Can you over oil a foam air filter?

[TomGaval]

70 degrees F today, perfect for a nice long Blat. Started out, and at the first stop sign, the car shuts off. 😳 Cranked but wouldn't turn over. Pushed it out of the intersection and tried several times to get it to start. No sign of it even close to turning over. I took the air filter off and it fired right up. Left it off, Got it home, and worked the air filter over for a while trying to get any excess oil off ( it wasn't dripping or for that matter really soggy) Put it back on, car fires up and off I go for an hour long blat. 😬

 

So Can a liberally coated foam air filter cut off enough air to the intake that it would refuse to fire up? Or what else could it be? 1.8 K Jenvey dhtb's EU2 with wasted spark.

 

Thanks Tom

 

Tom

[philwaters]

I'd have thought it would just burn the oil off as it sucked it in - but might be wrong.

 

I know when I over did my K&N's I gt lovely streaks down the side of my car where the wind literally pushed the oil to the back of the filters where it formed drips and flew down the side of the car.

 

Phil Waters

[TomGaval]

Thanks Phil. Oil wasn't running out, I just wonder if there was enough of it that it could have cut off the inflow of air, because once I took it off it fired right up.

 

That doesn't explain why it started and ran for about a quarter mile, before it quit.

 

*confused*

 

Tom

 

[Alias]

Which ECU are you using?

As a thought, the car may have run when cold due to the mixture being richer. Once the engine had warmed up, the ECU automatically compensated with a leaner mixture which was made too lean by the condition of your air filter for the engine to work. 🤔

 

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1800 Supersport with 6 gears and clamshell wings.

[TomGaval]

Rob, I have the DTA 48 ECU. I built the car 7 years ago and the only other problem I've had is it Idleing when its really hot. It runs fine all day in those temps, but if I'm stuck in line during one of my sprints, It often will not hold idle. I can rev it a bit but eventually it quits and I need to take off the bonnet, remove the air filter and let it cool for about 10-15 minutes then it will run fine. I think that is due to the air/temp compensation setting. QED did the engine and mapping and I don't have the guts to mess with it because other than that it run great.

 

This is the first time it stalled and wouldn't restart when it was running. *confused*

 

I really appreciate the ideas and help guys.

Thanks. Tom

[Sheds Moderator]

Are you sure you don't have a blocked fuel tank breather? These are the symptoms you describe - car stops and you spend 20 minutes looking at stuff, all the while the air is *gradually* seeping back into the tank, then it starts first go and you imagine it's the things you looked at.

 

I don't think you can overoil a filter, it would leak out. When I've done mine in the past with various cars I have found that you sometimes get oil dripping off thm, especially the metal gauze ones.