Do I really need Oil Catch Can (OCC) in 2012 Prius?

I've read in OCC thread here that 2012 Prius implemented a newer design air intake manifold.
When I was cleaning EGR and intake recently I could still see dark oil in the intake that must be coming from PCV and sits in a paddle under the throttle body.

Do you know if installing OCC would still be beneficial for this year Prius?

Thanks for all useful input!

 

Thanks Mendel, I'll install OCC then.

I wonder about EGR revamp you have mentioned above... My Prius has 266k km, I bought it with ~150k and I am sure no one did EGR system clean on it, but I was a bit surprised to see the EGR ports in the air intake manifold passages were all still open and had substantially less carbon than I have seen in YT videos. I wonder if that could be due to EGR cooler being more clogged... or some new design... is that what you called EGR passages revamp, do you know what did Toyota change there?

 

When I was cleaning EGR recently, my Prius air intake seem to have had one horizontal passage from EGR pipe which then branched into each cylinder small passage. Is that what you call "one into four"? Then I must have an older design intake...?

 

Correct, I see oil level stays approximately the same between the oil changes. That is probably why the whole EGR system was not very much contaminated. Then this all makes sense.
I am trying to change oil (full synthetic) every 5000km or 3000mi, could that be the contributor to less EGR carbon buildup?

 

OCC is now installed. Used 7' long 3/8 fuel line and two barb splicers from PA near me. I have read the OCC big thread (in part) and being inspired by the mods there found at home a suitable plastic(HDPE) container to pack the wire mesh in it and fit it tight over the input port inside. Pocked some holes in the plastic with soldering iron so there is no air restriction. Engine works as usual, and now will monitor what comes out of it. So far there is nothing, bone dry, except gas/exhaust smell, but I only did a very short distances for a test drive and to local stores. The final OCC location is not yet decided, just to allow for quick check. PCV valve is new, so I know it's working and gases are flowing well.

 

Thanks guys for sharing your experience and ideas. I will need to monitor how good my can setup works in a few months. Today 's temperature was only 2 Celsius and I had a longer trip to another city and back, overall around 300km with mostly high speed driving and minor slow city traffic. After returning home I opened the can to check what changed and I saw a very little, not even half of teaspoon of this stuff in the photo attached that looks like emulsion of oil and water and maybe some gasoline(?) or other light petroleum liquid floating at the top since water is heavier than oil and cannot float atop of this milky oil emulsion. Ultimate result will be by checking what eventually gets into intake manifold after some time.
Looks like it works good so far!

 

Thanks for the useful information. I got some questions about your modifications:
1. How fine (microns) is the stainless steel mesh and where did you get it?
2. How did you fix the smaller mesh inside the output hole?
3. How did you fix your OCC, do you have a picture of your OCC bracket?

Thanks again!

 

I like the idea of low location as it should work better with shorter hoses and better draining into OCC. I feel that I will want to check and drain the can in that low position at any moment in time and I am looking for simple way to do that. Maybe I can add a small drain with some (transparent?) hose, run it close to a service opening underneath and put some small valve at the hose end? That way I will not need to take off the underpan every time I want to check the OCC... Do you know if any one done the above?
Therefore I am still considering the optimal OCC location.

 

I can drill and tap the hole in the can I have now. My OCC bottom is about 5-6mm think so it should be easy to modify. I need to find a suitable hardware for this.

I want to be able to drain at any time without taking the underpanel off by having the bottom drain extended with a hose running to an opening in the underpanel for access to the coolant drain. So will be looking for drain tap, matching hose and a small valve hardware. The reason I want to closely monitor the OCC fill up because I expect that in a cold winter time there will be much more condensate amount and I do not want to risk freezing and plugging the OCC flow at any point in time, which potentially could cause some serious damage to engine seals. That is why for now I've put it in a warmer area close to EGR cooler so there is less risk of freezing in case there is happened a much of water condensate. I also have the cartridge heater in that area, so overall, since I live in a colder winter climate, I want to see how it works during the winter and finalize the location with drainage requirements next.

 

Can you reach and drain your OCC from the service opening or you need to take off the whole underpanel to drain like Mendel described?