Air Cleaner Falling Apart

steve.ballantyne 20 years ago

I have a 68 bug with the original (or original style) air cleaner on my Bug. You know, the oil based one with the "wings" on either side.

I was doing the usual maintenance stuff today which included putting some fresh oil in there when I noticed an unusual amount of debris. At first I nearly panicked, because the oil was full of what looked like engine shavings. Of course I was a little confused about how they could have been blown through the top of the carbuerator, and into the oil.

But, it seems that the air cleaner has a metal mesh inside that ovular tub that resembles steel wool. Mine is falling apart! Likely, it's old and rotten in there.

So here is the dumb question ... can I pull this thing apart and replace the mettle mesh stuff? It looks like it should pry apart, but I gave a push with a flathead screwdriver and it didn't look like it was seperable. I don't think I could be so lucky as to find a replacement for the intake unit ... and I don't want to swap it out with a paper filter. I like the stock oil tub. It works!!

-Steve Ballantyne

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dave AKA vwdoc1 20 years ago

I seem to remember that the oil bath air cleaner helps to keep the mixture richer at higher rpms so the engine does not lean out. So it is considered better for your engine. Try to purchase a used one if you can not find a new one. There should be a lot of them laying around in people's garages, basements or whereever. I probably have a few laying around too! ;-)

later, dave (One out of many daves)

" snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

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Jim Adney 20 years ago

I don't think the mesh is metal. I don't work much with beetles, but type 3s use a vegetable fiber in the air cleaners. It's said to be "coir", the fiber from the outer husk of a coconut. This stuff generally doesn't degenerate unless someone sticks a tool up there and breaks it up. You can test it with a magnet to see if it is steel.

I suspect you can just leave it alone. Clean out the small bits which have fallen into the lower part, and refill with oil. You should be fine.

----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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