Oil bath filter without oil

[stevesharpe]

Hi all
I just cleaned out and repainted my oil bath air filter
I decided that as I rarely do anywhere with extreme dust or air polition, I would not refill with oil. Plus I thought it would be less restriction on air flow
Vehicle seems to run fine
What do we all think?
Steve

[Craig T]

Not sure I would do that.
Take a look at the paper filter in your everyday car and see how dirty they get in the space of a year. That is fine dirt that will not be captured by the mesh in the filter alone, the oil does the capturing of those particles as the downdraft causes the air and dirt to hit the surface of the oil and the oil captures the particles.

For the cost of a litre of cheap oil, no reason to leave it dry really.

Craig.

[Wittsend]

Don't run it without oil

The oil doesn't cost anything and it's no big chore to change the oil from time-2-time.
It's how Land Rover (and many other manufacturers) designed the filter to work.

[GHOBHW]

as above, plus water loves getting in there in the end anyway, even with a bonnet in the way. get some oil it in for your engines sake and to keep it from rusting

[Clifford Pope]

It's often said of an ordinary paper filter that the carburettor is set up to run with the slight restriction of having the filter connected on the air intake (choke), and hence that running without an air filter weakens the mixture.

[GVO418J r.i.p.]

True about the carb running lean with no filter - or even the wrong filter. However some engines/carbs are more finicky than others.

I have a v8 on carbs. If the filter is off completely it starts and ticks over ok but will not rev properly - even with no load.

In fact, as I found out when altering the vehicle, it will not even run properly at load with K&Ns without resetting the needles.

I ended up altering the bonnet to put the original dual paper filters back in there after a couple of mishaps where the K&Ns got water/sludge  splashed over them and you could see a faint trace of dust in the intakes to the carbs

[Exile]

Vehicle seems to run fine

Well it would, wouldn't it?

I suppose you could carry out an experiment for us:

Keep running it without oil in the oilbath, and see how long it takes to have an effect on the engine.

I would be interested to know.

[Bradley66]

Hi all
I just cleaned out and repainted my oil bath air filter
I decided that as I rarely do anywhere with extreme dust or air polition, I would not refill with oil. Plus I thought it would be less restriction on air flow
Vehicle seems to run fine
What do we all think?
Steve

Had to read that twice as I wasn't sure someone wasn't having a laugh at everyone's expense.
Assuming you're not, then leaving the oil out will have no effect on the airflow and you will have no filtering.

[stevesharpe]

Thanks for all the info I thought the air had to go through the oil!
Filling it tomorrow!

[simonbav]

The thought occurs to me that I could use used oil in the bath. Lol.

[diffwhine]

Don't!
It's only a small bit of oil. Compared to what is being burned by your engine it's a false economy.

The idea is that the vortex draws an oil mist through the gauze. The dust and dirt sticks to that and drops down into the bowl. The system is efficient and works very well.

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

[Clifford Pope]

[/quote]

Had to read that twice as I wasn't sure someone wasn't having a laugh at everyone's expense.
Assuming you're not, then leaving the oil out will have no effect on the airflow and you will have no filtering.

[/quote]

Drawing air through a gauze wet with oil mist must take more energy than through a dry gauze. The question is is that significant and how sensitive is the carburetor?

Damp sails catch more wind, an old trick used by sailors in very light winds.

[NoBeardNoTopKnot]

Reading the Qs and the solutions given on this forum, many could remove their back-axle and it wouldn't make the difference. Hence I'm with the OP. In this case, oil or not, it can't matter. How could it?

Of course oil is better. Only if you follow the logic to conclusion, you're not going anywhere; the oil will cost more than the extra wear the lack of it creates. And... because those things are so restrictive, on the occasion it does run, it'll run better. Love the OP - looks at the facts, laughs, and shows a high level of self-awareness.

[Craig T]

The use of used engine oil in the filter is an interesting question, I've often thought about doing the same on mine.

I always come to the conclusion that used engine oil would be better than no oil but when I'm at home, in my workshop surrounded by part used tubs of oil, I may as well use new.
Not that I ever change the oil off course. I filled my IIA air filter up after restoration and it's still spotless now. A few dead flies and bits of debris in the bottom but not enough to warrant throwing it away and starting again. At this rate I reckon that oil will last my lifetime.

And what grade oil do we use, I think I used a part left over tin of 10-40w I had from an oil change on a car previous but I guess any reasonably thick oil would work, maybe even gear oil would do the same job and make a nice smell at the same time?

Craig.

[Alan Drover]

I buy a can of cheap oil that I wouldn't use in the engine. My filter is due for an oil change next year but I WON'T be nursing old engine oil.