Here's a really important tip for all owners of MQB 2.0 TSI cars such as Golf 7 R / GTI, Leon Cupra and Audi S3 8V: if you are planning to hit the track, you should seriously consider fitting the RacingLine Catch Tank and Oil Management System before you do.
Of course, there are other catch-can offerings on the market for these cars. But what is it about RacingLine’s sophisticated kit that has earned it such a reputation amongst serious track drivers and owners of high-powered cars alike?
Let’s start with what the RacingLine Catch Tank and Oil Management System does. The kit has a double benefit. Firstly, like any catch-can, it's about keeping the inlet system free of oil mist and moisture by separating out these undesirable elements from the breather system into the separator can. See what collects in the catch can after a few thousand miles of hard driving and you might just be shocked at what comes out!
Without the catch can, this unpleasant mixture would enter the intercooler, its piping and inlet tract. There it condenses, and so gradually fill your inlet system with sticky oil residue and moisture. And nobody wants that.
But as well as keeping the whole intake path clean, fitting the catch can means that these vapours don't get fed back into your combustion chamber, ensuring a much purer, uncontaminated air/fuel mixture entering your cylinders, just as it should be. Purer charge equals higher cylinder efficiency equals more power.
The result: clean intercooler, intake track and charge piping, and a higher efficiency engine for many years.
So far so good, but perhaps the most important and special aspect of RacingLine’s Oil Management System is that it also offers a proper solution to the notorious oil starvation under high-G braking on these 2.0 TSI engines. You can sense RacingLine’s twenty-plus years of works motorsport experience with the Volkswagen Group really coming to the fore with its development of products like this.
Unlike most aftermarket catch-can kits, RacingLine’s solution goes further and replaces the entire PCV block on top of the engine. Given RacingLine’s close partnership with the VWG Motorsport brands on the TCR touring car project, it’s probably no coincidence that they use exactly the same engineering solution as the factory Volkswagen Motorsport/Seat Sport/Audi Sport TCR race cars do to alleviate this problem on this engine.
So what is this problem? “We’ve learned early on the hard way that the 2.0 TSI engines, when used on track with sticky tyres, have a tendency to collect a large volume of oil at the front of the cylinder head during heavy braking,” explains Matt Walker, Technical Director at RacingLine. “This oil pools at the front of the engine during high-G stops, leading to clouds of oil smoke billowing out of the tailpipes - and ultimately oil starvation and engine failure on track cars.”
The precision-engineered internal baffles in RacingLine’s replacement PCV block continuously divert this trapped oil straight back down into the main camshaft area of the cylinder head - rather than allowing it to escape out through breather ports. Greatly reducing the chance of oil surge, smoke and starvation.
To RacingLine’s surprise, many of the other aftermarket catch can kits on the market simply retain the standard PCV block connected to a can. Walker continues: “We couldn’t quite believe that some other offerings keep the factory PCV as part of their kit. To us that’s only half a system – and one that’ll quite possibly make the problem worse.”
Take a look at the Golf 7R below: fitted with another ‘big name’ aftermarket catch can kit (that doesn't have a PCV replacement) but with pretty shocking clouds of white oil smoke billowing out of the exhausts. This is exactly the situation described. Under braking into the corner, the oil pools at the top of the engine and is forced to escape through the rocker cover breather ports, filling up the catch tank in a matter of seconds. The overflowing, overwhelmed tank then spits the surplus oil straight through into the inlet, causing this horrible smokescreen.
As is often the case with RacingLine’s products, it’s not the cheapest on the market; but when you look more carefully at the genuine motorsport engineering that has gone into this kit, the exquisite fit and finish, plus the enviable reputation that it has already earned amongst enthusiasts, it’s no wonder that so many customers actually regard their RacingLine Oil Management Kit as exceptional value.
So, before you enjoy your pride and joy on track, we’d suggest you seriously consider protecting your EA888.3 TSI by fitting the RacingLine Oil Management System first.
