Oil Bath level- 67 engine

The oil bath air cleaner has a bright red line painted on the inside wall of the oil pan, (full circle) that's where the oil level should be. Clean the pan to see it. If you still can't (I've seen filters that didn't have this red line) see the red line, you will in any case see an expanded oil space at the very bottom (when there's no oil inside), and a "sleeve" wall that offers a smaller diameter space inside the outer walls. Damn it's hard to explain.. hmm.. let me try ASCII:

• I I *

• I I *

• I I *

• I I *

• Ii. .iI *

• *

There, that's the bottom half of the oiul bath cleaner.

• marks the outer wall,

I marks the inner wall.

Notice how the I wall doesn't reach all the way to the bottom. You are supposed to put in oil enough to make the bottom edge of the I wall disappear. Not higher than the straight line I drew on the right.

Hope this comes out ok

Jan

• * * *** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *** * *

:-)

"Stupid people are funny." - me

----------------------------------------------------------------------

So make a new mark.

Put the air cleaner on a level surface, pour in a pint of WATER and scribe a line marking its surface using a WAX PENCIL (which writes under water but not under oil). Dump the water, scrub an area adjacent to the mark with solvent and use a touch-up brush or toothpick to apply a line of paint.

While it dries you can go read the fine print in the factory Service Manual, which explains that the mark is really the DO NOT EXCEED level; you can put in an ounce or two LESS oil but you NEVER want the level to go over the mark. The reason for this is a fact common to all oil-bath air-cleaners, in that the oil level will RISE as the pool accumulates contaminants... including water, if you live in a rainy climate -- and which may require you to check the thing on a weekly basis.

Actually, water works just as well as oil except that it evaporates. And causes rust. Indeed, most oil bath air-cleaners eventually rust-out, usually because the person doing the maintenance uses some sort of scraper to dig the trapped crap out of the corners of the catchment basin. Since water displaces oil, once the paint is scratched it's only a matter of time before the Rust Monster eats a hole, dribbles oil all over the engine and convinces the owner they'd be better off using a dry-element air-cleaner. They're wrong, but there it is.

So what to do? First off, you should never use a METAL scraper to get the grunge out of the corners. Use something that won't harm the paint; wood or a piece of plastic. Secondly, fill the catchment according to your CLIMATE. Dusty or rainy, you want to leave a little more room, check the level more often. One way to do this was to use exactly three quarts of oil for an oil change. You'd do the air-cleaner FIRST, using between 12 and 15 ounces for the oil-bath, then pour the remainder into the sump. The 'full' line on the dip-stick is for approximately 85 fluid ounces and here again, it is meant to indicate a DO NOT EXCEED level. As soon as you start the engine, it will be running at something LESS than full.

Cleaning the coir element: First off, make sure it needs it. The labyrinth-type element is partially self-cleaning, the residue falling into the catchment basin. Normal cleaning interval is two to five years, depending on climate (but as often as daily when running in extremely dusty conditions). Fill with solvent, slosh & drain. Repeat as necessary. Then fill with KEROSENE and allow to drain for 24 hrs.

As usual, some of the above violates the accepted Conventional Wisdoms but that is how it was done by the factory-trained mechanics fifty years ago.

-Bob Hoover

Thanks for the info on filling the oil bath air cleaner. So you're the Bob Hoover that I see on Rob & Dave's Aircooled VW Page? I've been reading their maintenance procedures articles and using many of their techniques on my stock '66 Beetle.

-tom