Oh Crap!! I crushed the tranny breather valve while putting in the new engine.

I was installing a new engine last night and I crushed the tranny breather valve between the engine and tranny. At least I think it is a breather valve. It is a hose that comes off the tranny that has a plastic cap or valve of some kind at the end. I didn't see that the hose was caught between the two until I torqued everthing down. I tried to loosen all the bolts and slide it out but I simply sheared off the hose and the valve fell into the bell housing. I can not reuse the valve because it is crushed beyond oblivion. I got it out but now I am a little stuck. I can't seem to find any parts store including the dealership that carries or can even get the breather valve. First off, is it actually a breather valve? If not, what is it? How important is the valve? Can I simply leave it as an open ended hose? If not, any ideas on where I can get another valve/cap or fab up some generic valve?

It's just a breather screen, not even a valve. I would bend the end over or put a little "U" in it so it's not pointing up to get water in. If you go into water with your front axle and it cools off quickly, it lets air rush in instead of sucking water past the seals (theoretically). Not important.

I just want to make sure I understand you properly. I can simply leave it as on open hose as long as the end is pointed down?

Correct. You want air to be able to go in, but not water. (Rain, splash puddles, etc.)

I just found this generic breather valve. This style is made by a few companies and is for tranny valves, pcv valves, etc. Will this work?

That will work, but it is way overkill. Your tranny doesn't "use" air and doesn't need to be filtered. Remember, the rear axle just has a little vent, and doesn't even have a hose on it. But hey, if you want to spend the money, go ahead. It would look cool. You'd be better off spending the money to change the oil in the axle.

The rear axle does have a hose on the vent but it just extends up into the unibody rail.

Would be a good time to extend the line and use a cheap fram fuel filter (I used G3359 works great because of the 90 degree top) on the end of it If your going for OEM, try a GM breather cap.

While your at it might as well extend all the other breather lines.

bhicks said:

I just found this generic breather valve. This style is made by a few companies and is for tranny valves, pcv valves, etc. Will this work?

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i am running a similar one for my front axle breather. it helps to keep particles and some moisture out of the system that it breathes. in my case, i dont want dirt, dust, grit and grime to get into my front diff oil.

winterbeater said:

That will work, but it is way overkill. Your tranny doesn't "use" air and doesn't need to be filtered. Remember, the rear axle just has a little vent, and doesn't even have a hose on it. But hey, if you want to spend the money, go ahead. It would look cool. You'd be better off spending the money to change the oil in the axle.

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SPOBI!!!!!

i dont know what you have been looking at, but my rear axle sure has a vent hose to it. there is the nipple on the diff with the hose attatched to it. that hose runs up to the drivers side frame rail. true, there is no filter on the end of the hose, but the hose is there none the less.

go ahead and leave your vent line open or all the way off for that matter. dont come crying to us when you get abrasive debris in your diff that kills your bearings, or crud in your trans fluid:explosion. not to mention if you encounter water on the trail (or the mall for that matter) up to the diff vent opening with no hose you WILL suck in water- not good. :repair:
yes, the above pictured breather filter may be overkill, but there is not much in our sport that is not. i plan on taking that one breather filter and running multiple breather lines to it- ie front axle vent, trans, and TC just to keep the clean look.

stewie said:

i plan on taking that one breather filter and running multiple breather lines to it- ie front axle vent, trans, and TC just to keep the clean look.

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How do you plan on hooking up to the trans?

Well I went down to Kragen this morning and picked up the K&N version of that little breather I pictured on an earlier post but I also picked up a generic pcv valve. It looked almost identical to the one I crushed between my engine and tranny. Will a pcv valve work? It allows air to enter freely but restricts its exit to some extent. Which valve should I use? PCV or K&N?

stewie said:

SPOBI!!!!!

i dont know what you have been looking at, but my rear axle sure has a vent hose to it. there is the nipple on the diff with the hose attatched to it. that hose runs up to the drivers side frame rail. true, there is no filter on the end of the hose, but the hose is there none the less.

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X2. I have never seen one that doesn't have a line.

winterbeater said:

How do you plan on hooking up to the trans?

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i have already extended the trans vent line to the engine oil dipstick. i plan on extending it further and bringing it arround and have a T's on the line connecting the various breathers to the filter. there is enough volume of air in the lines where they should not cause any conflict with eachother even with the shared breather manifold

BHICKS,
Do not use a PCV valve on the vent line. PCV is a one way valve, you need air to be able to move both ways or you will damage seals. The piece you crushed is a screen, if you want to put a filter on it is up to you. If you go to a junk yard you could get the screen end for pennies. It's your call but do not use a PCV valve.

You could extend all of the breather lines so that they terminate higher to keep water out of them.

You could route them into the passenger compartment to reduce the amount of crap getting sucked into, but that really isn't a huge problem.

As for keeping large chunks of debris from entering, you can use nylon window screen material wrapped over the end and held in place with a nylon tie strap.

joe_peters said:

You could extend all of the breather lines so that they terminate higher to keep water out of them.

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not a bad idea. many of us do that

joe_peters said:

You could route them into the passenger compartment to reduce the amount of crap getting sucked into, but that really isn't a huge problem.

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um, that may not be the best solution. when things heat up they expand right? well, if your trans overheats it will likely puke fluid from the breather. hot trans fluid does not smell too good. well, any hot automotive fluid doesnt smell to good. i would hate to have them stinking up the cab. there was a thread a while ago about a guy who ran his rear axle breather up into the cab. rather the the diff oil puking into the frame rail as stock, it stunk up the cab via the cargo area behind the trim pannels. gear oil can be peticularly bothersome.

joe_peters said:

As for keeping large chunks of debris from entering, you can use nylon window screen material wrapped over the end and held in place with a nylon tie strap.

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you "could" but i wouldnt. the debris that can kill the parts that have breathers can go right through that type of material. be it dust in the desert, muddy water, sand, salt in the winter and even just everyday road grime at your local mall. the minimum i would go is the stock breather which kinda sucks bad. i would instead upgrade with a small breather filter element as pictured earlier, or with a fuel filter as some have done. i dont like the look of the fuel filter, so i chose a breather filter.