Wisconsin Crankcase Breather

[Jimmy]

On my Wisconsin AEN that I'm trying to get running, It has the crankcase breather hooked up to a pipe directing the air into the air cleaner. What is the point of that?

Can I disconnect it (and it still run properly)?

Thanks,

[K D Redd]

The point is to burn the oil vapor from the engine. This is very common.

Kent

[Skyhawk Greg]

jimmy - I am not that familiar, yet, with the Wisconsin engines. However, a few thoughts have come to mind. First, if you just disconnect it, and it vents directly to the atmosphere, then dust might be introduced into the engine. Secondly, if you plug it on the engine side, then there may be no other means for pressure compensation within the engine as the piston goes up and down, and you may blow some gaskets. Again, I am not that familiar with that particular engine, but it is something to think about. Greg

[Zira]

Both of those comments are correct for that engine. But, I would not hesitate to just disconnect the tube & run it for a little while while working on it , especially in a non-dusty environment. You could also steal a crank case breather from a smaller Wisconsin that does not use this arrangement. On the AENL I am working on, the tube had rusted away, so I replaced it with copper tubing & compression fittings (original was steel tubing & flare fitings). This is cheap, easy, and you can get the parts from a hardware store.

AEN's were only mde a few years before being replaced with the very similar AENL, any idea what yours came off of?

[Jimmy]

Mine came off of a grain elevator, which I am assuming were pretty common back in the day.