PCV valve question

[Greg94Red392]

I pulled out my old PCV valve out today and its very dirty. There is like a bunch of gunk and oil on it. My car has 138k on and an old lady had it before me so its likely never been changed just like the old rusted out plugs. Here is a pic of the PCV, I had to keep it big so I could show detail so i'll link to it.

http://img119.echo.cx/my.php?image=pcv9bu.jpg

Now I dont know if this is normal for an old PCV valve or not. But anyway what kind of gains am I looking at with a new one? I'm going to autozone in a sec to buy one.

[viper98885]

You won't tell any performance gains, but it definitely needs to be changed. It should be changed as regularly as about every other oil change. They are cheap (about $3) so it's not something that should be set aside. It will prolong the engine life and for $3 is a good investment.