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I confirmed the worth of my catch can today. The dipstick showed some content, so I pulled the can. It had a half inch of oil and water inside. The source of the water is condensation that builds up in the crankcase in freezing temperatures. If the engine gets hot enough it boils off, and/or gets sucked out of the crankcase as water vapor via the PCV. Since that vapor passes through the catch can along with oil it condenses in the catch can. Water vapor going into the intake via the PCV won't bother anything, but the oil does, so I'm glad I installed the catch can. This also confirms again to me the need to do an oil change in the spring, to get rid of winter moisture contamination in the oil.
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