Oil bath air filters

[widman]

I've heard a lot of people trying to say that the old style oil bath air filter is more effective than the paper types. So here is an example of an oil bath air filter on a small Iveco diesel truck. Both samples have about 10,000 km on the oil.
Accumulated KM 63559, 72452
Iron: 101, 99
Chrom: 8, 9
Lead: 7, 5
Copper: 237, 32
Tin: 0,0
Aluminum: 23, 36
Nickel: 0,0
Silver: 0,0
Silicon: 48, 97

 

[cryptokid]

yeah i have long heard that oil bath filters are the best but i never believed it. if they were, then more engines would use them, like inductrial equipment or off road racers.

 

[digitaldrifter91]

what is a oil bath filter? like a k & n?

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by digitaldrifter91:
what is a oil bath filter? like a k & n?

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Google is your friend

http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doityourself/l/aa081603d.htm

They relied on the centripidal force of one partial turn to cause the dirt to drop into the oil. They weren't real effective which is part of the reason you don't see them much these days.

 

[JohnBrowning]

A lot of old tractors use this sytem and live long helthy lifes with it. Most early cars used this system as well. The lack of any mess and the reduced number of maintence operations is what brought paper filters to the fore front. Most idiots would not change the oil in the filter bowel often enough. I was always partial to heavily oiled foam rung out by hand! The old FJ-40's used oiled foam and it worked very well!

 

[widman]

A lot of farm tractors might get by with oil bath filters, since they rarely acceletate fast, turn sharp corners, go up or down steep grades, or otherwise break the oil seal.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by widman:
A lot of farm tractors might get by with oil bath filters, since they rarely acceletate fast, turn sharp corners, go up or down steep grades, or otherwise break the oil seal.

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There is no oil seal in oil bath oil filters.

 

[Rick in PA]

Hey, I had one of those on my 1968 International Harvester Scout.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by XS650:
There is no oil seal in oil bath oil filters.

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Meant to say:

There is no oil seal in oil bath air filters.

 

[widman]

At least on the ones here and as I remember my Studebakers, the oil level has to touch the bottom of the element to keep it wet and keep air from going around.

 

[Bret Chase]

quote:

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Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
A lot of old tractors use this sytem and live long helthy lifes with it. Most early cars used this system as well. The lack of any mess and the reduced number of maintence operations is what brought paper filters to the fore front. Most idiots would not change the oil in the filter bowel often enough. I was always partial to heavily oiled foam rung out by hand! The old FJ-40's used oiled foam and it worked very well!

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old tractors and cars also have HUGE bearing tolerences and work with really low oil pressure, so you could about have sand mixed in with the engine oil and it'd still run. I think my dad's Ferguson TO35 (the most modern of the fleet... mid 50's)runs something like 10psi at rated power.

-Bret

 

[flathead6]

My 1951 Plymouth has an oil bath air filter. After completely going through the engine, and an initial break-in, I switched to Mobil 1; same oil as on our Camry v-6 & Tundra v-8. Even when you take into account the 'road-draft tube' system on the old car vs the closed PCV ventilation system on the Toyotas, the oil gets dirty much quicker on the flathead. Right or wrong, I attribute this to the oil bath air cleaner, although I'm sure the partial-flow oil filter is also a major factor. I have taken the guts out of a spare oil bath air cleaner, found a K & N filter element the right size, and am going to install this at the next oil change to see if it results in the Mobil 1 staying cleaner-looking longer. I am NOT a fan of the K & N filters (I use stock Toyota air filter elements on the newer vehicles) but since I couldn't find the correct size element in anything else, I felt even a K & N would be superior to the oil bath...I may be totally wrong in reaching these conclusions...time will tell. If I can see no difference, I will go back to the oil bath.
Comments???

 

[B50BSA]

Tractors may not turn hard etc. But on the prairies sometimes you can hardly see the machine because of the dust they produce. I've used oil bath air cleaners on my Land Rovers. I can't attest to there efficiency, but there sure is lots of mud in the bottom when I clean them.

 

[widman]

There are filter canisters for paper filters on the market that have the air outlet on one end. You can run a radiator hose the diameter of the carburetor to the that filter and locate it anywhere you want. I have one in an older Toyota pickup up by where they put them today, and one in the back of one of my Nissan delivery trucks. Has about 8 feet of hose to it, but it works.

 

[Ken2]

Oil bath air cleaners (sure weren't filters) did great service as pre-filters when the Mount St. Helens volcano blew and there was very abrasive volcanic ash fine dust in most of three or four states.


Ken

 

[Lance]

Between the sharp turn the air had to make and the dirt couldn't, and the subsequent passage of the air through the also oiled steel wool preceding the entrance of the air into the carb, they left very little dirt in the air going into the engine.
I think the car companies wanted something which was quicker to service and could generate profits from sale of a part. How about those hokey GM crankcase filters 1960s GM cars have, INSIDE the air filter housing? How about relocating the hose inlet AFTER the air filter and simplifying the assembly by using the air filter for crankcase air filtration? Ah, progress.

 

[widman]

I'm sure they get some of the dirt. But the results posted are from REAL experience from the only vehicle in a fleet of 20 that has that filter. The rest, running the same roads, come in under 15 ppm of silicon with paper filters.

 

[crashz]

Most modern construction equipment uses a pre-filter seperator device that looks a lot like the old oil bath air cleaners withou the oil. They rely on the direction of the air flow and the natural effect of gravity and/or particle velocity to pull the dirt out of the air.

 

[Jimbo]

Ford was the first major car maker to go to paper air filters in the 1950's. My 1957 Chevrolet has an oil bath air cleaner and an open crankcase vent. I think paper filters and PCV systems combined have drastically reduced engine wear from dirt.

VW still used oil bath air cleaners well into the 1970's. Messy and harder to service, they did have a huge capacity to hold dirt, way more than necessary if operated only on paved roads.