I took off the throttle body to clean it and found that the backside of the butterfly plate had an oily film on it. I've seen an oily film in the intake manifold before, but don't remember the TB being this way.

What causes so much oil in the intake? Is this normal for the 3.7?

If it matters, the engine was cold and it ran for about 2min before I got it into the garage to work on it.

2010 / 90k / Air Doc

 

Heavy right foot is the cause.

There are 2 crankcase vents with the I5, the smaller one to the intake manifold handles about 70% of positive ventilation. The other 30% is vented through the intake (the hose to the top of the valve cover at the rear of the motor). When hard on the throttle, the 30% kicks in and you can suck blow by back in through the air intake through the TB into the intake manifold.

Normal.

 

most newer cars use a small orfice in the pcv system,not a pcv valve.
fresh clean air from the filterside goes thru a hose to the top of the engine accessing the crankcase,going thru it picking up bad stuff.
that dirty air exits the c case thru the orfice at the other hose and gets sucked into the high vac intake to burn with the normal air.
if a hose or the orfice is plugged,pressure could push air and oil out somewhere.
cleaning hoses and checking the orfice should be done at least on high mile engines.

 

I am usually the slowest vehicle on the road. Now, on long interstate trips I seem to consume more oil.

I understand that the oil fumes go thru the intake, but it is surprising to me that a film would accumulate. If that is normal, then I shall not worry any longer.

The orifice is on the driver side of the engine behind the TB? Can I just open the tube and spray some Chemtool in it to do any good?

I appreciate the info.