Oil in the air filter box :o

[VrindaVan]

Hey everyone,
Today I saw a little oil drip coming out from underneath the van, I quickly traced it to the air filter box, and to my horror it was actually a lot of oil in the cover box, I have not noticed the van running bad or anything these past weeks nor have I seen anything like this before in my brief year as a van owner.

I understand that the only place it can come in to the air filter box is trough the breather valve pipe, although what might cause this?
defect air breather system? Any suggestions are appreciated.

I might add that it’s an Aircooled 1600CT motor



Thanks in advance everyone

[AngeloEvs]

Pretty sure that could be a symptom of worn rings creating excess crankcase pressure......

[davidoft1]

Pretty sure that could be a symptom of worn rings creating excess crankcase pressure......

Or just a blocked breather , worth cleaning all the breather pipes out and be sure the oil isn’t over filled

[mioba]

Pretty sure that could be a symptom of worn rings creating excess crankcase pressure......

Or just a blocked breather , worth cleaning all the breather pipes out and be sure the oil isn’t over filled

Simple test for over pressure - run engine with oil cap sitting on the fill hole - if it jumps about - overpressure.

Do the simple first to eliminate.

I had oil peeing out my exhaust (jx) cleaned the pcv and all pipes, replaced oil to 4.5 litres (by vol not dipstick markers) and cleaned the gauze in rocker cover which was almost blocked solid (brake cleaner).

[Rosie n' Jim]

I agree with the previous posts, but don't put r.5 liters of oil in! The 2 liter CU only takes 3.5 liters, check what the CT takes.

[DoubleOSeven]

What about that oil breather tower, do air cooled have those? They don’t last forever.

[VrindaVan]

Pretty sure that could be a symptom of worn rings creating excess crankcase pressure......

Or just a blocked breather , worth cleaning all the breather pipes out and be sure the oil isn’t over filled

Simple test for over pressure - run engine with oil cap sitting on the fill hole - if it jumps about - overpressure.

Do the simple first to eliminate.

I had oil peeing out my exhaust (jx) cleaned the pcv and all pipes, replaced oil to 4.5 litres (by vol not dipstick markers) and cleaned the gauze in rocker cover which was almost blocked solid (brake cleaner).

Thank you all for your help,

Yes hopefully it’s not the rings, I’ll check the breather tower tomorrow, and do a compression test. About the PVC valve regulator, is those also on the CT Engine?

[VrindaVan]

I agree with the previous posts, but don't put r.5 liters of oil in! The 2 liter CU only takes 3.5 liters, check what the CT takes.

Same, though I know for sure that the oil level has been on a healthy level

[VrindaVan]

What about that oil breather tower, do air cooled have those? They don’t last forever.

Yes that is present on the CT, tomorrow I’ll check it out and the hoses to see what’s good.
Any tips for detecting a faulty breather tower? Thanks

[VrindaVan]

UPDATE:

Hey y’all!

Today checked compression, which was good, I took apart the tower breather which was just the shell, nothing in there.. well I did put a white rag on just to see if it would spit oil or anything but nothing, I ran it for quite a while, high revs ect.
The air seemed to be coming at a normal rate and not a drop of oil coming out.
So it all seems good and I can’t get my head around it really, my best guess is that the mechanic I had changing the crankcase seal the other month did something wierd or by mistake put some oil somewhere It didn’t belong.


Anyhow I will do a longer drive in these days just to see what’s good and ofc keep an eye out.

Thanks again to this amazing forum for always wanting to help.

Peace

[Stesaw]

Well remember that when the engine gets hot it will also get oil vapour which will get blown through into the air intake which would be burned with the fuel mix. I guess each time the engine cools its given a chance to cool and pool. If you wanted you could re route the oil breather pipe to a catch can and just remember to empty it now and then.. but VW designed it that way so best leave alone and just check and clean it every now and then with maintenance checks.

By the sound of it you need to buy a new breather tower and go from there 
 

[VrindaVan]

Well remember that when the engine gets hot it will also get oil vapour which will get blown through into the air intake which would be burned with the fuel mix. I guess each time the engine cools its given a chance to cool and pool. If you wanted you could re route the oil breather pipe to a catch can and just remember to empty it now and then.. but VW designed it that way so best leave alone and just check and clean it every now and then with maintenance checks.

By the sound of it you need to buy a new breather tower and go from there

Yeah, thanks for the tip, actually I think ill just be on the lookput for a new Breather tower, one that actually have the mechanism inside cheers

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Aah, the joys of Air-Cooled motoring....

OK, for me the breather tower will not reduce crankcase pressure or your oil symptoms. It is just to reduce the amount of oil thrown out by the breather using a louvred baffle.
There will always be some pressure, sort of a gentle puff if you put a finger over the breather, any more and you will need to do some work..

If the engine has not been rebuilt, then the piston rings are worn/ bores glazed....

The long term solution is to fit new pistons and barrels, with a refresh of the cylinder heads.

The short term solution is to use a 'pancake' type air filter with a breather spigot. Re route the breather pipe into the air filter..
This will not cure anything long term

When you go on a longer run, say 150 kms, check the dipstick carefully, as you are blowing oil out of the engine, also look if there is a film of oil on the tailgate..

Here is a link to a little video:



Cordialement,

[VrindaVan]

Hello,

Aah, the joys of Air-Cooled motoring....

OK, for me the breather tower will not reduce crankcase pressure or your oil symptoms. It is just to reduce the amount of oil thrown out by the breather using a louvred baffle.
There will always be some pressure, sort of a gentle puff if you put a finger over the breather, any more and you will need to do some work..

If the engine has not been rebuilt, then the piston rings are worn/ bores glazed....

The long term solution is to fit new pistons and barrels, with a refresh of the cylinder heads.

The short term solution is to use a 'pancake' type air filter with a breather spigot. Re route the breather pipe into the air filter..
This will not cure anything long term

When you go on a longer run, say 150 kms, check the dipstick carefully, as you are blowing oil out of the engine, also look if there is a film of oil on the tailgate..

Here is a link to a little video:



Cordialement,

Hi Saran,

Thanks for the video!

Well the engine was rebuilt some 5000Kms back.

Have a nice weekend

[smartiepants]

I have a similar issue on a recon engine fitted about 500 miles ago, it had an oil change and tappets adjusted as per engine suppliers recommendations however the first trip out we used 3/4 L of oil in 60 miles with oil spraying out of the rocker covers, the tailgate was covered in greasy soot, the rocker covers were replaced but we still have issues so with an open breather pipe at present not leaked at all It doesn’t actually leak from breather filter but oil vapour/”mist” gets “thrown”up into it and creating higher back pressure according to my mechanic (I know nothing about engines at all but know a good mechanic) 
its running new twin carbs as well  
next action is to fit a breather kit to see if that helps, this engine rebuild is proving costly 20220629_181550 by smartiepants, on Flickr[/img]