breather filters

could somebody tell me what a breather does and the positives and negatives with it
edit: i'm talking about the breather filter for the crankcase

[Fast Eddie]

a breather inhales oxygen into there lungs to aid in resperation.

Seriously though, which breather are you talking about?

A breather gives you a break. I often take them while playing hockey.

I'm guessing that you're talking about bypassing the PCV valve re-route to the intake?

The fumes that the PCV system lets out of the crankcase get routed back into the air intake so that the engine burns them completely, helping emission control. But that "air" that's getting sent back to your intake has oil mist in it. Some people think that it's totally evil to let this back into your engine. There's also a case to be made that fresh, clean air is better to have going into your engine than some air with some fumes in it. I don't think any of us will notice that perfomance degredation...

Positives: no oil vapor from valve cover going back into the intake
Negatives: breaks emission control laws, might void warranties

I'm not going outside to look right now, but I don't believe that there's a filter at either the PCV valve end or at the other end of that hose as it heads back to the intake. I'll look tomorrow if no one else jumps in on it...

[Aleromaster]

there isn't

I was just doing a search and came across this thread... I was wondering what would happen if you just diconnected the PCV vent tube and plugged the hole by the TB (then reroute the PCV vent tube down towards the bottom of the engine and just let it flush the fumes in the open air??) to keep the fumes and everything from re-entering your engine? I understand this would be against emissions standards and everything.. but would it negativly effect anything?

[Aleromaster]

I'm 99% positive that plugging the tube won't make a differance on teh engine, but i'm pretty sure you at least want a filter in place of the PCV valve to keep things from getting up there and in your engine. Like bugs or since where in Florida and there everyhere, tiny lizards

tiny lizards

but I thought everybody feels better driving with Gieko. (sp???)

[Aleromaster]

I think there camelians, there everywhere and there quick

That would be fun when your engine poops out on you and a mechanic tells you that you have what appears to be reptile remains in your engine...

Not to mention that you'd eventually get a thin coat of oil all over the front half of the engine bay.