Expert: Roland Finston - 8/22/2011

Question
Mr.Finston,
Back in June I was talking to about an issue I was having with my 2002 Chrysler 300M 3.5 engine . I didn't get back to you because I had someone over that was checking the engine and they accidently lost a screw into the engine unknown to me and you can guess what happened when I started the engine.So I had to buy another engine and I can't remember where all the hoses hook up. I figured everything out I think except for the ones that come off the PCV valve hose .There are 4 hookups 1. to the PCV valve one to the valve cover but I don't know where the other two hook to .Can you help me ALL my manuals only show those two the PCV and the valve cover one. Thanks Ron

Answer
Hi Ron,
According to my '04 manual there is a 'heat exchanger' device in the pcv hose line (presumably to cool the crankcase ventilation gases), and that device probably has two fittings on it which is what you are looking for the hoses to attach to. The manual says that the heat is removed via connections to the two heater system hoses, the ones that go through the firewall into the cabin. So I would locate the heater hoses and trace along them until you find either the loose hoses or maybe two valves where the hoses would attach to the heater hoses. Absent any such attachments, and if you are having no loss of coolant from the system I would guess that someone removed those attachment points in the past.
The PCV system would probably still work, though not as well as if the heat exchanger were connected, and the temperature of the gases might cause premature failure of the PCV valve. No drawings show the exact connection of the hoses but they would be coolant carrying hoses in the heater circuit of the cooling system. Please let me know what you find.
Roland
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