Oiling & life of foam air filters | GTAMotorcycle.com

Oiling & life of foam air filters

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timtune

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Now that I've had another foam air filter (KLR650) come apart at the seams - I think one OEM and an aftermarket HiFlo I'm wondering what is the usual life of these. Obviously, I would think, it depends on how much dusty roads it sees and therefore how often it gets cleaned. How many "uses" do you normally get out of a foam filter?
Also is special oil really critical? I remember dropping a good sum to get NoToil Oil, Cleaner & Grease. I think back to rinsing K&Ns in gas and then just using ATF on em.
 
All depends on how rough you are with them.I don't like commercial cleaner. I use dawn dishwashing liquid and warm water. Air dry and oil with your choice of tacky filter oil.
Edit. I wouldn't use a K&N on my ex wife's snowblower. Junk.
 
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Wingboy said:
All depends on how rough you are with them.I don't like commercial cleaner. I use dawn dishwashing liquid and warm water. Air dry and oil with your choice of tacky filter oil.
Edit. I wouldn't use a K&N on my ex wife's snowblower. Junk.
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Same. I use TwinAir on my KTM. I have a couple and cycle them through the summer. One has had a spot open up after I'd guess a dozen cleanings so it got tossed but otherwise they last quite a while. Dawn to clean and Ipone air filter oil after.
 
Twin Air as well.

I've tried the No-Toil cleaner, it's not as effective as dish soap to get rid of the old oil. I find you have to use a lot of the powder as opposed to just a little detergent. I think it's because the No-Toil cleaner is biodegradable, but what's good for the environment isn't necessarily very effective.

I've heard using gas breaks down the foam and the glue.
 
Lightcycle said:
Twin Air as well.

I've tried the No-Toil cleaner, it's not as effective as dish soap to get rid of the old oil. I find you have to use a lot of the powder as opposed to just a little detergent. I think it's because the No-Toil cleaner is biodegradable, but what's good for the environment isn't necessarily very effective.

I've heard using gas breaks down the foam and the glue.
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No toil cleaner only works on no toil oil.

Sent from my couch using my thumbs
 
Wingboy said:
All depends on how rough you are with them.I don't like commercial cleaner. I use dawn dishwashing liquid and warm water. Air dry and oil with your choice of tacky filter oil.
Edit. I wouldn't use a K&N on my ex wife's snowblower. Junk.
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Not that I am a big fan of them, but how would a K&N be worse than a foam filter?
 
TwistedKestrel said:
Not that I am a big fan of them, but how would a K&N be worse than a foam filter?
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I probably should have said that it's junk compared to an oem paper filter.
But i still think an oiled foam filter would be better.
 
timtune said:
Now that I've had another foam air filter (KLR650) come apart at the seams - I think one OEM and an aftermarket HiFlo I'm wondering what is the usual life of these. Obviously, I would think, it depends on how much dusty roads it sees and therefore how often it gets cleaned. How many "uses" do you normally get out of a foam filter?
Also is special oil really critical? I remember dropping a good sum to get NoToil Oil, Cleaner & Grease. I think back to rinsing K&Ns in gas and then just using ATF on em.
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I replace them when they rip or start to deteriorate in the least, that's a lot of cleaning and reuse cycles. 20 or 30 times at least.
Yes use an oil meant for the application, put it inside a plastic bag to apply and squeeze out excess oil. How much oil saturation takes some experiment and practice.

It's a 4-stroke so your filter should be on a double wire mesh screen that prevents blow-back from setting your bike on fire, clean that too.
K&N makes felt fabric filters, so no huge surprise if their filter oil is less then perfect for a foam filter application.
 
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20-30 cycles!!? So absolutely no wringing em out just a gentle swishing in the detergent until clean? I didn't likely get a half dozen uses out of them.
And the "tacky oil" is filter oil as compared to something I might have on the shelf?
 
timtune said:
20-30 cycles!!? So absolutely no wringing em out just a gentle swishing in the detergent until clean? I didn't likely get a half dozen uses out of them.
And the "tacky oil" is filter oil as compared to something I might have on the shelf?
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Squeeze gently when cleaning or re-oiling, buy a spare so you always have one ready, remove the chunks of dirt and leaves frequently if the air intake collects stuff, like on lots of bikes.
"hypoid gear oil" might be the same stuff, no idea on that.
 
TK4 said:
K&N filters are more porous - they let more junk through.
Foam filters - wash in dish soap & water, air dry and re-oil with hypoid gear oil.
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Their response to that would be the pleated filter shape has more area to plug up before it's a problem,
giving them some advantage in sand/dust conditions. Like in a desert, that we don't have around here.
... pretty sure K&N are more expensive then a decent foam filter.
 
I bought a k&n for a bike i had because the oem filters were a ridiculous price.
After 20,000km the airbox was covered in fine dust inside after normal touring.
It went in the garbage. OEM paper elements are best.
The claims of hp gains are bull.
 
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btw: I use liquid WD-40 for doing most of the cleaning on foam filters, not water and detergent.
 
Wingboy said:
I bought a k&n for a bike i had because the oem filters were a ridiculous price.
After 20,000km the airbox was covered in fine dust inside after normal touring.
It went in the garbage. OEM paper elements are best.
The claims of hp gains are bull.
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Funny thing about a filter the dirtier it gets the more efficient it becomes to a point.

So cleaning a filter before it needs to be is doing more harm
 
POWERMAN said:
Can I ask why?
How do you get rid of the dust and dirt?

And does it not attract more?
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Liquid WD-40 is a petroleum distillate, it's a solvent, it cleans every bit as good as gasoline, it evaporates off the filter when I lay it out to dry after cleaning. Then I apply the fresh filter oil and it's good for another few days of riding.

The foam filter oil that you apply attracts dust and dirt like crazy and if you oil it right the filter will prevent a lot of water from entering the engine too. If you run a foam with little or no oil, water will go straight through it and its ability to trap dirt is lessened. Treated paper filters are useless at preventing water from entering your engine.
 
Interesting - I have to admit that this is the first time I am hearing of this method.
I was under the impression that the oil you use to re-oil the filter after deep cleaning needed a clean surface to begin with!

Then again, I have never used oiled filters on my bike or car....
 
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