PCV Filter replacement process ( challenges!)

Rickshaw · 1st February 2022, 16:29

Seemingly , otherwise known , confusingly , on Rimmers as Cam Cover Breather Assembly - LLJ000060.

My 75 diesel has been issuing blue smoke and really helpful observations recently from our club members have led me to embark on replacement of the PCV filter as most likely cause of the problem. An invaluable ‘How To ‘ guide from Arctic helped me along the way - I thought I would share part of the experience , problems and a need others may have too ?

1 - My first problem was basic removal of the Air Duct – held in place by three screws right up front of the engine bay. Mine simply would NOT unscrew – simply went round and round completely locked to the nut below. The nut is held in place by what seems to be no better than a rubber grommet in the plastic air ducting– offering no grip at all. In the end I had to lever the body of the duct away from each nut !

2 - Next challenge was replacement of the Air filter. I bought the expensive , reusable one from DMGRS. This is a very well made , solid object – but proved the very devil to insert ( little flexibility ) . I have it mostly home but still not completely. Anyone else had this experience and how overcome ?

3 - Then we come to the actual Filter Housing. NOT easy to extract by any means but , once off I found the filter really packed with thick black oil . The filter is held in alignment at it’s lower end by a plastic positioning element that slides into a slot running up the inside of the filter housing. Unfortunately I found that my positioning element was broken off at the upper end of the slot it slides into. Of course I am not going to complete refitting either the filter or housing without a new positioning element and the only way I seem able to do this is to buy a completely new PCV housing from Rimmers – which includes the positioning element , the whole purchase being known at Rimmers as ‘Cam Cover Breather Assembly - LLJ000060’.

To be honest , the broken ‘element’ is a pretty flimsy object and should have been a far more robust item from the start . Point is , I bet I am not the first person to encounter this problem and therefore wonder whether anyone has found a source for this basic item ?
I have certainly put in a suggestion to Rimmer’s that they look into stocking them and I will contact DMGRS too .

An alternative , of course , is to superglue the two broken parts together - views?

Well , that’s progress so far – all on hold and a dead car until my Rimmer’s replacement arrives . I will , however , continue searching for some replacement elements because I see this as a single point of failure , keeping a car right off the road ?.
If you do a google search for ‘Rover 75 Cam Cover Breather Assembly - LLJ000060’ and go onto the Rimmers web site that is listed you will see the offending object on the left hand side of the housing picture that come sup.

Any observations most welcome !

macafee2 · 1st February 2022, 16:50

3, get one from a breakers
1, I too have had that problem. I made up some metal inserts for the left and right bolts. These go inside the air duct with a 6mm nut brazed onto the metal insert. They are also glued in place but made in a way that they will not spin around.
The middle fitting I made a fitting to go under the air duct and again glued or silicone it in place to the underside of the duct, it too has a 6mm nut brazed to it.

Not been a problem since and been there for a few years

macafee2

Kearton · 1st February 2022, 17:15

Take a look at parts for the equivalent BMW engines. They used a filter-free baffle and condenser arrangement which is a straight swap and, as far as I understand it, will never need maintenance.

Number 6 · 1st February 2022, 17:26

Chuck the blocked filter away, replace the lid and fit back in place. No need for the filter and no need to replace with the "Vortex" one.. I have just done this and the car runs fine..

As recomended by one of the experts on here.

trikey · 1st February 2022, 18:07

A bit late now but you dont have to remove the air duct, just leave it attached to te slam panel while you do the job.

Rickshaw · 1st February 2022, 20:02

Thanks for the responses so far. A few observations :-

1 Macafee2 – yep , chasing up the breakers route , welcome the ideas re duct

2 Kearton - that BMW option looks interesting. I will try to find out more but wonder if you have got any refs ?

3 – Number 6 – Most interesting , radical option . I would be very interested in other peoples take on this and I am certainly willing to learn. Can anyone see a long term impact running without a filter – presumably the designers saw merit in having it , I mean some protective gain it gave or negative impact in it’s absence. Appreciate views.

