It's not antifreeze

 

I'm betting no on the anti-freeze. I think it's a condensate that has settled out. The old adage of oil floats on water. I guess that would work with anti-freeze too but my gut tells me no.

All the same, I'd keep a close eye on the coolant level. I've been wrong before.

 

It could be water of fuel or some combination.

it doesnt look like it caught any actual oil though. Usually the oil will be a dark brown or black

 

My buddy has a 12 3.5 with the rx catch can set up and when he drains them thats what he collects. I assume you let the bottle sit for a couple days? Have you smelt it yet? It looks more like water mixed with oil and some fuel. If it had coolant in it i would guess you could smell it in there i could be wrong tho

 

That is what the gunk looked like that I pulled out of my '12 3.5 (RX catch can)

 

It's actually apple juice and yoohoo

 

Wonder why it looks like that coming out of a 3.5 does it look like this coming out of a gen 2 engine with a catch can?

 

When I empty mine it is usually 100% oil with no condensation or water.

This last time it did have some condensate in it and I had also had not emptied it as often as I normally do.

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Pics are right after draining it. I separated some of the bottom fluid. It has no filmy residue on my fingers, like antifreeze.

 

Water-oil mix, clear on bottom is the water contaminated with oil separated from the cream colored oil-water foam. IC engine produce water in the combustion process. The oil ad water are a mixed vapor. The catch can is a vapor separator. You have the result of multiple short trips where the engine does not fully come up to temperature.
All IC engines produce this not just DI and/or turbocharged engines. This used to be vented into atmosphere via valve cover breathers till the EPA was formed in the early 1970's. Then PCV was mandated to cycle this vapor back into the intake for burning. When DI engines enter the market catch cans were sold via aftermarket as a patch to cover poor designs and programing.

I am not a user or believer but took the time to learn as much about them when I bought my 2017 EB. This left me with more questions on the use and implementation than the catch cans usage explained.
Your money and vehicle I only have an opinion, but what you drained is most likely very normal. KM

 

Catch cans are a mixed view, i spent the money on them and have no regrets on having them installed on my vehicle they work to me it peice of mind. But the 2.7 seems pretty good and doesnt produce the amount of oil like the 3.5 also i dont think it suffers from carbon buildup either compared to the 3.5 but i could be wrong. If it was antifreeze youll have other issues to worry about and think would know about it

 

In my experience I had the same results as the above pictures on my '12 (1st gen) 3.5. I purchased the same system from RX for my current truck, a second gen '20 and it pulled nothing out of the engine. I initially thought that I made a mistake when I installed it, maybe the check valves were put in backwards, but that was not the case.

I pulled everything off after 3K or so miles and it now sits in a box in the garage.

 

With port injection being the primary use at light load I would believe that you would get less on a 2nd gen

 

That's most likely discolored condensation and oil. Each time I pulled the catch cans out of my ST and RS Focuses it looked like that. Both were stage 3+ built cars and driven hard though. Being a first time current Gen F150 owner I read somewhere, can't remember where that the current engines have no need for them because of a designe change in the engine. Is there any truth to that? Have no idea, but catch cans certainly cannot hurt.

 

Ford originally used the technique to run rich during vacuum to cool the combustion chamber( prevent LSPI). Which works, but caused excess fuel dillution in the 11-14 3.5 trucks. Later they revised the individual cylinder fueling, implemented LSHL, and leaned out the cold start( tsb15-0003). This itself reduced blowby tremendously. Runs much cleaner now.

15-16 3.5s kinda got stuck with the old style of fueling because Ford is hopeful in the radiator shutters reducing fuel dilution. Which is their whole purpose.

A lot of the stuff you’re going catch is fuel and condensation. Ford does their best to keep it in a hot vapor form with the shortest path of travel. This allows it to easily be reburned.

 

Smell it...it's not antifreeze.

It's a mix of fuel.

 

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