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.

 

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.

 

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 **** 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 **** 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.

 

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.

 

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!

 

My PCV Upgrade