffler, ProVent CCV, Fumoto Valve, ORM
OEM Skids and Rails, EVIC, Mr Diesel Fuel Pump
Michelin XTerrains 235/70/16

When I bought mine from airnowsupply.com the guy said that since this provent is sized for a much larger engine than ours that the filter would last 100k miles. However if yours was immersed in oil that can't be good. They're supposed to be disposable - not sure if they can be cleaned. It looks like some kind of fiberglass weave (from the pictures - raining too hard to go check mine) so maybe you could clean it?

Sorry I'm not much help but a provent w/ a dirty filter is still better than nothing!

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Chris
Current:
2007 Steel Blue Metallic Grand Cherokee CRD Limited
GDE Eco Tune and DPF delete
CB Engineering DPF delete pipe
EHM

Past (sold to Mountainman):
2005 Patriot Blue Liberty CRD Limited

Have you done anything. First, I left out "thinking of" in my post. My provent is still on the box with the spare filter. I am going to wait some more for the oldnavy ccv. Looking at the provent design, I firmly believe it is backwards in design for size limitations. Putting the outlet at the top would mean moving the cap higher. If nothing else, use your spare filter and throw that old one away. The fiber membrane is glued together and if it comes unglued, to the turbo it goes using the bottom port as the outlet.

Blocking off the top port and drain port, a suction will close the outlet. Blocking off the drain port and the bottom port, positive pressure on the top port will open the cap vent to atmosphere.
I still believe the clean side of a filter is the reinforced side, air filters at least, fuel filters use membranes. The filter should be two parts, catch can for oil and an air filter for oily gases.

Edited to remove the reversal of safety springs, They may still be useful as is.

I know what you are talking about Dave because I bought one several years ago for a VW and ended up sending it back. The one I am working with some fine folks to get built will not require any special plumbing, be out of sight under engine cover, and maybe even more effective then the one I had designed for the VW's diesel a few years ago. The only thing is it may be June or July before we can have them tested and ready to go, but if no obsticles are incountered in testing or mfg process it could be end of April.

I was doing some measurements and taking photo's of the engine yesterday and noticed that I seemed to have more oil in my tubbing then before, so like you guys I am very anxious for this system to come to market myself.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

The Provent is in shipment back to California. I thought I must be crazy to question "engineers" but even my better half thought I was right after I explained how the provent was designed to work. The final straw was when she read your confirmation post.

It may not be the most efficient way to design a separator but it's not "backwards".

It may not be backwards for the people Azar? told me he sells them to, I believe for diesel driven generators?

In that case the heavy reinforced center would catch pieces of whatever (and not clog the drain hole) and all the dripping would go to the catch can tube drain. Maybe in these applications the outlet tube goes to atmosphere? If something causes the filter to fail or clog the safety vent in the cap sends everything to atmosphere. Only a vacuum causes the outlet to close. My thought was to use it but reverse the flow and the safety features (but why bother - my homemade tubing does fine for liquids-and wait for oldnavy's), bring in the factory ccv outlet to the bottom of the provent and the top outlet goes to the turbo. The reversal would mean drip accumulation sooner, the reinforced clean side going to the turbo, and a filter that would last longer.

Mine has been catching a good bit of slimy sludge that ends up forming in the inlet hose and top of the filter housing. Probably a combination of oil/microbes and other growies/combustion byproducts, same stuff as ends up forming in the hoses if the oil gets that far.

Considering that you can plumb the drain hose back to the oil sump, and on bigger diesels this would make sense considering the amount of oil that would accumulate, it does make sense that you would design the filter to trap any sludge and other junk that you wouldn't want draining back into your engine.

I don't think plumbing it back to the sump on the CRD would be a good idea. Mine accumulates as much water as oil, due to condensation in the block when it's shut off, and then boils off thru the CCV when it's heated up again. While water vapor going thru the intake is no problem, draining liquid water back to the oil sump doesn't sound like too hot an idea.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the filter falling apart. If you check the pdf file on the Mann and Hummel website, this thing was designed to handle upwards of a 500 HP diesel and 200 liters/minute of air flow, and to last for a year in that application.