4 – Trikey – yep , acknowledge that but is somewhat in the way

Thanks chaps

Number 6 · 1st February 2022, 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rickshaw

Thanks for the responses so far. A few observations :-

1 Macafee2 – yep , chasing up the breakers route , welcome the ideas re duct

2 Kearton - that BMW option looks interesting. I will try to find out more but wonder if you have got any refs ?

3 – Number 6 – Most interesting , radical option . I would be very interested in other peoples take on this and I am certainly willing to learn. Can anyone see a long term impact running without a filter – presumably the designers saw merit in having it , I mean some protective gain it gave or negative impact in it’s absence. Appreciate views.

4 – Trikey – yep , acknowledge that but is somewhat in the way

Thanks chaps

Ref to Number 3,,, Without the filter it will do the same as the "Vortex" filter Without the "Vortex" effect And the Vortex filter was I believe a BMW mod. But I stand to be corrected on that.

Ref Number 4. I leave the Intake attached to the Slam Panel, remove the two fixings on the engine and then just pull it off from the filter body, Never had a problem

Mike Noc · 1st February 2022, 21:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Number 6

Chuck the blocked filter away, replace the lid and fit back in place. No need for the filter and no need to replace with the "Vortex" one.. I have just done this and the car runs fine..

As recomended by one of the experts on here.

No reason why that won't work, but keep an eye on your oil level as you may suffer from some carry over.

I stil do 15k miles between oil changes with no noticeable loss on an engine that has done over 420k miles, but it has a vortex PCV fitted.

Arctic · 1st February 2022, 23:41

Hi Roger.
Purchase one of these below,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291075801342

Just in case you have trouble re-fitting the air filter cover.
https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...d.php?t=200016

Rimmer Bros really what (WOW). out of stock also, maybe waiting for delivery from the seller above most likely.
https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-LLJ000060

1st February 2022, 16:29	#1
Rickshaw Loves to post Rover 75 Tourer, 2 X75 Saloon , MGTF Sunstorm Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Guildford Posts: 380 Thanks: 497 Thanked 172 Times in 93 Posts	PCV Filter replacement process ( challenges!) Seemingly , otherwise known , confusingly , on Rimmers as Cam Cover Breather Assembly - LLJ000060. My 75 diesel has been issuing blue smoke and really helpful observations recently from our club members have led me to embark on replacement of the PCV filter as most likely cause of the problem. An invaluable ‘How To ‘ guide from Arctic helped me along the way - I thought I would share part of the experience , problems and a need others may have too ? 1 - My first problem was basic removal of the Air Duct – held in place by three screws right up front of the engine bay. Mine simply would NOT unscrew – simply went round and round completely locked to the nut below. The nut is held in place by what seems to be no better than a rubber grommet in the plastic air ducting– offering no grip at all. In the end I had to lever the body of the duct away from each nut ! 2 - Next challenge was replacement of the Air filter. I bought the expensive , reusable one from DMGRS. This is a very well made , solid object – but proved the very devil to insert ( little flexibility ) . I have it mostly home but still not completely. Anyone else had this experience and how overcome ? 3 - Then we come to the actual Filter Housing. NOT easy to extract by any means but , once off I found the filter really packed with thick black oil . The filter is held in alignment at it’s lower end by a plastic positioning element that slides into a slot running up the inside of the filter housing. Unfortunately I found that my positioning element was broken off at the upper end of the slot it slides into. Of course I am not going to complete refitting either the filter or housing without a new positioning element and the only way I seem able to do this is to buy a completely new PCV housing from Rimmers – which includes the positioning element , the whole purchase being known at Rimmers as ‘Cam Cover Breather Assembly - LLJ000060’. To be honest , the broken ‘element’ is a pretty flimsy object and should have been a far more robust item from the start . Point is , I bet I am not the first person to encounter this problem and therefore wonder whether anyone has found a source for this basic item ? I have certainly put in a suggestion to Rimmer’s that they look into stocking them and I will contact DMGRS too . An alternative , of course , is to superglue the two broken parts together - views? Well , that’s progress so far – all on hold and a dead car until my Rimmer’s replacement arrives . I will , however , continue searching for some replacement elements because I see this as a single point of failure , keeping a car right off the road ?. If you do a google search for ‘Rover 75 Cam Cover Breather Assembly - LLJ000060’ and go onto the Rimmers web site that is listed you will see the offending object on the left hand side of the housing picture that come sup. Any observations most welcome !

