[WhyUMad1LE]

The GM DEXOS oil spec contains low SAPS which supposedly reduces carbon buildup.

See page 19:

[Gonasurvive]

Thank you for sharing EDFHOBBIES!!

[Alain]

Those Zl1 heads do look pretty good.

On the wife’s SS (with double the miles of your Zl1) it looks like the the carbon is starting to build up.

I want to mention that I’m not one of these dudes that’s trying to justify to himself (or others) why he spent $350 bucks on a catch can.

With that being said, you ain’t gonna see much build up on the valves at 21k miles (3k of which were driven with a catch can). My thinking is that by the time the carbon becomes an issue it’ll be much more than 21k miles, and much later then what your car is warranted for so GM ain’t gonna help you out.

$350 for a can is peanuts compared to the amount of work it takes to clean the heads down the road. And imagine a dealership tearing your car apart to do this under warranty..... I barely trust them to change my oil, I can only imagine the shit show it would be for them to do this.

If I was worried about the dealership and the warranty, I would just install the can after the warranty expires OR install it now and if I have to take the car to the dealership for any warranty work I will just remove the can before going in.

This catch can debate will go on for as long as the combustion engine is around (much like the oil change threads lol).

Ultimately it’s your car and your choice. I plan on keeping mine, since we are finding out that the era of the super charged V8 is about to come to an end. I want this motor to run as clean as possible for as long as possible.

[Revalot]

Have you guys tried BG products? I get it from a friend that gets it from a company distributor truck. My crew max tundra I got new started using about 1/2 a quart of(every 5k) oil at 70k. I put a can in my oil and drove it for 15 minutes, flushed it and now at 190k it doesn't burn a drop, BG says it cleans the rings, I just done the same to my 90k toyota sequoia got it new, same issue. It has stop using oil ! Direct injection, they make a gas(throttle body spray in) treatment for direct injection that go's in your gas, I dont work for the company or sell there products but I'm telling you it's good stuff. I can afford to buy my Zl1/ 1LE now but I'm waiting till fall if I can hold out ! And B/G will get put in every 6 months or so ! Cant wait !

[ads789]

Alrighty, FWIW, I just did a treatment of CRC GDI IVD Intake Valve & Turbo Cleaner.

Quick back story; I recently bought a 2017 ZL1 with 43K miles on her. CarFax looked great, it was exactly what I was looking for save the miles, and the price was right....no catch can or other aftermarket additions were there when I purchased.

Reading the forums here had me super worried about carbon build-up considering the mileage on my car and I didn't want to go the route of removing the valve covers and/or having it scoped. So, at the advice of some of the forum members I opted to try the CRC stuff.

Based on bobby35ny's report, I expected to see a TON of smoke/soot once the heat soak was over. There was essentially none. After the heat soak, I drove at WOT till about 120, no smoke no, ill affects. I then drove for about 20-30 minutes at 60-80, again, no smoke and no ill affects. Only thing I did notice was possibly an ever so slightly improved throttle response.

So again, FWIW, My totally unscientific experiment/assumptions are as follows(in no particular order):

1. This product is total snake oil and does nothing for GDI carbon buildup.

2. The GM engineers know what they are talking about and carbon buildup is a non issue.

3. The prior owner of my ZL1 may have already treated for buildup somewhere in it's lifetime leading to my treatment being unnecessary(again, the service record was exemplary, so I assume that premium fuel and oil were always used).

I know the only way to tell is to look at the valves prior to and after a treatment...AND at 43K miles, it would have been really great to see the valves. However I'm not really a wrench and definitely don't have the tools or knowledge to go in and inspect valves. I just want my car to live and preform well as long as possible.

Anyone in the Charleston SC area who knows what they are doing and might want to inspect my car, PM me; I might be game.

Again, not sure if this helps the debate or not, just some observations from me.

Thanks all!!

[Intimidator]

I check my Catch Can every 3K miles...this is normal.

[SJFGTO]

Originally Posted by Intimidator

I check my Catch Can every 3K miles...this is normal.

Me too. I get the same amount.

[Gunkk]

Pretty much confirms what everyone has been saying are the facts here:

1. LT4 engines make blow-by. Lots of blow-by. Modified engines are highly likely to make even more.
2. Catch cans will catch significant amounts of the blow-by.
3. Chevy designed the LT4 so the blow-by doesn't make the horrendous build up on the valves and heads like some early 201x GDI engines did.
4. Catch catch can vendors don't want to admit #3, and like to show pictures from early 201x GDI engines in their marcom instead.

[Deuce22]

Here are some internal engine photos of my '17. This is at less then 6,000 miles and the car was burning a quart of oil every 500-650 miles. Engine replaced with a new one. E2X catch can installed with replacement engine - and pulls 2-3 oz every 1,000 miles.

[Dixie ZL1]

[QUOTE=Alain;10423905]Give it time. Two reasons why I think we haven’t seen many pictures of build up.
1- the LT4 hasn’t been in the Camaro for very long. I’d be curious to see if on the corvette world There has been more documentation since they have had the LT4 for longer.
2- you have to do some seriious dissasembly to be able to get to the valves and take some pics. That’s not something most people are going to do often. So hard to take pictures.

It’s not super significant, but more than I wanted to see after 11k miles. I installed a catch can during reassembly after seeing this.

[rlarsen462]

Originally Posted by Deuce22

Here are some internal engine photos of my '17. This is at less then 6,000 miles and the car was burning a quart of oil every 500-650 miles. Engine replaced with a new one. E2X catch can installed with replacement engine - and pulls 2-3 oz every 1,000 miles.

That's unfortunate but it sounds like your engine was defective or otherwise damaged?

The pictures are showing the combustion chamber, not the intact tract/tops of the valves. The combustion chamber (especially in a car burning as much oil as yours) is expected to look fairly carboned up. The intake and valve tops/stems are what most are concerned with in a GDI engine without port injection fuel-washing effect.

[kwav8r]

Originally Posted by Gunkk

Chevy designed the LT4 so the blow-by doesn't make the horrendous build up on the valves and heads like some early 201x GDI engines did.

Source?

[Artos]

So who's making the best catch can for our cars??

Sorry if I missed it, but what % of carbon build up does the cc help with over same said set of miles??

[DangerZL1]

Elite makes a popular well-regarded catch can. Haven’t seen a test where two cars one with and another without a catch can were driven the same miles and then had the valves scoped.