Oil Catch Can Fix*

[El_Diablo]

First off, let me say this. To anyone I have recommended the Corksport Oil Catch Can to, I apologize. The routing on this kit is the best method, I still firmly believe that. However, the can is flawed and the hoses are let’s face it, complete junk.

A little background on myself- I'm a former tech & have been wrenching on everything I could get my hands on since the age of 6. I have built a couple turbo cars and I'm in the process of building a twin turbo Mustang that up until this rebuild was running a supercharger. I am no stranger to boosted cars and crankcase ventilation setups.

So here’s my story-


I had been researching the MZR platforms for over a year when I finally purchased my 2011 MS3 used back in October so I was familiar with its inherent problems. Needless to say my first mod was an OCC and I thought I was making the right move when I purchased and installed the CS OCC with 13,500 miles on the odometer.

I installed the CS OCC with the help of a lift here at work (I now sell cars instead of wrench). Everything went smoothly except for the hose that was provided wanted to do nothing but continuously split. Of course after a couple of tries and some careful trimming it all went together after following Corksports directions to a T. The "outlet" or "vent" if you will goes into the intake pre-turbo, just as the instructions say.

All was well, everything was running and working fine after the 500 mile check & drain. Approximately a thousand miles later and plenty of crap was being caught just as it should have been. Man was I happy with my purchase and I let anyone know who would listen. I drain it every thousand miles.

Well, I just hit 17k miles, It was a rare warm mid-winter day here in Ohio so I decided to wash my car. I figured I would just go ahead and drain the OCC while I was at it and to my surprise when I popped the hood, the freakin top was missing to my OCC!!!!

Needless to say, I was pissed... how did this happen? WTF? I installed it the "correct" way!! This should have never happened!!!

I called up Corksport and talked to Derrick, he told me to shoot a couple pictures and e-mail them directly to him. I also sent him a couple pictures of there the vent line goes into the intake, pre-turbo of course.

Catch Can Failure- J*** ******** J*** ******** <j************@gmail.com> Jan 8 (6 days ago) to derrick Here are the pictures of the catch can failure you requested. As you can see the top is completely missing and it is plumbed into the intake using the hose that you supplied. I have also attached links to a couple other failures. Oil Catch Can Recommendations http://www.mazdaspeedforum.org/forum/foru...-notes-112463/ I hope to hear from you soon in regards to this issue as this is my daily driver. Thank you, J*** ******** 330-***-****

Holy crap was his response fast (called me right back)! Nice guy too. He then said he would send the pictures to Kelly who would help me out. Needless to say I was expecting more of the same that I had seen with Derrick (I'm in a service industry as are they; I try to never let more than 2 hrs. go by before contacting a customer). However, even though it was still only 2PM their time she waited until later in the following day to respond with this.-

J***, Hello, and thank you your email and sorry to see your challenge. CorkSport will exchange your Oil Catch Can as a goodwill gesture, since we are unable to determine if the failure mode is user installation error or manufacture defect. Beware no further warranty consideration will be give once this exchange is complete and it is the end-user responsibility to ensure proper installation of the oil catch can has taken place. We will included installation instruction to help ensure proper installation, if you have any questions or concerns while installing the oil catch can do not hesitate to contact us for support. The replacement can will be shipping towards the end of January once inventory is available. Please hold onto your current kit I will need your original can back and you will need to reuse the hoses that came with your original kit. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding this process. Thank you for all your time and patience. Have a great day. Kelly Sales Manager CorkSport Mazda Performance kelly@corksport.com 360.260.2675

So obviously I was a little irritated that I had pretty much been told "We don't care what proof you give, it’s your fault".

I replied Immediately

Kelly, This issue seems to be ongoing with these catch cans. In my pictures you can clearly see where the discharge hose goes into the pre-turbo inlet pipe just as stated in the instructions. If you need further pictures I can and will provide them because I am in no way in the wrong on this situation. I'm a former technician and know what I'm doing when it comes to cars and the plumbing is spot on. However, the can is clearly a poor design. As such I would prefer a full refund and I'm very willing to send the entire kit back. I no longer wish to run your OCC with the quality issues that exist. If there were a redesigned can I might consider it but why continue to use a product that has been a proven failure. This is my daily driver and I drive at least 50-60 miles a day and very soon that number will easily triple, on top of that I use this car to transport my newborn daughter. I simply cannot accept a failure prone part due to my nature of use for the vehicle, especially without continued warranty support and replacement delay time of nearly a month. Thank you, J*** ******** 330-***-****

J***, I can completely appreciate what you're says and I understand the need for reliability from your daily driver. We have made a revision to the oil catch can that will be part of the next production run, which I think you will like. The lid will now be welded on. The change directly address the concerns expressed by the Mazda community at large. I'm sorry to say the returning is not an option. I would like to outfit you with the new can once available, I think you will be happy with the revisions. Thank you for your time and patience. Kelly Sales Manager CorkSport Mazda Performance kelly@corksport.com 360.260.2675

Overall, is the solution a good one? Not really.

I get a replacement can, that’s awesome, but why would I want a replacement that has no real promise of being any better? Why would anyone want to wait a month to have an issue resolved? My warranty is now void, why should it be when I can provide proof that the install was correct?

Below I have attached the pictures that I sent in the first e-mail to Derrick that were then sent to Kelly.


Feel free to draw your own conclusions but I will no longer recommend the CS OCC and wouldn't feel that great recommending their other products now that I know how they handle a warranty issue. They have some great things to offer, I just hope they step up a little on customer service when a customer has a total failure of one of their products.


Sorry for the long rant.