1st February 2022, 17:26	#4
Number 6 This is my second home Rover 75 tourer Club CD/Limo Tints Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Meneac Posts: 6,759 Thanks: 5,007 Thanked 1,609 Times in 869 Posts	Chuck the blocked filter away, replace the lid and fit back in place. No need for the filter and no need to replace with the "Vortex" one.. I have just done this and the car runs fine.. As recomended by one of the experts on here. __________________ ] "I started out with nothing, and Ive still got most of it left!"

1st February 2022, 18:07	#5
trikey Premium Trader Rover 75 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Devon Posts: 33,768 Thanks: 8,837 Thanked 14,831 Times in 8,030 Posts	A bit late now but you dont have to remove the air duct, just leave it attached to te slam panel while you do the job. __________________ Lest we forget..

1st February 2022, 20:02	#6
Rickshaw Loves to post Rover 75 Tourer, 2 X75 Saloon , MGTF Sunstorm Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Guildford Posts: 380 Thanks: 497 Thanked 172 Times in 93 Posts	Thus far Thanks for the responses so far. A few observations :- 1 Macafee2 – yep , chasing up the breakers route , welcome the ideas re duct 2 Kearton - that BMW option looks interesting. I will try to find out more but wonder if you have got any refs ? 3 – Number 6 – Most interesting , radical option . I would be very interested in other peoples take on this and I am certainly willing to learn. Can anyone see a long term impact running without a filter – presumably the designers saw merit in having it , I mean some protective gain it gave or negative impact in it’s absence. Appreciate views. 4 – Trikey – yep , acknowledge that but is somewhat in the way Thanks chaps

1st February 2022, 23:41	#9
Arctic Give to Learn Freelander 2 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: West Midlands Posts: 18,713 Thanks: 1,155 Thanked 6,407 Times in 3,874 Posts	Hi Roger. Purchase one of these below, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291075801342 Just in case you have trouble re-fitting the air filter cover. https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...d.php?t=200016 Rimmer Bros really what (WOW). out of stock also, maybe waiting for delivery from the seller above most likely. https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-LLJ000060 __________________ Arctic Givology Learn to Give Everything is Achievable ad altiora tendo. Check out our Nano meet dates http://www.midlandsnanomeets.co.uk/ http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/index.php?thepage=howto " You do the work , we supply the expertise " Last edited by Arctic; 1st February 2022 at 23:48..

1st February 2022, 16:50	#2
macafee2 This is my second home Rover 75 Saloon & Tourer Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Lincoln Posts: 14,926 Thanks: 1,630 Thanked 3,032 Times in 2,181 Posts	3, get one from a breakers 1, I too have had that problem. I made up some metal inserts for the left and right bolts. These go inside the air duct with a 6mm nut brazed onto the metal insert. They are also glued in place but made in a way that they will not spin around. The middle fitting I made a fitting to go under the air duct and again glued or silicone it in place to the underside of the duct, it too has a 6mm nut brazed to it. Not been a problem since and been there for a few years macafee2

1st February 2022, 17:15	#3
Kearton Gets stuck in MG ZT-T CDTi Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Sunny Suffolk Posts: 617 Thanks: 1 Thanked 16 Times in 13 Posts	Take a look at parts for the equivalent BMW engines. They used a filter-free baffle and condenser arrangement which is a straight swap and, as far as I understand it, will never need maintenance.