Second reason I'm not worried about it falling apart - as far as I can tell, Mann and Hummel doesn't have any affiliation with DC!

I'll keep mine installed for the time being, and see what oldnavy's design looks like. Would be nice to free up that space where the Provent is sitting for an engine coolant filter.

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Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler

Engine coolant filter??? Mitch you have too much time on your hands man, and it sounds like the same applies to your cash flow.

Hehehehehe, those retirement checks from Uncle Sam sure are nice ain't they. One more year and I start getting another retirement check, SS, so keep turning & burning and contributing to the fund as I have plans for the money.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

Hey, remember where I work. I get "at cost" pricing for any goodies I decide to buy off of Freightliner. Mounting head, Fleetguard coolant filter, and the fittings would run me less than $10. Figure I could plumb it right into the vent line coming off the engine block.

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Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler

Just came from the donaldson website. Same as Provent, inlet at the top, but the filter is reinforced on the outside. And filter replacements every 500 hours or oil change (because of top inlet?). And with a sealed drain tube, a forgotten draining could back up the oil (one post) as high as the bottom outlet. With my blue washing machine hose, I am not getting water just liquid oil in my homemade sump. Has anyone taken the factory ccv top off?

Yes, about a dozen time's. It is a piece of crap that is held in place by 3 bolts that require 8mm socket.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

Thiis is what the valve cover looks like with OEM CCV removed.


This is the CCV removed and turned upside down.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

Thanks for the pictures. I have not yet taken mine off. A third picture showing the height/depth of the ccv and the "sump hole?" would've kept my mind busy a little longer.

The "sump hole" as you call it id just a piece of shaped metal (tin?) that fits in the valve cover under the CCV and the rear hole is where the gases & oil from valver cover inter the CCV and front hole is for drain back. The depth of that pan assembly (don't know what VM calls it) is about 2" from top of valve cover to the bottom of that pan you see in the valve cover.

What I think I will do till our new CCV comes out is do the elephant hose mod, that is just run a hose from CCV and let it drip to ground. This will require plugging up the the section of hose that goes to intercooler, lot of guys did this to the VW's. They just had to be careful in winter as the hose would freeze closed and where they parked, due to oil dripping.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

I was asking about the top cover thinking a filter had failed. I tried to pop off the top but didn't want to break the plastic cap tabs (my airbox tab came broken from jeep). I tried to test the factory ccv like I did the provent. Pressure and vacuum-no equipment-a little oil on the lips. One of my jobs was building/calibrating quartz manometers but I forget how many psi one can suck/blow. The three orifices always stayed opened. The "sump" had a little oil in it and its' drain hole was open. You need that handy dentist mirror again to see it. With VM and Germany stamped on it and I believe the CRD doesn't have a true valve cover, I bet DC, Jeep, and VM have been discussing this ccv issue.

Any update on when the "New CCV filter" might be ready? I keep putting off getting a filter because I just don't like the fact that the condensed oil doesn't go back into the crankcase with the ProVent. As I see it, there' s 2 purposes with a CCV filter 1) keep the oil OUT of where it's not supposed to be and 2) keep in IN where it IS supposed to be. Frankly, unless you can mount the Mann model above the crankcase, implement some kind of vaccumn sump, or put an electric pump in, it only accomplishes #1.

I like your design, oldnavy, both asthetically and from an engineering perspective, it's very KISS-compliant. I'll be on the waiting list when the billet models are ready.

P.S. does your model include atmospheric backflow prevention (i.e. only gasses to/from the intake when there's a positive pressure gradient originating from the engine)? It would seem that having that would go a long way to reducing contaminants into the oil system from the intake. Just checking.

You shouldn't route it back to the engine! The filters collect water as well as oil.

It's coming along, remember if this is done correctly we may have something even better then we had for the VW TDI and will be complient with D/C engineering.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine