Triumphrat

DaleE

I finally got into the long-awaited carburetor mods this afternoon. I'll know tomorrow how badly I've screwed my bike up.

But in the meantime, I'm looking to clean the K&N filter, which is kind of greasy and gross in one corner. K&N tells me that the one and only way to clean their filters is with a special filter cleaning solution which I can only purchase from them.

Does anyone know of another way to clean these filters without damaging the element--preferably with something cheap and commonly available?

Woody1911a1

just bought a k&n recharge kit at my local jap bike dealer . cleaner and oil . the cleaner bottle says it contains " disodium metasilicate" . whatever you do , do NOT induce vomiting

__________________
If you love it , let it go . If it comes back to you , you've highsided ;-)

Wombat

How would you induce your air cleaner to vomit if you had to?

__________________
Bob

Click to see My Photo Album

Age is of no importance, unless you are a cheese.

Woody1911a1

make it watch another briteny spears newscast ?

__________________
If you love it , let it go . If it comes back to you , you've highsided ;-)

MLTMD

I just picked up a K&N recharge kit at NAPA. It was about $20 and included the cleaning solution as well as the filter oil. Should be pretty easy to find and available most anywhere, and a lot cheaper than replacing damaged filters.

gregp

I have cleaned K&N filters with brake cleaner before. No damage was noticed. You can spray it right through the element and wash it out pretty good. It also evaporates pretty fast. The "Grease" you are noticing is the result of over oiling. I would, however, recommend using K&N filter oil as opposed to foam filter oil, on the K&N, as the K&N oil does not "Tack up", which allows it to weep through the fibers evenly. It takes very little oil to get a K&N filter properly oiled. It just takes some time for the oil to wick itself around the element.

AceT100

Please just go buy the right stuff & don't screw he filter up.

Be aware, what YOU may think needs cleaning, in most likelihood doesn't.

This is a direct quote from K&N, take special note of the sections highlighted in red below.

If you have not experienced a decrease in mileage or engine performance, chances are your filter is fine and does not yet need cleaning. To be more specific, the filter does not require cleaning if you can still see the wire screen on the entire air filter regardless of how dirty it may appear. When the screen is no longer visible some place on the filter, it is time to clean it. When used in normal paved road, street or highway conditions, our replacement air filters that fit in the factory air box should require cleaning every 50,000 miles and our large conical filters on an intake system should require cleaning every 100,000 miles. When used in dusty or off-road environments, our filters will require cleaning more often. We recommend that you visually inspect your filter once every 25,000 miles to determine if the screen is still visible.

__________________
...................

slowkitty

I have a question. After cleaning the K&N oil is applied. If next cleaning is 25,000 miles, and assuming that takes 2 years, would not the oil dry out?

Cheers

Cat

AceT100

No....Oil doesn't evaporate!

I sold K&N's for almost 10 years when I lived in the UK...hence the advise.

__________________
...................