Hi All
I am noticing a fair amount of black soot in the end of the muffler, could be running rich or blowing oil thru maybe. My motor (EX-L 2.4L automatic) has 167,000 kms (equal to 100,000 miles) and so I am looking at the PCV valve. If I pinch the hose the idle does falter so I can believe it is working to some degree but wondered if a cleaning would be a good idea. I can obviously replace it but at $40 Cdn it might be worth getting some gas on my hands too. I have two questions then.

1) When I thread the pcv valve out of it's spot on the engine, does that allow coolant to come out.

2) Can these valves be cleaned successfully?

Thanks
Steve

 

Are you sure it's the PCV valve?

The PCV should be located on the valve cover with a hose running to the intake manifold. A new PCV valve is less than USD$5 at the parts store, the hose should be fine.

 

There is no coolant in the PCV line, [Positve Crankcase Ventilation] oil vapor is all that goes thru it.
When you pinch off the vent line you should hear the valve lightly click.
There is no hazard to cleaning the valve out with carb cleaner.

 

On the 7th-gen, the PCV valve screws into the block, not the valve cover. The hole opens up into the crankcase, into an oily air space. Not into the water jacket. You won't have stuff flowing out when you unscrew it.