98 Intrepid oil use, leaking by cap?

Could be one or even both, is it time to replace the PCV valve? How many miles are on this vehicle? And the oil fill cap is only a few bucks.

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Sounds like you need a new cap - it has an o-ring - yours must be bad - will come with the new cap.

Regarding the PCV: If you've never checked your PCV valve and hoses out, I'll bet you'll find the hose going to the PCV valve completely clogged with black powder and liquid goo at the 90° bend just before the PCV valve, and the hose wall possibly coming apart (dissolving at that 90° bend).

If your PCV valve or hose is clogged, what can happen under certain conditions is that the crankcase breather (the hose going from the passenger side valve over to the intake tube) will have to bleed off higher than normal blow-by pressure in your crankcase, and the air moving thru it at the required velocity will be carrying a bit of oil with it.

Also, even with a working PCV system, there will be some oil going into the intake plenum thru the PCV and breather hoses. IOW - it's normal to see some oil loss under heavy acceleration with everything working properly. There may be some contribution thru bad valve seals too at this age.

I have a suggestion for the PCV valve and hose: Replace the hose with a new design assembly that they started putting on the '01 2.7L's as part of the solution to sludging in this engine. I don't know if they obsoleted the old hose or if they will provide you with one or the other depending on what came in yours from the factory. But get the PCV hose assembly for the '01 model year (tell the parts guy that's what you have). It will cost just under $40.

It will be plug-n-play with one exception. It has a heat exchanger (yours doesn't have this) in the middle of the hose. It steals a little heat from the coolant system to keep the blow-by gases from condensing out in that hose and clogging it up. On your car now, there is a small (10 or 12mm) coolant hose that goes from one of the heater hoses (between the engine and the fire wall) to the coolant pressure bottle (driver side fender well). Cut that hose in the middle and plug one cut end to one of the heat exchanger ports, and the other cut end to the other heat exchanger ports. (Actually the new hose assembly has one new hose already on one of the heat exchanger ports - so just cut your orignal hose shorter and throw away one of the cut off ends.)

Here's a photo to give you an idea of what I'm talking about - shows the new hose assembly (not installed yet) laid parallel to the original hose on my 2.7:

're looking straight down on the back of the engine, firewall at top of photo, pressure bottle to the right) Oh yeah - put in a new PCV valve - get it from the dealer. I've seen too much junk in aftermarket PCV valves over the years.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Oh - here's the part number for the new-style PCV hose with heat exchanger: 04663792AH

Just give that to the parts guy to avoid any arguments about model year, VIN numbers etc.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')