How Air Cleaners works

AIR CLEANERS

The fuel system mixes air and fuel to produce a combustible mixture. A large volume of air passes through the carburetor and engine-as much as 100,000 cubic feet ( 2832 m) of air every 1000 car miles (1609 km ). Air always contains a lot of floating dust and girt. The grit and dust could cause serious damage if they entered the engine. To prevent this, an air cleaner is mounted on the air entrance of the carburetor or fuel-injection system.

    All air entering the engine through the carburetor must first pass through the air cleaner. The air cleaner contains a ring of filter material (fine-mesh metal threads or ribbons, pleated paper, cellulose fiber, or polyurethane). The air must pass through this material. It provides a fine maze that traps most of the airborne particles. Some air cleaners have an oil bath. This is a reservoir of oil which the incoming air flows past. The moving air packs up particles of oil and carries them up into the filter. There the oil washes any dust back down into oil reservoir.