So I had the car on a lift today, so I could bolt up my panzer plate properly. I noticed that the hose connected to my passengers side intercooler has a little bit of sludgy oily residue seeping. any problem with this? Is it ok? Its not bad, but Im wondering if it could be worse than I thought.

 

Normal. There is some blow-by that occurs due to the PCV valve venting. Many have added an oil catch can to capture this.

 

Thats kinda what I thought. So is the 1.8t just a dirty little pig or what?

 

^si senor

 

I wonder if the catch can is realy worth doing. I'm aware of the fact that a ton of goo is caught by the can, but how much does it realy affect performance/engine life?

 

You're seeing the difference. Well, the 'not catching the sludge' part.

In stock form, you're coating the insides of your intercooler(s) with oily gunk, which means the intercoolers are less efficient. The stock system returns all the gunk to the turbo inlet, which means you're also putting all that grime thru your turbo before it hits your intercooler(s).

Only downside I've found to a catch can is remembering to drain it. I had a small head gasket leak that put coolant in my oil. It then evaporated when the car was warm, and was caught in the can. Then the can filled far enough that when it got cold, the water turned to ice, and blocked the baffles I made inside the can (my design error). Ended up pressurizing the system and doing even more head gasket damage. That was the lead-up to my head gasket swap, at which point I screwed something else up, and now I can't make boost, but thats another story, and a situation unique to my car. Again, my design for the can, not a common problem due to catch cans.

 

I heard the benefit of a oil catch can was very small, i was close to getting one but just didn't bother.