Oil seepage from carb

[Bay Window Bill]

I have a strange problem with the carb on my 69 T2 bus. I have a 30P carb.
It looks like oil is seeping from the oil breather hose that goes from the oil fill tube to air cleaner (I think this is called an oil bath system). It also appears that oil is getting into the carb.

Another possible related sign: The motor bogs and has a "flat spot" when accelerating from a low RPM condition. Even has a backfire-type sound when this happens. Only under load. The idle is fine.

Any thoughts? Need help with this one. Never seen anything like it.

[bsairhead]

Check compression. If rings are shot crankcase pressurizes and oil finds the path of least resistance.

[OB Bus]

a. Post a picture of your engine setup, that would help.
b. Flat spot? What distributor do you have?
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Larry in OB
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69 Westfalia and 2002 Eurovan Camper.
People deserve the Government they voted for.

[Wildthings]

It is not unusual to see some oil seepage here and there on one of these engines. That was kind of the norm when these rigs were made and people just accepted it. Up through the late '70's there were oil slicks down the middle of the lanes of the highways from the continual dripping of oil out of poorly sealed and ventilated engines.

[SGKent]

what others have said. The original system dumped oil out a breather tube that hung under the car, That tube had one of these on it (photo is upside down) The oil in the oil bath only gets filled to the line. You might get a tiny mist of oil on the carb but it would not be much. That said, if you went to a substantially bigger set of cylinders than the original 1600 you could pull enough air thru the oil bath that you overwhelm it. I don't know for sure on that, you'd have to ask someone with an oil bath system and a large displacement engine.

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[Bay Window Bill]

Photos of my engine setup include an EMPI electric fuel pump installed. I followed installation procedures. Hope this is correct since I haven't done one of these before. Placed the fuel filter inside the engine compartment for easier access. Breather hose attached to the air cleaner is shown.

A PerTronix electronic distributor is used as well. I plugged all the vacuum ports on the carb with new plugs. I checked the intake manifold for vacuum leaks as well as other potential problem areas. None were found.

[Wildthings]

You are dumping your blowby onto the base of the air cleaner where is will settle, pool, and eventually drain down onto the carb. One solution is to dump it into the top, positioned so it will go directly down into the venturi.

[OB Bus]

And one possible source of that flat spot is that distributor with no vacuum advance. Looks like a 009 clone? And someone soon will chide you about having both an electric fuel pump and having the fuel filter inside the engine compartment.
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Larry in OB
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!
69 Westfalia and 2002 Eurovan Camper.
People deserve the Government they voted for.

[Bay Window Bill]

You might be right about the vacuum advance, since mechanical advance is only based on RPM. It's independent of load/demand, whereas vacuum advance is. I might "change gears" and flip to vacuum advance to try solving the flat spot. But I'll play around with other things first before doing so. When I got the distributor I believe,yes, it is a 009 clone.

[SGKent]

get an oil bath air cleaner. You'll be happier with how quiet it is.
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[Lil Lulu]

One thing I see is the fuel line going through the breast tin without a grommet or other chafe relief. Not trying to trip you up, just had a bad experience once. Once.
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1600 stock from '71 bus

'72 Deluxe - Niagara Blue w/pastelwiess Camper Special 2L dual 40 Webers 002

'74 Hightop Weekender "Dixie" 1800 34 Del singles

[SGKent]

I've seen metal lines cut thru by the tin. Another solution is a double nipple that is bolted in.

Also - the danger of a steel braided line is that one cannot see it aging. Be sure to change it at the same schedule as any other line.
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"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - George Carlin

[Abscate]

[Bay Window Bill]

Thanks for the tips. I'll make the change.

Any more thoughts on the oil seepage or flat spot?

[Abscate]

On the stock Bus the oil vents into the air cleaner 60 cm away from the engine. The mist has a chance to accumulate and collect in the air cleaner housing. A paper filter will soak it up and gum up the carb

The 009 , particularly a clone, is a crappy distributor for a Bus and will give it a flat spot.

Solutions...back to stock parts
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[SGKent]

[nemobuscaptain]

The vacuum only distributors on the single ports carbs were horrible too. Zero centrifugal advance, so the dizzy didn't adapt to rpms.

I can't tell if that is a stock carb from the pic (on my phone) but the stock ones didn't have enough vacuum to use an svda. (edit: has a shutoff vavle, maybe 30/31?)

Out of the two terrible options, I'd run 009 over vacuum only dizzy.

The oil bath air cleaner is one of the best available. Im not sure why every noob immediately removes them and some chrome empi piece of shit.
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[bsairhead]

If you want to keep the air cleaner as is get 3 feet of that same size hose and route it with a loop. It will allow the oil residue to drain back and the air cleaner to breath without oil.

[airschooled]

That’s an h30/31pict, so the vaccum-only distributor is a perfect match if you want smooth driving in all weather. The carb uses a combination of vacuum sources and does in fact advance with speed under load. The SVDA is another popular choice, which you can run off of the diagonal port on the rear of your carb.

You’ve got options.
Robbie
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