Air Cleaner on my 1953 Cranbrook
 

Hello everyone! My name is John and I just got my beautiful 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook, Francis, last Sunday. I traded my 87 Mustang with a built 302 for her. Best decision ever. I love this car. She's about 98% original, with only 74,000 original miles. I'm not 100% sure she's a Cranbrook, the title says Caravelle, I'm pretty sure Plymouth didnt make a Caravelle in the Fifties, and there are no emblems on her anywhere. Ok, now for my question, I was changing the plugs this weekend and I took the air cleaner off and tipped it sideways and a whole bunch of oil spilled out, I had no idea it was in there. I'm guessing its suppose to be there, not all of it spilled out, so there's still a little but I dont know how much I should put back in or if I should at all... Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the oil in the air cleaner is, and how much should be in there? Sorry if this is a really dumb question, I've never owned a car this old and I want to learn as much about it as i can so I can continue to care for and preserve this car. I'm 22 and plan to keep her for a long long time. I have a lot of question for you guys, if you dont mind, and I wanted to start with this one. I'll try and figure out how to post pictures on here if anyone wants to see her. Thanks -John

Welcome!

It's one thing to have the air filter with a light coating of oil to help collect dust, dirt, etc.. It's another thing to be able to dump oil out of your air cleaner. There should be a PVC hose running from the/a valve cover to the air cleaner. I'm sure that you will notice that is soaked in oil as well. It is there to release the gases built up in the oiling system but if you are getting oil up through there, then something in the motor is blocked (I think, not 100% sure though).

I had the same thing on my 74 J10 and 89 YJ. I rebuilt the motor in the 74 J10 and had the block and heads hot tanked and after putting it back together, it was fine. Not saying you have to go to that extreme as I drove my 89 YJ for a few years like this before selling it.

It's an oil bath type air filter. It takes one pint of 50 wt. It should have a gasket under it. make sure to put the gasket back or oil will leak on your carb

Yes it does NOT use a filter, Oil is put in the air cleaner In theory the oil is supposed to collect the dirt before it goes to the engine. Change the oil rather than a filter..

John, does it look like this:

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