were and how do i find pcv breather

[dixonp]

hi all , looking for some help and advice please.  the dipstick on my Berlingo multispace  2ltr hdi diesel 54 plate keeps popping up and been told it might be either crankcase breather of o rings on dipstick. how would i find the breather for crankcase. many thanks

[Sol]

Follow the black main air tube from the air filter at the back of the engine, it comes forward to the turbo intake, near to that it has a small pipe connector comes off it heading left to the engine cover with a white insert - that's the breather connection. The disc / drum shaped part to the left of that small connection is the breather filter.

[dixonp]

Follow the black main air tube from the air filter at the back of the engine, it comes forward to the turbo intake, near to that it has a small pipe connector comes off it heading left to the engine cover with a white insert - that's the breather connection. The disc / drum shaped part to the left of that small connection is the breather filter.

is it anywere in pics ? cheers

[cancunia]

From your pictures, the 3rd / rightmost shows a pipe running from the air intake to a disc on the right hand end of the rocker cover, I'd say that is the PCV valve, but there is another pipe in the middle of the rocker cover (first pic) & I'm not sure what that does.
Have you tried taking the oil filler cap off with the engine running to see if there's any pressure build up or white froth / emulsion around the inside of the cap?

[Sol]

As Cancunia says, the 3rd pic shows the breather and the filter which is likely coarse gauze inside. Also as he says, not sure about the middle pipe on the rocker cover, used to looking at the 1.6 HDi which yours of course, is not. Likely it is bringing crank case fumes up to the top via that hose so they can be vented into the intake rather than up the oil gallery holes? Someone with a 2L HDi will know.

   

But all breathers are just connections from the crank case / rocker to the air intake. The filter or pipe would have to be pretty badly blocked to pop the dipstick up.

Pull the pipe off the rocker cover as indicated in the embedded pic, and see if you can feel a waft of oily gases coming out. If there is nothing, then the filter gauze (round thing) is blocked solid. If it is, I'd suspect you have bigger problems. Oil shouldn't have deposits in it that could block up the coarse steel mesh. It's there as a precaution to stop any larger loose bits of anything nasty getting into the intake.

The other thing that could be happening, is ring / cylinder wear causing compression blow-by.

[dixonp]

As Cancunia says, the 3rd pic shows the breather and the filter which is likely coarse gauze inside. Also as he says, not sure about the middle pipe on the rocker cover, used to looking at the 1.6 HDi which yours of course, is not. Likely it is bringing crank case fumes up to the top via that hose so they can be vented into the intake rather than up the oil gallery holes? Someone with a 2L HDi will know.



But all breathers are just connections from the crank case / rocker to the air intake. The filter or pipe would have to be pretty badly blocked to pop the dipstick up.

Pull the pipe off the rocker cover as indicated in the embedded pic, and see if you can feel a waft of oily gases coming out. If there is nothing, then the filter gauze (round thing) is blocked solid. If it is, I'd suspect you have bigger problems. Oil shouldn't have deposits in it that could block up the coarse steel mesh. It's there as a precaution to stop any larger loose bits of anything nasty getting into the intake.

The other thing that could be happening, is ring / cylinder wear causing compression blow-by.

the part you have circled does that piece come off ? cheers

[Sol]

It should be accessible but perhaps from inside the rocker cover. I have to admit I have never tried on this engine. Others, yes and it does usually dismantle.

Just proceed with care so you don't break anything etc.

[Tree]

If you are popping the dipstick out I would say you've got some serious blow by. First thing I would do is take the filler cap off and see how much oil vapour you've got coming out of it.

[oilyrag]

The last time I had a dipstick fly out was when there was a hole in a piston, but hopefully not the cause here! 
It's not that easy judging blow-by by simply removing the filler cap. The system is designed to work under a degree of vacuum and if atmospheric air at 14psi is allowed into the crankcase (each time a piston rises it will try to suck some in), the additional air is then further compressed on the downstroke and pumped out via the filler opening, creating a false picture.
There could be, as already suggested, be a lot of oily muck in the filter and through the intake system, reducing the amount of vacuum available to the PCV system via the intake.
If not, then fitting a fatter O ring to the dipstick might be the low cost option - the engine has done a high mileage and if it's still running OK it would be the choice of 'Make do and Mend' folk like me.

[cancunia]

The last time I had a dipstick fly out was when there was a hole in a piston, but hopefully not the cause here! 
It's not that easy judging blow-by by simply removing the filler cap. The system is designed to work under a degree of vacuum and if atmospheric air at 14psi is allowed into the crankcase (each time a piston rises it will try to suck some in), the additional air is then further compressed on the downstroke and pumped out via the filler opening, creating a false picture.
There could be, as already suggested, be a lot of oily muck in the filter and through the intake system, reducing the amount of vacuum available to the PCV system via the intake.
If not, then fitting a fatter O ring to the dipstick might be the low cost option - the engine has done a high mileage and if it's still running OK it would be the choice of 'Make do and Mend' folk like me.

Yep, agreed. I was thinking that if you do it while the engine is running and had a chance to build up some pressure the filler cap would let it out and that would be a way to judge if the PCV vent is working.