My 2000 Excursion has 355,000 miles on it. Just put IH up pipes and resealed the intake. My Oem filter setup gets the dreaded Ford oil crud on the dirty side pretty bad. How does this happen? The air box is dry, the clean side is dry, so how does the dirty side of the filter get so oily?
I want to change to the AIS.
Will the same thing happen if I switch to the AIS (severe service air box kit)?

 

This is happing due to the crank case vent. Follow the intake tube from the filter to the turbo. Bout half way you will find a metal pipe in-between the rubber ones with 2 mooting brackets. This is where your CCV "crank case vent" vents the gases.

Search the site for CCV mod DO IT and get new IC boots from RiffRaff Diesel and get the ford AIS ! Done Done and Done !!!!

 

How does the oil go aganst the air flow, past the clean side of the filter to the dirty side? Shouldn't the clean side of the air filter get oily? I'm confused? (Which doesn't take a lot most days)

 

You may have an issue, if you are getting oil on the clean side of the filter. The up-pipe may fix this, now that your turbo should actually suck air. This could also be blow-by. Flip your oil filler cap upside-down with the engine idling. If it pops up - there's your issue.

 

No oil on the clean side as far as I can see. This motor runs great. I tow a 10,000 pound trailer about 250 miles a week. The up pipes and intakes were for maintenance. I'll check for blow by.

My 2000 f 350 with 230,000 miles and tows hard, has the AIS. It shows no oil on the clean side and filters last a long time.

I found a great deal on an AIS , but can't afford it if I'm going to have to change filters every month or so.
Is there something about the AIS that prevents this mysterious apparant back flow of oil vapor?

 

I live in a dusty environment. Stock sticks and tuning gave me 20,000 miles before filter change. If you don't tune, it will last even longer. My 400 HP is beyond the AIS, and I'm working on that now.

CCV is the typical source of oil vapors, a weak turbo might have prevented drawing the vapors into the engine.

 

Is the snorkel on the stock filter box oily, too?

Mark

 

No. And the top of the filter is clean too. That's why I'm confused

 

Great catch, ScaldedDog. Bad filter housing.

 

Weird. I got Nuthin'. I would be interested in seeing a pic of the filter, though.

Mark

 

I guess. If the filter is getting that oily, there'd need to be quite a crack, AND the CCV would have to be vented to atmosphere near the filter. I'd the the inside of the filter box would be a mess, too, if that were the case.

Mark

 

Already discarded the filter, but i'll check the dumpster at my shop. The CCV is sealed to intake tube . Motor is very clean just the usual oil on outside of boots. This isn't the first filter that has had oil in it. I say oil because ,well, it stinks like diesel oil and its black. Just would have to think if it were migrating backwards from the CCV, it would dirty up the clean air side of the filter and inside of the filter lid. By that same logic, there should be oil in the dirty air side of the filter housing.

 

Without a picture of the housing or the filter, I'm slightly lost, but the stock housing is notorious for cracking and leaking badly. If this is the case, the intake is busy sucking so much air that any oil vapors would not likely have a chance to rest in the dirty side of the housing.

 

When you close the throttle sharply and get a turbo fart, air is quickly pushed backwards through the turbo toward the air cleaner, correct? Couldn't this carry the vapors from the crankcase vent (located 1 foot downstream from the air filter) right back to your air cleaner element?

 

Ok here's some pictures. I was able to get my old filter from the dumpster!
For some reason I can only upload one photo per reply, so scroll down to see all pics.