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TheBrightSide · 05-19-2024, 01:02 PM

Can anyone explain why my oil catch can fills up so quickly? I haven’t had it compression checked or anything, but I know that I might’ve overfilled oil before. Even then, after a while, my dipstick went down even below the max, and the catch can was STILL filling up more than halfway every 200-275 miles or so (depending on how hard I drive; how much I idle, etc.)…

I have a 2010 Chevy Camaro SS, with an LS3; currently sitting at around 34k miles, and I’ve done a pretty decent job at maintenance if you ask me. I haven’t had issues with the factory spark plugs or spark plug wires yet; but recently, one of my primary/upstream O2 sensors went out. The O2 sensor issue shouldn’t be directly related, as I’m sensing that this oil issue might be something deeper, physically going on in the engine block itself.

I recently just did an oil change and still went below the max by maybe half a qt or 3/4 of a qt (usually takes ~8 qts for a normal drain and fill). I drove about 100-150 miles so far, and it’s filled up the oil catch can about a 1/4 way or more. I’m starting to lose some hope….

At first, I was thinking for a second my oil catch can was routed wrong, since it didn’t have any outlet and inlet routings marked. However, if that was the case, I probably wouldn’t be getting any oil in the catch can at all… My other concern is if I reinstall the stock PCV “valve” (more of a “recirculation” kind of valve, between the intake manifold and valve cover), that there must be TONS of blowby going on. Have I been having an underlying issue all this time??

05-19-2024, 01:02 PM	#1
TheBrightSide Drives: 2010 Chevy Camaro 2SS coupe (MT) Join Date: Jan 2024 Location: Sacramento, CA - USA Posts: 371	LS3: oil catch can excessive fill-up?! Can anyone explain why my oil catch can fills up so quickly? I haven’t had it compression checked or anything, but I know that I might’ve overfilled oil before. Even then, after a while, my dipstick went down even below the max, and the catch can was STILL filling up more than halfway every 200-275 miles or so (depending on how hard I drive; how much I idle, etc.)… I have a 2010 Chevy Camaro SS, with an LS3; currently sitting at around 34k miles, and I’ve done a pretty decent job at maintenance if you ask me. I haven’t had issues with the factory spark plugs or spark plug wires yet; but recently, one of my primary/upstream O2 sensors went out. The O2 sensor issue shouldn’t be directly related, as I’m sensing that this oil issue might be something deeper, physically going on in the engine block itself. I recently just did an oil change and still went below the max by maybe half a qt or 3/4 of a qt (usually takes ~8 qts for a normal drain and fill). I drove about 100-150 miles so far, and it’s filled up the oil catch can about a 1/4 way or more. I’m starting to lose some hope…. At first, I was thinking for a second my oil catch can was routed wrong, since it didn’t have any outlet and inlet routings marked. However, if that was the case, I probably wouldn’t be getting any oil in the catch can at all… My other concern is if I reinstall the stock PCV “valve” (more of a “recirculation” kind of valve, between the intake manifold and valve cover), that there must be TONS of blowby going on. Have I been having an underlying issue all this time??