I had to add a catch can on my Spider's 1.4L turbo because the oil-air separator is poorly designed and ends up filling up with oil to the point it just bypasses oil to the intake. Shortly after buying the car, I opened the airbox to check the filter and found it soaked in oil where it had run down from the intake tube and dripped onto the top of the air filter. The bottom and sides of the intake were coated in oil. I was really concerned about the compressor and intercooler getting oil in them not to mention the intake valves (although fortunately, the 1.4L has port injection). After installing the catch can, absolutely no oil made it to the intake. The funny thing is, there's never any oil accumulated in the catch can, just a little bit of brown film / discoloration. It's almost like the addition of all the extra hose length condenses the oil mist and vapor and drains it back to the oil-air separator, while the actual bypass gases continue on to the intake and get re-combusted.
The point of this story is to say that a catch can is one of those things that you add if you are actually having a problem with liquid oil getting into or condensing in the intake. If not, then I don't think a catch can will provide much benefit. I don't think it would hurt anything though if you just want peace of mind.
The point of this story is to say that a catch can is one of those things that you add if you are actually having a problem with liquid oil getting into or condensing in the intake. If not, then I don't think a catch can will provide much benefit. I don't think it would hurt anything though if you just want peace of mind.
