Oil Bath Air filter, The Advantages.

[Blknight.aus]

Bit slack today but after some other foolishness like fixing the glow plugs I decided to service the air filter.

This was cleaned the week before the cape york trip (re CCCCC) and saw all of cape york and the major dust storms that hit the switch as well as some other twaddling around.

pulled it and checked the air trunk



a slight slick of oil which Im happy with because thats whats ment to happen if the filters working right the important thing is that its clean oil.

pulled the filter apart and

the first filter element, with just a little bit of dirty oil on the lips.

followed by the filter pan

say it with me...

EWWWWW.

and under the oil...


once that sludge came out, look I have a dimple in the bottom of the pan, that dimple is the best part of 3/8th of an inch high and when I weighed the pan after I scraped the crap out it was some 200grams lighter.


and finally after washing everything with solvent and letting it dry out


the pan ready to be placed back on the bottom of the filter once the first stage is put back into the pan.

Total cost $2 worth of cheap oil and about 20 minutes of my time. (including stopping several times to clean up enough to be able to use the camera.

The main advantages of this kind of filter are that they are essentially self cleaning while in operation and it takes a stupid amout of dust to actually clog them to the point that they start to restrict airflow.

[streaky]

I couldn't agree more. I had an oil bath filter on my Series III is Saudi Arabia....it kept the engines internals free from the nasty fine dust that contributes to any engines early demise.
My VW variant also had one....same results.

Re-usable/cleanable filters are great for DIY maintanance on long trips too.

[Rangier Rover]

I have to agree there. Of all our tractors and 4X4s. The old landy's and early ford tractors only essentially need the oil bath doing every 6 to 12 mths here before any problems, the paper type is every 2 to 4 wks as clog up The oiler is a bit more restrictive and may not get all the fines some seem to think. I have never tested this theory though. All I can say is the old tractors here have done over 16000 hrs on a set of liners so oil bath cant be that bad Electrolysis seems to kill them 1st

[Blknight.aus]

properly designed oil baths dont let anything through and arent as restrictive as some paper element filters.

The biggest problem with them tends to be when you need to shift buckets of air through them they can bubble the oil up and reduce the effectiveness if you run at high air flows for prolonged periods. Initially this bubbling and frothing action helps the filtration but eventually the oil level in the pan gets so low that it cant dump back to drop the muck out of the elements and they start to clog or worse the muck complete with the oil gets lifted into the engine.

[isuzutoo-eh]

Great post, think I found my project for tomorrow evening
-Mark

[Rangier Rover]

properly designed oil baths dont let anything through and arent as restrictive as some paper element filters.

The biggest problem with them tends to be when you need to shift buckets of air through them they can bubble the oil up and reduce the effectiveness if you run at high air flows for prolonged periods. Initially this bubbling and frothing action helps the filtration but eventually the oil level in the pan gets so low that it cant dump back to drop the muck out of the elements and they start to clog or worse the muck complete with the oil gets lifted into the engine.

I guess hi air flow shouldn't be a big problem with the 2.25 oil burner
I have often wondered why some of the smaller agricultural stuff has moved away from the oil bath. Cost maybe?

[Blknight.aus]

yep, the initial manufacturing cost of an oil bath filter is at least 10 times that of a blow moulded plastic airbox.

funny one of the rice boys wanted to know what it was while I had the hood up and wouldnt belive me when I told him it was an oil bath filter. he insisted that the wet sponge he had as an air filter was an oil bath filter.

[Rangier Rover]

yep, the initial manufacturing cost of an oil bath filter is at least 10 times that of a blow moulded plastic airbox.

funny one of the rice boys wanted to know what it was while I had the hood up and wouldnt belive me when I told him it was an oil bath filter.

he insisted that the wet sponge he had as an air filter was an oil bath filter.

And you did tell him it was only a large bug filter right

[Blknight.aus]

no but he wasnt happy with me when I cut it in half to show him the sunlight in it...

[Bigbjorn]

And you did tell him it was only a large bug filter right

Bird strainer more like.