E300D '99 - Oil seperator/breather how does it work

[pcman_jh]

How can you tell if the oil seperator is working OK? It's the black flat disc like plastic 'thingy' that had one side going into the air intake ducting. It sits on top of the engine alongside the injector pipes below the top engine plastic cover.

I've occasionally had the odd bit of oil come from the oil fillter cap, and was wondering if there's too much pressure which I would have thought the oil seperator/breather would have dealt with.

I suspect I've also got possible bore wear as I'm getting high oil consumption with no obvious signs apart from it being intermittently noticeably smokey first start of the day.

 

[Hibbo]

I'm interested in this too, as my oil breather pipes are in the big bin in the sky.

Too see how much blow-by you've got, undo the oil filler cap with the engine running and leave it sat over the filler hole and rev the engine. If it sit stillish or just rattles a bit, then all is well. If it flies off then oh dear...