Oil Bath Air Cleaner

I cleaned all of the caked on oil and dirt from the outside of the air cleaner this afternoon and looked inside it. It?s pretty gummed up inside. Any good way to clean it out? Has anyone ever taken the guts out of one to clean it and put it all back inside? Chris

I used a power washer on one once.

Just plain water, seemed like it did a good job.

Never done that, afraid to look at mine. Maybe vinegar and water.

Dave

Soaked it and rinsed it in sour gas a few times. I wouldn't try taking it apart.

I have taken them apart on MFs and Fergies. Washed with diesel and rinsed with gasoline. I did have to buy new wire cores for my cousin's MF. got them right here.

Soak it in gasoline or diesel or white gas (naphtha) for a couple of days. Shake it out every few hours. Should work. HTH

The fellows that stated "soak" are the closest to the answer you need. I did just that to our mesh filled oil bath filter that had sat for 20 years in a box while the tractor sat in parts that long. Using gas, cleaner {harsher types} air blast, the unit finally came clear to see light through. Yes it may take some time [ depending on present condition] the result is well worth the effort. Don't hurry. let the cleaners do their work; while doing other work on your unit.
Wm.

I have always used mineral spirits, and I have one soaking in some now.

I took box style apart a while ago,soaked the whole housing in diesel,i would not use gas on a diesel engine,and i always use wthe same oil as the engine.

I've taken them apart, cleaned the mesh, put it back in.

Some are easy, some have to be cut to get them open.

Just gotta do what you gotta do...

Looks like you got that one fairly clean. Might try a variety of cleaners. What petroleum type solvent doesn't get (oily dirt), something like full strength Purple Power will get the dry caked dirt. Drain cleaner and oven cleaner work too.

I turned one upside down in a bucket and put a rubber stopper in the side outlet. Tthen filled it with Purple Power and let it sit a couple of days. Rinsed with hot water. Bucket was just in case it leaked.

I have taken several apart for cleaning and was glad I did each time. It was a pain as I had to to cut the spot welds on the bottom spider to get the mesh out. This was on Farmall stuff. Other brands may be different. The one in the photo looks like it simply presses together.

The worst was on a 400 diesel. I had soaked it to clean it and finally decided to take it apart. I couldn't believe how much crud was in the upper third of the filter mesh. No amount of soaking would have cleaned it as there is no way to get any rinsing action up in there. It took some very strong solvents and mechanical scrubbing to get that one cleaned up.

The other bad offenders are tractors that have spent earlier days in the cotton fields and the filter is plugged with cotton lint. On those I have taken the mesh out, soaked it in mineral spirits and then set them on fire. The lint burns away cool enough to not hurt the mesh. There is no way to scrub or dissolve cotton lint off of the filtering mesh.

Sometimes it's better to buy new mesh and replace the old stuff. There was something about the one on the 400D but can't remember why I went to all the trouble on that one to save the original screens.

I believe that soaking the entire assembly may loosen a lot of crud but not get it rinsed out and actually make it easier for the engine to ingest that garbage once it's running again.

Another problem that I have found in this region is that if the tractor sat for any time with the tube between the carb and the filter off is that dirt dauber wasps will get in there and build nests in the top on the clean side. There is no way to get all the dirt knocked off and washed out other than complete tear down and washing.

Couldn't figure how to remove the mesh, so I took the thing to the car wash, set her on HOT WASH, and let her rip. I guess it did a good job, got a lot of junk out. Seems fine.

I agree that the only way to clean a dirty oil bath is take it apart. Loosening that junk so the engine can pull It in can do more harm than good.