Here are my questions, please read on for more detail.
- What exactly does a PCV valve do?
- Between a clogged PCV valve and a dirty air filter, how much %FE could it cost?
- Should I be worried about the remaining "yellow gunk" I wasn't able to remove?
I recently got my tires rotated and had a "21 point inspection". Among the things that were recommended to be done were:
Replace burnt out tail light
Replace (suspected) clogged PCV valve
Replace air filter
They wanted $30 each ($90 total) to do the work, and it would take about an hour... I just replaced my tail light, PCV valve, and air filter on my own for about $15 or $20, and it took me about an hour. They had said that the PCV valve was probably costing me 10% fuel economy and the air filter another 10%. They said that the clogged PCV valve would cause oil to get on the air filter, reducing it's efficiency. The PCV valve was sure clogged, with a fairly thick, yellow gunk, along with a lot of the line that connected to it and clogged back into the air filter compartment. I did everything I could to clean out the gunk from the line (and it is good and clean now), but I just couldn't clean the channel back into the air filter compartment completely (two 90degree bends makes it really hard to clean). Should I be worried about this? Is there a trick to cleaning it out? I drove it today and didn't notice anything any worse than I had before, but it was clogged before... I just don't want to have to replace the PCV valve again and again as the gunk makes it's way out of that channel. Thanks guys.