What Catch Cans are y'all running on the 2.3L EcoBoost?

[Blmpkn]

That buildup is terrible

 

[sgtsandman]

That buildup is terrible

The area of concern is on the back of the valve where it meets the stem. That is very clean. The valve stem itself is pretty grody though.

 

[sgtsandman]

Here's a photo of the back of the valve that forum member grammat95 posted over on the Ranger5G site. His truck had 25,000 miles on it when he took the photo with a borescope. No catch can is being used.

Maintenance / Habits​

- Full synthetic 5W-30 (Valvoline) from the first oil change. No more than 5k intervals.​

- Lots of towing (often times at max cap.), I would guestimate around 10k miles​

- Most trips are at least 20 minutes​

- I have not noticed any fuel dilution issues with oil​

View attachment 84590

Good to see. I use the same oil. No idea on the oil change mileage though since I do 6 month interval changes. So, it varies but less than 10,000 miles for sure.

 

[DRanger024]

I have a JLT 3.0 on my 3.5 EB F150. I took a couple pics to show you guys what the separators are catching.

This is 300 miles worth of crud;

This is roughly what I've collected since last February. My commute is 17 miles one way but I'm in Wisconsin and it can be very humid at times. I average approximately 50 miles a day between the trip to work and picking kids up after school/running to sports.

 

[HenryMac]

That buildup is terrible

It's all relative.. if you think that was terrible, here's a photo from a F-150 Ecoboost.

 

[Dwgray]

Two things from my perspective. 1. We paid Ford $50 when we ordered our 2022 Ranger XLT/FX4 to DELETE the auto-start feature. Simply unnecessary IMO. And annoying to us.
2. Ford is a Top Tier fuel supporter. Meaning we only use gas stations selling Top Tier fuel. Top Tier fuel is engineered to produce less carbon thereby presenting less opportunity for it to adhere to the backside of the intake valve, which presents less opportunity for carbon buildup on the intake valve. Only 4000 miles on the Ranger, BUT, did the same on our 2018 and 2019 Ecoboost Escapes and have had no troubles thus far at 85000 and 75000 miles respectively. Thank you. Doug

 

[HenryMac]

Here's a photo of the back of the valve that forum member grammat95 posted over on the Ranger5G site. His truck had 25,000 miles on it when he took the photo with a borescope. No catch can is being used.

Maintenance / Habits​

- Full synthetic 5W-30 (Valvoline) from the first oil change. No more than 5k intervals.​

- Lots of towing (often times at max cap.), I would guestimate around 10k miles​

- Most trips are at least 20 minutes​

- I have not noticed any fuel dilution issues with oil​

View attachment 84590

Ranger5g member grammat95 posted updated photo's of the intake valve at 50,000 miles. The valve looks to be about the same, or better, in regard to carbon build up.

Maybe that silly little oil separator Ford put on the Ranger ecoboost motors to address these issues... isn't so silly after all?

 

[sgtsandman]

Ranger5g member grammat95 posted updated photo's of the intake valve at 50,000 miles. The valve looks to be about the same, or better, in regard to carbon build up.

Maybe that silly little oil separator Ford put on the Ranger ecoboost motors to address these issues... isn't so silly after all?

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Good to know. That has been something that has sat in the back of my mind.

With the reports about the hoses on the catch can systems not holding up and the fuel in the oil issues that seemed to get worse with such a system installed, I had wondered if the benefits of a catch can would out weigh the negatives.

Hopefully this is the norm and not the exception but it does help set the mind at ease a bit.

As a happy coincidence, I typically use the same oil as posted by the person in the picture you shared.

 

[JohnnyO]

2. Ford is a Top Tier fuel supporter. Meaning we only use gas stations selling Top Tier fuel. Top Tier fuel is engineered to produce less carbon thereby presenting less opportunity for it to adhere to the backside of the intake valve, which presents less opportunity for carbon buildup on the intake valve. Only 4000 miles on the Ranger, BUT, did the same on our 2018 and 2019 Ecoboost Escapes and have had no troubles thus far at 85000 and 75000 miles respectively. Thank you. Doug

Top Tier Fuel isn't going to make a bit of difference on the Ranger valves because it's a direct injection motor, meaning the fuel is injected into the combustion chamber below the intake valves.
That's part of the problem, you don't have fuel going past the intake valves to wash off any oil residue. All that goes past the intake valves is air with a little oil vapor in it.
Top Tier might keep the injectors from clogging, I use a bottle of fuel system cleaner at every oil change anyway, but doesn't matter to the valves.
I always get gas at one of two stations, one is Top Tier (Get Go) and one is not (Sheetz).
I was close to getting a catch can but then people on 5G started saying the hoses didn't hold up after a year or two. Too much money to pay for something that doesn't last.
I just change the oil with synthetic every 5000 miles and don't worry about it.

 

[sgtsandman]

Top Tier Fuel isn't going to make a bit of difference on the Ranger valves because it's a direct injection motor, meaning the fuel is injected into the combustion chamber below the intake valves.
That's part of the problem, you don't have fuel going past the intake valves to wash off any oil residue. All that goes past the intake valves is air with a little oil vapor in it.
Top Tier might keep the injectors from clogging, I use a bottle of fuel system cleaner at every oil change anyway, but doesn't matter to the valves.
I always get gas at one of two stations, one is Top Tier (Get Go) and one is not (Sheetz).
I was close to getting a catch can but then people on 5G started saying the hoses didn't hold up after a year or two. Too much money to pay for something that doesn't last.
I just change the oil with synthetic every 5000 miles and don't worry about it.

One thing I've been trying to do, but haven't been real regular with it, is using the Gumout intake cleaner spray at least once a year. I'm hoping that it will help keep the valves clean.

 

[HenryMac]

Top Tier Fuel isn't going to make a bit of difference on the Ranger valves because it's a direct injection motor, meaning the fuel is injected into the combustion chamber below the intake valves.

I'm not so sure about that. Top Tier burns cleaner, a cleaner burn means less particulates to deal with, meaning less bits and pieces getting re-routed to the intake to be re-burned, meaning less bits and pieces to get stuck on the valves.

 

[HenryMac]

One thing I've been trying to do, but haven't been real regular with it, is using the Gumout intake cleaner spray at least once a year. I'm hoping that it will help keep the valves clean.

Where are you spraying the intake cleaner to get it into the intake? I'd be worried about knocking a chunk of carbon or something else loose and wiping out rings or the turbo. But then again... I tend to overthink stuff.

 

[sgtsandman]

Where are you spraying the intake cleaner to get it into the intake? I'd be worried about knocking a chunk of carbon or something else loose and wiping out rings or the turbo. But then again... I tend to overthink stuff.

Where the flexible hose connects into the throttle body. I use the spry can with the long, flexible tube. It takes a good while to empty the can with the little tube that it comes with.

 

[Blmpkn]

I'm not so sure about that. Top Tier burns cleaner, a cleaner burn means less particulates to deal with, meaning less bits and pieces getting re-routed to the intake to be re-burned, meaning less bits and pieces to get stuck on the valves.

Not only that.. but thanks to whatever amount of fuel dilution these trucks have.. *SOME* amount of the detergents in the top-tier gas that's diluted the oil is constantly getting sucked past the valves via the pcv. Probably not much... but I'd wager that any is better than none.