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MG MGA - Oil in air filter

Hi, I have just found oil in my air filter. I have been noticing a backfire lately. Could the oil have something to do with That? The oil seems to be coming from within and just on the front carb. Thanks for your help. Neal Turner
Neal Turner

Hi Neal. If you have standard equipment Vokes air filter units they Should have some oil inside them. They are designed to catch grit and dirt by having it get caught in the oil. If your carburettor intake oils up after it has been cleaned, then it sounds like you may have some sort of engine problem. Oil should not come out either of the carburettor intakes. Backfiring could indicate the need for an ignition tuneup, or carburettor misajustment or problems, among other possibilities. You might want to pull the spark plugs and run wet and dry compression tests on all cylinders to see if there are any discrepencies. Good Luck, Glenn
Glenn

Don't forget that the rocker box vents oily fumes into the front filter box.

Steve
Steve Gyles

As Glenn says, oil in the front filter is probably from the breather, but should be oily anyway if you do as it says in the manual.

The backfire could be dirty/oily dashpots. Clean these and ensure you fill the dashpots with SAE.20 oil.

Over oiling the dashpots can also make the "air" pistons oily/sticky and liable to pick up particles of dirt, again causing pistons to stick up giving a lean mixture...

Pete
Pete Tipping

Neal
How much oil is in your front air filter. I was having trouble with acceleration and excesive oil consumption, so part of the check was to pull the air filters. The front one was so full of oil it ran out when we opened it up which explained why the 1 and 2 plugs were fouled. I now just let the vent hose hang beside the carb untill I figure out why I am using so much oil.
Kris
Kris Sorensen


John Twist, who used to recommend 20-50 in the dashpots now has changed his recommendation to 90w gear oil.

Rick
Rick Brown

This thread was discussed between 12/04/2006 and 13/04/2006

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