Yup, many of the Diesels do have this baffle. I don't know if one would
help in this fellow's instance. Seems like quite a bit of oil to be just
the baffle.

I've got a 1.9NA (Overland) in my '82 Vanagon, and it uses very little
(like I can't tell) oil between changes. I have about 30K on the engine
at this time.

The way I have my vent hoses routed are two hoses coming from the
connections on the intake manifold (downstream from the air filter) to a
"T", and then a single hose into the valve cover. The hose is 1/2" (ish) ID.

I'd guess his engine is toasted, but hoping it's not!

Jon

On Tue, 27 Nov 2007, Bob Donalds wrote:

> The newer in line 4s have a baffle under the valve cover to prevent the oil
> from reaching the oil breather tube is that in place
> not sure if the diesels have this But it sounds like its time to find out
> Bob Donalds
>
> Boston Engine
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dennis Haynes" <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 8:36 PM
> Subject: Re: vanagon 1.9l diesel oil blow by in air filter issue?
>
>
> > The owner new the rings/piston are shot and you are getting excessive blow
> > by. Probably time for an overhaul. Yu may be able to rig the breather so
> > that it goes high enough for the liquid oil to return to the crankcase.
> > You may also want to consider a tank type breather separator that is often
> > used on big rigs. The Vanagon Diesls often had problems with the oil blow
> > by collecting in the air filter which can then cause a run-away. Yep, when
> > enough of that oil collects in there the engine can suck it in and will
> > run on the oil there. No way to stop of slow it except to use the brakes
> > and gears to stall it.
> >
> > Dennis
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> > Michael Sant
> > Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 10:25 PM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: vanagon 1.9l diesel oil blow by in air filter issue?
> >
> > Hello everyone, I just joined this list. I just bought a 82' diesel
> > Westy with an upgraded 1.9l in it, non-turbo. I bought it off the
> > samba classifieds from a guy in Albuquerque, NM for $6500. This
> > seemed like a fair price after talking to the guy at great length,
> > but after driving it home to Portland, OR. I am second guessing it!
> >
> > So, when I bought it, the seller had messed with the main crankcase
> > breather hose and smaller hoses that come off of the intake. He
> > installed a 90� elbow into the top of the air filter casing and ran
> > this large diameter hose right from the bottom of the engine
> > crankcase directly into this elbow. He had also experimented with
> > running this hose into a T which he placed in the middle of the
> > smaller diameter hose coming from the top of the engine off of the
> > intake. He said that this wasn't working, that maybe the hoses were
> > too small in diameter. So he then put electrical tape on this little
> > breather hose and routed this large hose into the airbox.
> >
> > As I was driving home, I was keeping the oil pressure gauge at 3-4
> > Bars and the oil temp between 100-130 Celsius. I kept my speed to
> > 55-60MPH on the highway. I was told that the gauge was reading slower
> > than actual by about 4-6MPH. I had many hills along the way through
> > Colorado and Utah and was often above 7000 feet. So, after about 100
> > miles into the trip, I got gas and noticed I was about 3/4 of a quart
> > low on oil, I topped it off with the one gallon that the seller gave
> > me (he said I would need it!). After driving further, the next tank
> > of gas, the oil was about the same 1/2 - 3/4 of a quart low. So, I
> > had good power but the oil temp was remaining a bit high. I made it
> > all the way to hood river, OR and the oil pressure was dropping, I
> > pulled over and added oil. Drove another 100 miles or so and it
> > dropped again, this time I pulled off and opened her up. The oil was
> > very low and we noticed this large breather hose routed into the
> > airbox, this seemed wrong, so we opened up the air box and there was
> > all of my missing oil! It had been dumping it into the air filter
> > box! So we sopped up all the oil, and capped off this hose with a
> > screwdriver, aimed it at the ground and drove home. When I got home,
> > the oil was low again and it had been blowing out the oil dipstick
> > tube, the dipstick tube was not fitting tight, so I installed a
> > larger o-ring.
> >
> > So, then I took it into a shop and had them look it over, they said
> > that maybe it need the valve and cam cleaned and maybe it needed a
> > better breathing valve cover. So they steam cleaned her valves,
> > changed the oil, filter and air filter. (it had a cheap autozone oil
> > filter on it!) and $89 later I picked her up.
> >
> > So I drove it around town lightly, but giving it some gas, drove for
> > about 15 miles and under 50MPH and got home and the airbox was again
> > filled with oil!
> >
> > So, now I have it a a very reputable shop in town and they are
> > scratching their heads about how these breather hoses actually go.
> > Since this was not an engine typically installed in a Vanagon, and
> > since it was done different ways depending on usage and wether it had
> > as turbo, it is very confusing about how this needs to be resolved.
> >
> > Here are my ideas:
> > 1. clogged or bad oil pump allowing too much crankcase pressure to
> > build up
> > 2. has wrong 1.6l valve cover and needs a 1.9L style one with a more
> > robust oil breather/filter cap
> > 3. needs better oil breather tubes
> > 4. needs an add on crankcase oil filter/breather like the Mann
> > ProVent 200
> > 5. needs new rings, (yikes I hope not after paying what I did for her!!)
> > 6. ??? Your ideas?
> >
> >
> > Sorry, for the lengthy description, but no one I take it to seems to
> > have a clear answer about how exactly these hoses, especially the
> > large one coming from the crankcase, are supposed to be routed.
> > So, have any of you ran into this problem? If so, what did you do?
> >
> > Thanks so much for your time!
> >
> > Signed,
> > Sad Biodiesel Westy in P-Town
> > Mike
>