PCV Valve Cleaning/Replacement
 

Anyone ever done anything to clean the PCV valves on their Disco's? Reading on the Atlantic British site that a fouled one is often the cause of the seeping on the V/C gaskets. I tried retightening them, but still get a bit of seepage.. (link to the Atlantic British Article http://www.roverparts.com/TechTips/pcv_tune_up.cfm)

Is this something that often fouls out? I have done the intake and manifold cleaning, etc., but didn't do the PCV valves... they look pretty tough to access with out removing a bunch of crap...

Here is what you do, remove the hose from the passenger valve cover to intake plenum and spray carb cleaner down it until it comes out clean.
Take a pair of needle nose pliers and remove the oil seperator from the valve cover and clean it with carb cleaner.
Reinstall everything and you are done.
Do this once a year.
If the hoses are to old/cracked/brittle/soft, whatever just go to any autoparts stroe and buy a piece of rubber tubing that same size and a little longer, cut to legnth and you are good to go.
I replaced my PCV hose with rubber gas line from a old lawnmower.
Been working great for almost 2.5 years now.

How many miles on your truck, what octane gas are you using, if cheap gas, yes the PCV can be plugged if good gas, chances are it isn't plugged.
How tight did you tighten the v/c bolts? When done, go power scrub the engine to get all the old oil of it, don't use soap or degrease just cold water and then watch to see if it is still leaking, if it is, you will then need a new set of v/c gaskets.

Where is the oil separator at? Any pics available?

the oil separator is in the passenger side valve cover, on the rear of the VC is a rubber hose remove the hose from the VC and you will see the separator sitting in the hole.

anyone ever put valve cover breathers on these things?

Is that cylinder type oil separator a one way valve? I soaked it in carb cleaner but can't blow through it in either direction. Just trying to figure out whether it's clogged and I need to replace it or not.

No, it is just a plastic spiral. you should be to remove it with a pair of needle nose pliers, twist it rather than try to pull it. Mine came out in pieces, I think new ones are under $10.

i think if you put valve cover breathers on you would lose the positive portion of the positive crankcase ventilation?

Plastic? I pulled it out of the VC. Mine is metal. Passenger side towards the rear of the VC right?

Here is a pic or two

yup, maybe mine had already been replaced then, the new one i got was also plastic

so I shouldn't be able to blow through it then? Waiting on an answer before I reinstall it. Soaking in carb cleaner right now.

I keep thinking it's like a PCV one way valve, but maybe this is not the case?

no it not a one way valve just re-install in the same direct

It is just a spiral piece of plastic in that tube that acts to slow down and catch particles that go up through the spiral. Pictured here on the Atlantic British web page. Not all that sophisticated.

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/LLJ000010.cfm

You can see the official pre-formed hoses on this page as well that come in the PCV kit that you can get that includes a new separator if you want to go that route, or go like Spike said and just get some hose the same size interior diameter and you are good.

Silly question here but can this be put in upside down? The reason I ask when I removed the hose, all that shows is gold with a little hole in the middle. No nipple. Thanks!!

it is threaded so i assume if you install it backwards, it possible when the fumes settle rather than running back down the spiral in to the cover the oil would pool in the line?
just a guess though

This is what I see when. I pull the hose off the oil seperator. No plastic shaft and certainly no nipple. Certainly nothing familiar anyway. Will most likely try to pull out but just wondering if this is different than other 2003 Discos.

that's not stock, does that hole go all the way threw to vent

Not sure if it goes all the way through. Initially, i tried to oull it straight up with pliers but simply couldn't get a grip. I assume it's simply pressed in but damn, it's tight. Appreciate the help.

Nothing keeping it in but friction. Most brake before you can get them out if they are old.

My '03 looks identical to yours, Mike, I couldn't get it off so I sprayed a little Pro-Line Superlube down in there.

The nipple on the intake is clean, and the hose blows free, so there's no stoppage anywhere. I think the seperater works fine as it is, so I'll leave it to do its work.

Not sure how you got this out as it apparently is brass and not very compliant. Spray, cussing, speaking sweet nothings to it.. It doesn't want to move. One or two more tries and then I'll have to go gorrila on it. I assume the seperator is gently tucked underneath it. All pics I've seen simply have the seperator without the cap. We shall see. Appreciate all the help!!!

Are you trying to remove the tube that the separator is in? That ain't coming out.

Just trying to remove the brass cap. It's difficult to get a grip on the edge of this without clamping onto the tube.

needle nose vise grips maybe?

I don't remember a brass cap when I did mine. Where is this? Pictures?

post number 10 or 11 has the pix it appears there was a running change in 03

It's towards the back of the passenger side valve cover. Tried snaking a small wire down the hole but was only able to penetrate slightly beyond the opening. I have to believe removing this cap will result in destroying it as it's not moving at all. I'm inclined to see if squirting some Sea Foam down the hole before my next oil change will clean it up.

Did anyone ever figure this out? I have an 04 so similar situation, I cleaned everything up to that piece but could not get it off the VC. Wasn't sure if squirting some cleaner or seafoam in there was the answer or if you would need to take the whole VC off, which seems a little ridiculous...

try a cigar cutter so the blades get between the bottom groove of the piece and pry the whole thing up and out?

Hey Reg, I'm still looking at the same problem. Have been dealing with a high idle at cold start so I have other fish to fry at his time. It's apparently brass and attempts at vice grips, needle nose plyers have not workd as it's wedged in there pretty tight. I was thinking about the Sea Foam as well. Another thought is using an easy out in the small hole and seeing if this helps loosen it. I'm guessing it's simply a cap if the baffel is installed. I'm not taking the valve cover off for thing so it's coming out one way or another. This will be off after this weekend. Will let you know.

