Oil Bath Air Cleaner

[Kirk]

Has anyone ever run into this problem with their Oil Bath Air Cleaners? Mine is leaking all over the carburator. It's not too full. I think that it is rusted near the neck. Is this common? Where can you get a replacement?

[fatalifeaten]

ebay / the samba I think are your best bets. WW shows one in stock used but no photos. You probably won't go wrong getting it from them, but 65 bucks is spendy.

Check your local swap meets and car shows as well.

[Kirk]

Just thought of something else. I'm not the original owner of my 66, but the guy that I bought it from said the guy he bought it from changed out the engine to a 1600cc. The engine number is AE. I suspect that they used the 66' oil bath air cleaner on the 1600cc engine. I am just wondering if the crank case pressure is too great for that small oil bath air cleaner. What do you think?

[Kirk]

ebay / the samba I think are your best bets. WW shows one in stock used but no photos. You probably won't go wrong getting it from them, but 65 bucks is spendy.

Check your local swap meets and car shows as well.

What is WW?

[phononocd]

I would assume he means wolfsburg west, a vw parts website

[Blue Baron]

The '66 air cleaner will work just fine on a 1600, plus it's the biggest one that will fit under the decklid without rubbing.

[fatalifeaten]

I would assume he means wolfsburg west, a vw parts website

yupper.

http://www.wolfsburgwest.com

You might also try Chirco, in Tucson AZ. Joe has a HUGE warehouse full of used parts for reasonable prices. I think for used you'll have to call the store, they don't have an inventory online for the warehouse.

http://www.chirco.com 1-800-955-9795

[Kirk]

The '66 air cleaner will work just fine on a 1600, plus it's the biggest one that will fit under the decklid without rubbing.

Ok, let me ask you this, after running the engine at highway speeds, I notice that the oil is no longer clear, but appears to be full of air. Is this normal?

This is what I suspect is happening. The crank case pressures in the 1600 are greater than the 1300 and the blow back from the crank case breather is stirring up the oil enough to leak down the tube.

[Blue Baron]

I've never heard of air in the oil, and there's negligible difference in the crankcase breathing between a 1300 and a 1600. It's possible your engine may have a severe blowby condition. You may want to run a compression test.

In normal conditions, as long as the breather tube is attached correctly fron the oil breather to the air cleaner and you're running a normal rpm range, you should be fine. If you feel that the car needs additional crankcase ventilation, the best place to add additional venting is at the valve covers.

[pat7582]

I just redid an oil bath air cleaner for my spare engine. I found five small pin holes in the bottom of the air cleaner that I was able to braze up. That caused me to wonder, since water is heavier than oil, if the pin holes may have been caused by condensation building up in the air cleaner and going to the bottom and rusting into pin holes. Is your air cleaner leaking oil from the bottom. If so you might want to check for pin holes.

[Elango Velautham]

hi..
assuming the engine oil is not over-filled......
First, like the dude says, check for holes, if present, weld the holes shut at welders. If none, and oil still spills, it could be coming out of oil breather on top of the pedestal. remove your oil filler cap and run the engine. is oil squirting out? if yes, your oil deflector plate needs attention.

[Kirk]

Pat, Yes, the oil is coming from the bottom of the air cleaner. It's probably rusted out at the bottom. I put a K&N filter on it in the mean time until I can get it fixed.