No oil separator........
 

Over the years I've heard you guys talking occasionally about your oil separators. Never knew what you meant until now, I think. As as I was taking apart my donor car to swap manifolds and such I noticed the breather going into the air cleaner. When it comes out the bottom it drains back into the oil pan. My '85 300SD CA car has no such thing. The breather comes out of the valve cover and just plumbs into the top of the air filter. Odd that the CA would be this way. Can I do witout an oil separator, or should I pipe this thing into a drain again?

I would put a separator on it. I'm sure you can do without one but you'll use more oil.

I have a Cali 85 617 motor as well, without the separator. I burn no oil , at least not a detectable amount, in 4k oil changes. Yet, the two tubes, the one leading to the air filter, and the one going to the intake hose between the air filter and turbo inlet, get a little oil in them. I would imagine that maybe 1 tablespoon, but not much more, gets ingested into the intakebetween changes.
I remember reading that this trace amount of oil is good for upper cylinder wear prevention and valve lubrication and works like an oil mister. I wish the engineer who designed it this way would speak and resolve our questions.
Anyone know for sure?
Thanks, Adam Bush