Cleaning aftermarket air filters

eidolon · 3 Oct 2006 at 09:22

I've got an ITG air filter on the Elise so I was wondering what the protocol was for cleaning it.

Some people say soap and water will do, followed by re-oiling, some reckon you need to degrease it, then re-oil so I thought I'd ask the clever people at OCUK to get a definitive answer

merlin · 3 Oct 2006 at 09:36

If it's cotton - buy a K&N filter cleaning kit.

Ron Burgundy · 3 Oct 2006 at 09:39

Firstly, LMAO. Thats a risky game providing a stated power increase. Is it a guaranteed increase?

A light coating of air filter oil but not too thick or you could damage the MAF

eidolon · 3 Oct 2006 at 09:44

merlin said:
If it's cotton - buy a K&N filter cleaning kit.

oops, forgot to say that it's foam.

Shaz]sigh[ · 3 Oct 2006 at 09:46

I did mine on the FTO a few months ago. Took it off in soapy warm water (not hot), scrubbed it/mauled it a bit. Had to do a few sink loads of water to clean it.

Don't leave it to soak, it'll kill the glue.

After that, I let it dry overnight (important, don't use a hairdryer), then regreased it and shoved it back on.

Apparently if it's really hard to clean, use a solvent like petrol to shift the muck.

Phil W · 3 Oct 2006 at 09:47

Shaz]sigh[ said:
Apparently if it's really hard to clean, use a solvent like petrol to shift the muck.

IIRC if you use petrol, it dissolves something inside the filter, however how much truth there is to this i'm not sure :confused:

Shaz]sigh[ · 3 Oct 2006 at 09:58

Petrol should be ok... just don't leave it to soak. The glue tends to fall apart due to heat. The ITG manual even said to use petrol!

Never tried it though

Lowe · 3 Oct 2006 at 10:26

Foam filters are nice and easy to clean in general. Pipercross do good foam cleaning kits, they're only a few quid.

One thing to remember is when washing the water through the filter, do it from the inside out! Otherwise you're pushing dirt into the filter rather than pushing it out. Other than that, get a brush on it, leave it to dry, reoil, refit. Dead easy

Gaijin · 3 Oct 2006 at 13:05

I've done my maxogen before, just remove the internal filter and wash in warm water - dont leave it to soak but just gently knead it and keep changing the water until its clean. I then left mine in my airing cupboad overnight and then sprayed a moderate coating of the dust retention spray on. Don't be too heavy handed with the spray however.