JLT Oil Separator Installation - 2017 Expedition Limited

I have a 2017 Expedition Limited, which has the 3.5L ecoboost engine.  I've been reading a lot about using an oil separator.  A little background - the design of the direct fuel injection can lead to oil buildup on the valves.  I'm not going to get into the details of direct injection and PCV in this post. There's plenty of info out there on this topic.  However, in 2018 Ford added injectors back to the intake as well as the direct injection - not sure if this is admitting there's an issue or not... you can decide on your own.

What I am going to talk about is how I now have a JLT oil separator installed for 55$.  For reference, the JLT kit is about 150$ new.  There's very elaborate oil separator kits out there that can cost up to 500$.  Some people argue that the separator isn't even needed.  My thought was that I'd like to have something in place, not crazy expensive, for piece of mind.  So, I started combing the online world for pricing.

What I learned is that there's really nothing used for sale for the expedition.  There are oil separators for sale used, but they are typically for Mustangs (very common application).  When I was looking at the connectors that the mustang separator uses, they were similar to the same kit for the expedition.  It got me thinking!  Then I came across one for sale, used, on the FB marketplace that a guy took off of his 2014 mustang.  He is local to me, so I could check out what he has in person before actually handing over the cash.  So we met, and it is the JLT kit, and there's NO WAY the hoses were long enough to install on the Expedition. The fittings looked similar though, so I bought it for 50$ cash.

I knew I would need to change the hoses out, so first step was to see what size I needed.  That meant disassembling the hoses and fittings from the JLT kit.

I used a heat gun on the low setting.  I rotated the heat gun around the fitting so one spot wouldn't get too hot or melt.  After about a minute, it was warm enough that I could work the fitting out of the end of the hose.  The hose is a semi rigid plastic that is shrunk onto the fitting.  Anyway, this method worked perfectly and I was able to remove the two fittings (Pic Above).  Now I was able to measure the hose.  It was about 1/2 inch, so off to the parts store I went.  At the parts store, we landed on 15/32 hose (closest they had to 1/2 inch), and I bought 4 foot.  Looking back, I didn't need that much, but I didn't know at the time where the separator was going to be mounted.  I had a lot of hose left over at the end. 

Next step was to remove the hoses from the separator itself.  They are metal clamps - reminds me of a pex fitting clamp.  I carefully cut the metal pinch, and the clamps were removed.  Again with the heat gun I softened the ends and pulled that off the separator.  In the pic above you can see the JLT hoses disassembled, and the stock PCV hose that I did not yet disassemble.  I did eventually disassemble the stock one because I used the straight fitting for the intake connection.  After everything was installed, I still had two 90 degree fittings left over.  So actually I didn't need the JLT fittings or hoses at all, and could have just used the ones removed from the stock PCV hose. 

The next thing I did was install the straight fitting into the new hose.  Its tight.  I used the heat gun again and it worked great.  I positioned the separator where I wanted it - somewhere that I could easily unscrew the can and empty it.  That gave me a good length and I cut the hose.  I did the same thing for the valve cover fitting, which is the 90 degree.  Then installed both hoses on the separator.  Again, its tight, so I didn't use any clamps.   If this winds up being a problem, I'll clamp all four connections.  The pic above is where the oil separator lives.  The bottom of the separator is resting on a bung from the intake tube and its pretty stable there.  I'm going to drive it a bit and check for any wear marks.  I'm particularly concerned with the area that the engine cowl contacts the separator hoses.  I may add something there to protect the hoses.

So that's how I got a separator installed in my expedition for 50$ plus the cost of the hose.  I hope this helps someone out sometime!