Positive Crankcase Ventilation: Description and Operation

Crankcase Ventilation System Description

General Description





A crankcase ventilation system is used to consume crankcase vapors (1) in the combustion process instead of venting them to atmosphere. Fresh air from the throttle body is supplied to the crankcase, mixed with blow by gases, and then passed through a positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) valve (3) into the intake manifold.

Operation





The primary control is through the positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) valve which meters the flow at a rate depending on inlet vacuum. To maintain idle quality, the PCV valve restricts the flow when inlet vacuum is high. If abnormal operating conditions arise, the system is designed to allow excessive amounts of blow by gases to back flow through the crankcase vent into the throttle body to be consumed by normal combustion.