I was innocently taking my valve cover off and while pulling the stupid plastic PCV valve out, it snapped. Of course. When I got my car, it had a bad, but metal valve on it, which I replaced with plastic, since I was being impatient and didn't want to wait to order the metal one. Knowing this thing runs hotter than fire, I'm an idiot and I accept that. The plastic one just couldn't take it and managed to sorta melt itself tighter in the valve cover, then snapped from all the stress. Who wouldn't?

The reason I took it off in the first place was that I had a sudden loud rattle and loss of power the other day, so I was checking up on the parts that are supposed to rattle and the ones that don't.

I just put a new plastic one in because I need to get to the doctor today and it's my daily driver, but I promise I'm ordering the metal one.

My questions are:

The new valve is good and noisy, just like the last one (but not at all to the degree that it was before I took it off), but it seems that this one and maybe the last one have trouble opening. I say this because when parked and idling, it opens every time I tap it. Is this due to being cold (first start in three days) or is there something else going on here that maybe doesn't have to do with being crappy and plastic?

Also, should it rattle so loud that I can pick it out over the engine noise with the hood closed?

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1965 Dodge Dart
'85 225 /6
Holley 1920

"just give him some gas"

Are you sure you aren't mistaking rocker arm noise for a PCV valve noise?

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

absolutely sure. you can hear it open and close with the hood closed and if you sit there and tap it, it opens and makes the same rattle.

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1965 Dodge Dart
'85 225 /6
Holley 1920

"just give him some gas"

PCV valves do rattle and make a little noise, but it sounds like you should replace yours with a high quality unit (read METAL or Mopar) if the noise is bothering you.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I'm not 100% sure, but if a PCV is rattling you may have issues elsewhere. Either a vacuum leak or a dead cylinder maybe?

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Plastic PCV valves are not "stupid". They're fine as long as you buy a good brand (you don't mention what brand you've been buying). If your engine is running hot enough to melt a plastic PCV valve, you've got far bigger problems to worry about before PCV valve selection; find and fix the root problem, then the symptoms will go away.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.