03 04 discovery PCV / oil separator removal
 

The 03, and 04 I think, have a new type tube. I have an 03. Mine has the tube with the cap. Looks like a cap with a small hole. I never could get it to come off.

A couple of years ago I ordered a new PCV/oil separator. I tried to remove mine from the top but the "cap" would not budge. So, I figured with a shot of WD40 around the bottom of the tube and some vice grips, the whole tube would slide out. No luck on that either. It never moved.

I'm sure I could have really got down on it and made it come out but, figured it would probably have destroyed the tube. I didn't want to be too forceful since some things you can't just run out and buy if you destroy them so, I quit on it. Plus if I would have crushed the tube while taking it out I wouldn't have been able to get the old pcv out of it and a new one in it.

So, I sprayed a little carb cleaner in it (through the small hole) several times and put the hose back on and could blow air through it from the other end with an air gun/ compressor and then tested it with my breath and could blow through it. Good enough! I then just buckled it all back up and forgot about it.

Now I have my covers off doing other work, so I removed the baffle inside the valve cover (8 tiny screws) to clean all of the gunk and varnish from inside. While I had the baffle out I thought I would try, once again, to get the oil separator out. I put the whole cover into the parts washer and let it soak overnight. I then ran cleaner through the pcv tube for 5 or so minutes. I put the nozzle of the parts washer into the pcv hole in the bottom side of the valve cover and I got a good stream through it so it wasn't really clogged. I thought about leaving it at that since I could blow through it but, decided to see if I could get the old one out through the bottom.

I took a small pin punch just small enough to fit through the hole in the top cap and, keeping it dead center, slowly tapped the old one out of the bottom.

It came out in one piece and didn't look bad at all. I could have left it in there but, since I had a new one anyway, I tapped the new one in from the bottom, cleaned the old one off and put it up so if I ever need it.

03 04 Discovery pcv / oil separator removal
 

It was very slow going tapping the new one in. You will have to stay dead square with your tapping or you may break it. I thought with every tap it would break for sure but it didn't. It is a very tight fit into the tube.

Another thing to note is with this type tube with the small hole in the top of the tube, you have to put the pcv in with the single tip aiming downward toward the motor. If you put it in the other way the tip will block the small air hole in the top of the tube. The other end of the plastic pcv/ oil separator has two small tits that act as spacers to keep it back a little from the hole in the top of the tube so it can breath.

On older models with the tube open at the top it may go in the other way around, but on 03 or 04 with the small hole in top of the tube it goes in with the two small tits toward the top small hole. Put it in the other way and will not work, it will block the air hole. I know I'm repeating myself but it is very important to get it right.

Ok, I know no one is going to remove the valve cover just to change the pcv but, if you have an 03 or 04 with the crazy closed pcv tube with the small hole in top and you have your covers off anyway, replacing valve cover gaskets or head gaskets or whatever, then it would be a good time to change the pcv/oil seperator or at least take it out and clean it.

Be sure to have another one on hand because there is a good chance the old one will break into pieces while you are tapping it out. Mine didn't but, it wasn't really clogged and I had a new one on hand. If I hadn't had the new one, the old one would have broke into a million pieces. That's the way it always goes.

Below are pics of the empty tube and the new one installed.

I know this is an old thread but maybe this will help somebody searching for pcv removal on 03 04 discovery and maybe keep someone from destroying their pcv tube trying to get it out from the top.

03 04 pcv / oil separator removal
 

Another thing I forgot to mention, when I had the plastic pcv out of the tube from the bottom, I took a pin punch the size of the inside diameter of the tube and tried taping the tube out of the top, I gave it some WD40 and spot lube and tapped pretty hard hoping it would break free and come out or the cap would come off at least so next time I could change the pcv from the top. It didn't move. The tube didn't move and the cap didn't move so I left it alone. I didn't want to damage it trying to get the tube out. I'm sure some may have more luck than I did just pulling the tube out from the top but, mine is stuck so since I seem to have my valve covers off pretty regular or at least the top intake, changing plug wires or whatever, I'll just check mine at those times. I think if once you change it out or clean it if you give it a shot of carb or brake cleaner every now and then and spray a little air through it, it will stay clean....hopefully.

Thanks Rickety! I was hoping this would have been an outside job. I think I'll try a few shots of Seafoam before my next oil change. One would think that something that requires some degree of servicing would be easier to access, but hey, why make things easy!! Great post and certainly appreciate your time!!

No problem. Yours may not be clogged. This is the first time I've took mine out to clean and I've driven it 75k since I bought it and it had around 70k on it when I bought it. So almost 150K and I doubt if it was ever cleaned before. But I've always ran premium gas. I think that helps.

Take a piece of hose and slip over it and see if you can blow through it. If you can it's probably not all that bad. There will be some resistance due to the small hole even when clean. Then you can just wait till you have the vc off for some other reason in the future.

I don't know what they were thinking? Maybe they decided to put the tube in with the small hole up and the large opening down thinking it would not build up sludge quite as fast? Maybe they were right?

I see alot of things about these trucks that make me wonder just what they were thinking....or not thinking.

Good luck with your truck.

Cap is missing on oil separator
 

Replacing the pcv along with the hose but the oil separator thing looks different from others. Any ideas on how to remove and clean this? Thank you!
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...eafabd39b7.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/landrov...8d22aa5496.jpg