I've serviced these types for years, and had them on various equipment
myself.
The oil pools down in the bowl when the engine is shut off. This does
block the air flow.
When the engine is started, the air coming through the oil draws it up
into the mesh, where you then have an oil coated mesh for the air to
snake its way through. This is where almost all the filtering effect
takes place. The level in the pool is now low, and does not block air
flow.
When the engine is shut off, the oil drains back down off the mesh into
the pool, with the solids settling out.
That is the theory. In practice, the oil doesn't come down completely
off the mesh, and not all the gunk comes off the mesh. Over years of
service, the mesh does become blocked, requiring hand cleaning. If this
hand cleaning is not performed, the element becomes completely blocked
(common on tractors btw).
Sometimes folks remove the mesh. A very bad idea. Without the mesh,
there is virtually no filtering of the air going into the engine. The
system works by having the air snake through the filter, and the
particles of dirt not making the turns, hitting the mesh and getting
stuck in the oil. No mesh, no catching particles.
Lastly, some folks put far too thick an oil in the air filter. If it's
too viscous, it cannot be drawn up into the mesh, leaving a heavy pool
of oil for the air to bubble through. Very restrictive and poor at
filtration.
>>> Eric Murray <ericm@lne.com> 04/30/02 06:31PM >>>
It sounds to me from that explanation that the air doesn't
bubble through the oil. I haven't seen the innards of an oil bath
filter to know which its supposed to be, I'm just trying to figure
it out.
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