Chrysler Corporation vehicles had an oil filter along with an oil bath air
filter for years.
The death of the oil bath air cleaner was signalled by the lowering of hood
lines. The oil bath air filter was too tall and bulky to fit under the new,
low, sleek hoods. With Chrysler, the dry type air cleaner arrived with the
1957 models. With General Motors, it was the 1959 models, although an "oil
wetted" type was used in some models into the 1960's. Ford switched in
1957.
By rights, the air going through the air filter should have no effect on the
oil. Air going through the air filter goes through the carburetor, into
the combustion chamber and out the exhaust. Granted there is some wash
down of air and fuel from the combustion into the crankcase. but the air
filter is meant to clean the air going into the combustion chamber. Dust
and dirt can do some serious damage to valves and cylinder walls. Air
cleaners did become common until the 1920's.
Dust and dirt usually got into the oil via the oil filler cap. Cars before
the arrival of the closed crankcase ventilation system were ventilated by
air entering the oil filler cap and exiting via the ventilation outlet pipe
at the rear of the engine. The oil filler cap had a small filter of its own
that had to be cleaned in kerosene and rewetted with engine oil at every oil
change. And manufacturers advised cars being used in extremely dusty areas
should be serviced more frequently.
Some models, especially those used in dusty conditions, also had a filter on
the ventilation outlet pipe. It had to be cleaned at the same time as the
oil fller cap filter.
The main benefit of an oil bath air cleaner, over a paper type element, is
that it is reusable. Just clean in kerosene, dry and rewet with engine oil.
But manufacturers still advised cleaning the oil bath cleaner more
frequently if the car was used in dusty conditions. So, instead of buying
a new air cleaner filter every 1,000 miles, you simply cleaned the oil
wetted filter and reused it.
Bill
Vancouver, BC
----- Original Message -----
From: Larry Stanley
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 11:41 AM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] Oil Bath Air Cleaners
It was my understanding that oil bath air filters were better at getting the
'crud' out of the air to the point that an oil filter was not as necessary
as there was less dirt in the blowby gas. As I recall, most industrial
engines that had oil bath air cleaners did not have oil filters. Even the
ever efficient Geraman enginers did not use an oil filter on the air cooled
VW engines. They had an oil bath air cleaner. It seems that oil filters
became the norm after so called 'less efficient' paper filters started
appearing on cars.
Larrys $.02 worth
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