Engine Air Filter Intermediate Service.

[Jim]

There always seems earthmoving equipment operations going on here in Muscat; consequently there is a lot of dust in the atmosphere.

Today I had the air-box off anyway so I opened it up to look at the filters. I had looked when I brought the car last July, then the filters looked new.

Today I knocked the filters on the ground and found quite a lot of dust and a few small pieces of grit came out. Knocking again produced more. When reperated knocking stopped producing dirt I took the filters into the house and back vacuumed them. This seemed to slightly visually clean the filter element. I could feel the air going through the filter in the reverse direction.

I washed out the air-box and reassembled. Maximum 1 hour.

I noticed the most of the dirt came out of the front end of the filter. There was very little at the other end.

Having done 6 months of fairly major work on the car it was nice to do a little light servicing to get ready for the hot season.

The test run to the Barber was fine; cleaning the filters certainly did no harm...

Jim.

 

[DerFuror]

If you haven't done so already, consider a set of K&N washable/reuseable air filters.

A K&N Air Filter is made of 4 to 6 layers of cotton gauze sandwiched between two epoxy-coated aluminum wire screens. The cotton is treated with a specially formulated grade of oil causing tackiness throughout the cotton’s microscopic strands. This setup is ideal protection in high-dust environments.


http://www.knfilters.com/filtercharger.htm

 

[szvook]

I would recommend ITG filters, no need to re-oil them.

 

[DerFuror]

Viable choice, but even with ITGs, Jim would probably benefit using their ITG Dust Retention Coating for his particular environment.

http://www.itgfilters.net/?gclid=CPGXrY ... 5QodL3f0FQ

 

[Jim]

Thanks, I have ITG on my UK car.

I am still not decided on the effect of oiling the air filter and possible coating on the MAF meter hot wire element.

Jim.

 

[fudgitive]

Hi Jim,

I blow them out every month with compressed air, and clean up the housing... I believe you have similar dust issues in Muscat to us in Dubai (-;

Mike

 

[2phast]

Thanks, I have ITG on my UK car.

I am still not decided on the effect of oiling the air filter and possible coating on the MAF meter hot wire element.

Jim.

That is more or less a urban legend. If you over-oil your filter on the wrong side, then maybe you might experience a MAF issue. If properly oiled this will not be a problem.

I have run K&N filters in all my cars since the 80's and never had the slightest problem with any of the MAF's. My 500e MAF is squeaky clean and thats after 7 years of K&N use.