Question about catch can contents

[CRE]

I've got a question for those of you with a catch can installed. How much condensation (not oil) do you see in your catch can in a week?

My car's my DD, and I finished replacing my HG a week ago. I've got around 3-4 tablespoons worth of watery condensation in my catch can. It doesn't smell at all like coolant, but mixed with the bit of oil getting collected the mix is tan in color. I'm not loosing any coolant, not that I've noticed (that's a hard amount to notice missing from the rad). Is this normal, or is it likely that the HG didn't seat properly?

I'm just nervous about it since when my HG went I found out from my catch can being half full of coolant in one day.

Oh, and the oil on my dip stick is clean, and everything looks fine under the rad cap and in the overflow.

 

[MKIIINA]

did you drain your oil after the hg job? youd be suprised how many people overlook that. mine had a little goo in it after the car sat for a while waiting for a turbo but after an oil change and a nice long drive it burned off and was done.

 

[CRE]

did you drain your oil after the hg job? youd be suprised how many people overlook that. mine had a little goo in it after the car sat for a while waiting for a turbo but after an oil change and a nice long drive it burned off and was done.

I did drain it, but perhaps it's just crap that was caught up in the baffles.

Another though is that perhaps when I cleaned the pistons with MCCC I disturbed some buildup on the rings leaving them an imperfect seal. Although, I don't think I'm seeing higher crank case pressure than normal... at least my dipstick hasn't shot out and my oil pressure guage (for what it's worth) is reporting right about where it should be.

I suppose I'll keep a very close eye on it for now...

Is it possible I'm seeing more condensation than most due to the different design of the catch can I'm trying? The way I built this catch can is that it has a hose which runs to the bottom of the can from the inlet. The bottom of the hose is under 1/2" distilled water. My thought on this is that it will serve to condense vapor very quickly and efficiently while imposing far less restriction than a solid filter medium. The outlet is of course drawn from the top of the catch can.

 

[CRE]

Update:

Well, I'm still ill so I wasn't positive about the smell. I was picking up a restored '71 Beetle taday and asked my father-in-law the take a look. He said it smells like paint thinner... ??

Gasoline perhaps? How the hell would I be getting that much gas in the crank case? I've got maybe 40 miles on the car since doing the HG and the valve stem seals. The car doesn't feel like it's miss firing either.

Am I making too much of this? Should I just leave it be and see where things lie in a month?

 

[supra90turbo]

it is a combination of fuel, oil, and water(condensation)

My subaru used to fill a 20oz bottle worth of that fuel smelling water in about 3 weeks. Bad compression was the culprit there, as it popped a cam seal about a week and a half ago, and the compression was between 60-80 on all 4 cylinders.

I wouldn't say it's bad, that's what the can is supposed to do, just let it do it's job. Do a compression test if you're concerned, but it should be fine.
My first inclination of a dying engine was the thing would fill that bottle so quick...