Has anyone seen this much blowby residue?

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10 September 2021
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I’m reading all the other threads on catch cans and blowby solutions after seeing my intake tube with so much residue. Car wasn’t driven much in the last 10 years. At 21k miles , I’m just refreshing everything previous owners didn’t. Car idles a bit funny when the car is fully warmed up. I’m guessing there maybe a line or two clogged up…any tips on how to clear this stuff?

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Are you talking about that white stuff? I have never seen anything like that. Because of the very distinct 'edge' between the white and black of the intake bellows it almost looks like the white stuff is dry / brittle. It would be unusual to see blow by that far back in the bellows. Blow by the piston rings pressurizes the crankcase and usually ends up with an oily emulsion in the intake courtesy of the PCV system.

That looks more like somebody sprayed white paint upstream of the throttle plate.
 
I’m reading all the other threads on catch cans and blowby solutions after seeing my intake tube with so much residue. Car wasn’t driven much in the last 10 years. At 21k miles , I’m just refreshing everything previous owners didn’t. Car idles a bit funny when the car is fully warmed up. I’m guessing there maybe a line or two clogged up…any tips on how to clear this stuff?

c5c948d891145c57e15c3edfc21235ac.jpg

Oh man, that is definitely not normal blow-by. It's usually a tan color- like mocha ice cream- and it stinks terribly. I've seen white-colored rubber mold release residue on the bellows before, but not like this. From the pattern in your photo, it looks like someone sprayed it into the bellows. Maybe some kind of "super duper" engine booster snake oil? I'd pull the intake manifold and inspect it. Also probably your intake valves to see if they are coated in this stuff too.
 
I was reading a thread with someone who had a catch can and looked like there were multiple layers with middle layer that looks very similar to this stuff. It’s almost waxy. I took it off and it did scrub off very easily. I’m doing the TB service soon and will report back. Hope it’s nothing crazy!


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Here’s the link to that thread: http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/154972-Oil-catch-can/page4
 
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When you pulled the bellows off, did you examine the front face and back face of the individual accordions. All we can see is the front faces in your photo. If the white 'stuff' is primarily only on the front face of the accordions I pretty much guarantee you that somebody sprayed something into the intake tract. Like Honcho said, blow by residue is usually brownish in color. The combustion gasses blasting past the rings mix with oil vapour in the crankcase forming a gas entrained emulsion. Combustion gasses include water which mix in and helps to create an evil sticky brown stuff. 'Wax like' is definitely not an adjective that I would use to describe blow by.

If its wax like, that almost looks to me like an over application of one of those spray on lubricants that has PTFE (aka Teflon) in it. The PTFE leaves a white coloured 'wax like' residue.
 
The inside of my coupler was not that bad, but probably about 50% of that. My car has 46,000 miles on it. I wonder if it's a preservative coating applied to the rubber.
 
When you pulled the bellows off, did you examine the front face and back face of the individual accordions. All we can see is the front faces in your photo. If the white 'stuff' is primarily only on the front face of the accordions I pretty much guarantee you that somebody sprayed something into the intake tract. Like Honcho said, blow by residue is usually brownish in color. The combustion gasses blasting past the rings mix with oil vapour in the crankcase forming a gas entrained emulsion. Combustion gasses include water which mix in and helps to create an evil sticky brown stuff. 'Wax like' is definitely not an adjective that I would use to describe blow by.

If its wax like, that almost looks to me like an over application of one of those spray on lubricants that has PTFE (aka Teflon) in it. The PTFE leaves a white coloured 'wax like' residue.

Thanks old guy! The white residue was all in the deeper grooves of the bellows through out the length of it. It was filled in there pretty good all the way up to the throttle body contact area. No signs of that stuff in the throttle body or the vacuum lines so far. The intake filter is absolutely pristine. I know this car’s engine bay was cleaned very thoroughly for previous auctions it passed through…I wonder if they went nuts with some cleaner? I’m glad it’s not blowby but really wondering what this stuff is and where it came from!
 
The inside of my coupler was not that bad, but probably about 50% of that. My car has 46,000 miles on it. I wonder if it's a preservative coating applied to the rubber.

I’m glad someone else had this…really strange stuff. Come to think of it, It sort had the consistency of dried up shin etsu?! No idea.
 
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