Oil Misting from Behind Pulley

[riff raff]

OK, I know this is not a new topic. I have done a fair jag of reading regarding this problem, but it persists on my 2 litre.
Background:
72 Standard beetle straight axle trans in 61 bus.
Aluminum Auto Linea case
Case was deburred
78 by 90.5
CB 044
40mm Dells
Bosch 010
8.6:1
Engle 110
All internals balanced
26mm pump
Oil pressures are not excessive
External filter
CB thin sump
5W20 oil with  half bottle of GM EOS per oil change (Ran 15-40 Diesel for the first few thousand miles and misting was a little less with heavier oil, but the engine likes the lighter oil better)
Stock heater boxes, cheap 1 3/8 header (will be replaced with 1 1/2 sidewinder after teardown)
Stock breather tower with two outlets
Valve covers vented ( about 1000 miles ago and made no difference to the misting problem)
I drive pretty conservatively (it's a bus!) but I want more than 3500 RPM!
I have tried aluminum degreed pulley, steel degreed pulley, heavy wieght steel degreed pulley and a stock pulley (all with clean good threads) and there seems to be no appreciable difference in the volume of oil pumped out.
It is pretty clean up to about 3500 or 4000 RPM and then starts to mist. Can't make any kind of highway run without bathing the engine compartment.
There is no sign of misting from the breather tower or the valve cover vents, just from the pulley.
I am not running a breather box. I have much better crankcase ventilation with the various vents I have than I could possibly get from a breather box.
The slinger is on the crank properly.
I have bought a sand seal, but would rather correct the cause rather than treat a symptom if possible.
I have heard that on the Auto Linea cases there can be a restriction in the hole that drains the oil from the rearmost main?
I have also read that my oil level may be too high and the high revs thrash the excess oil around.
I ran the oil level at the lower mark on the dipstick and seemed to help some as well, but I want NO oil misting

Anybody know of this? Any pics or ideas regarding a fix?
I'm tearing the engine down this winter to drop an 82 mm crank in it, so any internal fixes can be affected while I have the case split.
Any guidance is welcomed

[buddy boy]

where are you venting to ?..did you check to see if they are pluged ?

i was useing an after market dip stick and realized that the markings were off , the full mark was about an 8th of an inch higher than my stock one , so i was putting to much oil in, after i switched back to the stock dip stick and corrected the amount of oil the problem went away !

[Cameron]

Something else to think about...

See if the rings are bad, or not seating. Do a leak down test.

[Geoff]

I've seen many engines do the same thing, Like Buddy Boy said the dip sticks can be off, check it against a known stock one. Also if you run a deep sump always run the oil level just below the full line on the dip stick. As well the breather box is the number one way to stop this. If it's one of the cheap chinese boxes bought these days be sure to open it and look at the foam filter. It should be resting on a baffel. Lots of the new ones just have a pc of foam in there filling the void, this is a no-no. The foam just gets soaked in oil and cant vent. Replace it with some green scotch pads (the one you use in the kitchen, cut to the size needed and use two layers (make sure there is a baffel in there if not make one out of perferated metal or chicken wire).

Hope this helps.

[Trevor P]

Not sure about the AL cases but I have heard of this issue on the mag cases if the restrictor in the gallery for the #4 bearing is removed when the case gets the oil gallery plugs yanked and tapped for thread in pipe plugs. This shouldn't be an issue if your #4 bearing already has a small feed hole in it, but it seems all bearings aren't created equal. I have never experienced this particular issue but it may be another thing you want to check while you have it torn apart.
Here is a link to the thread.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=277850&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=restrictor+bearing+plug&start=0

[riff raff]

Thanks for the suggestions guys,
to answer a couple of you.
Buddy boy -I am sure that none of the breather vents are pugged. I run the valve cover vents up to the upper shock mount with 3/4" heater hose. No sign of any misting around the shock where it vents. I am using a stock (Stock for dual relief mag case) dipstick in an Auto Linea case. I wonder if that may be contributing? I keep the static oil level about half way between "fill" and "full", and that helps a bit. I could run the level lower as I have the sump, but I really think there is another cause to this problem.

Cameron - I'm going to hone and re ring while I have it apart anyhow. I'll check for broken or poorly aligned rings, but this engine has been real spunky, so I doubt I have excessive blow by.



Junior - the problem I have with breather boxes is that they don't ventilate enough volume. They work well as an oil/air separator, but with two little 1/4" NPT fittings at the top for the entire crankcase to vent through, those fittings become the restrictive point. I've seen guys (and I would) drill and tap the two vents to 3/8" NPT which will help ventillation a lot, but I have better ventillation than that with my setup and no misting problems anywhere except the pulley.


Trevor - interesting read. I'll investigate when I have the case split.I did have to drill one of the oil supply holes in the case as it did not line up with the oil hole in the bearing. I don't think it was number 4, but I don't recall for sure. I can't see that being a contributor as the I only drilled down 5 mm or so, and the space between the bearing and the crank should be the limiting factor for flow.
I'll check when I have the case split.
Like I said, If I can't find the cause, I'll run a sand seal, but I'd sure like to know why this animal is misting

[Chris E.]

Hey riff raff, have you had a chance to look into this problem yet? Any findings?

[kris urban]

try tightenign the block together or its your seal .