Today I will show you how to clean an oiled cotton performance air filter. I will be using my BMC OTA as an example here, its an oiled cotton filter like a K&N or a Green Cotton.
Things you need:-
The dirt inside!
Cleaning the Filter
Undo the 4 small screws holding the air inlet side cap onto the air box body and pull it apart. Leave the Engine side cap on, no need to remove that. See there is no dirt on the inside surface of the filter and inside the case. Now you know that its filtering well!
Note: If your oiled cotton filter does not sit inside an enclosure like the BMC OTA you can skip this step and directly go to cleaning the filter.
I had some leftover Green Cotton filter cleaning solution with me, so i used that too.
I dumped the Green cotton solution in the partially filled bucket and sprayed K&N cleaning solution on the filter inside out. You don't see as much dirt in the filter now because I took this picture after a rinse. Sorry I forgot to take the pic before i did that.
Then I let the filter soak for 10 minutes then immersed it in the bucket couple of times. This is what the water in the bucket looked like after the second rinse. The cleaning solution did its job well.
Then rinse the filter in slow running tap water from the inside-out. It is important that you rinse the filter from the inside out. Inside out = Reverse of airflow direction. This is how the filter looks like now.
Oiling the Filter
After cleaning is done let the filter air dry for couple of hours or under the sun for a quicker result. Air drying under a fan will take few hours. After its completely dry you can start oiling it.
While oiling the filter take care not to flood each pleat, I used K&N filter oil. A little goes a long way.
Run the oiler from top to bottom (or vice versa) on each pleat adding drops of oil spaced out from each other. Let it stand for a while; say 30mins; and re-inspect the filter. Where you see gaps in the filtration media with no oil you apply a drop there. Repeat this until the filter is a uniform pink all across.
This is time consuming, but be slow and safe instead of over oiling it. Over oiled filter will coat you MAF in filter oil which will reduce its ability in taking an accurate reading of the air flowing into the engine.
Apply oil carefully, taking care not to put excessive amount.
Fill the gaps with drops...
...until its all pink all across and uniform.
Now its time to assemble the filter which is the reverse of dis-assembly. Take care to put this rubber gasket back into its groove on the sealing surface of the filter. this ensures that the air box stays air tight.
Now its time to refit the BMC OTA airbox back in the Swift. The engine is a 1200cc K12M series engine.
The air inlet duct is fixed in such a way that it gets air flow from the front and outside of the engine compartment when the car is in motion. There is an opening in the air dam for this purpose. The OBD Intake Air Temperature reading supports the theory with a lower IAT reading compared to stock.
Things you need:-
- A Screw driver to remove the tiny Philips screws.
- Filter cleaning and Oiling Kit. You don't need brand specific kit as long as the kit is for an oiled cotton filter it should work! I used K&N filter re-oiling kit.
- News paper to keep the work area clean.
The dirt inside!
Cleaning the Filter
Undo the 4 small screws holding the air inlet side cap onto the air box body and pull it apart. Leave the Engine side cap on, no need to remove that. See there is no dirt on the inside surface of the filter and inside the case. Now you know that its filtering well!
Note: If your oiled cotton filter does not sit inside an enclosure like the BMC OTA you can skip this step and directly go to cleaning the filter.
I had some leftover Green Cotton filter cleaning solution with me, so i used that too.
I dumped the Green cotton solution in the partially filled bucket and sprayed K&N cleaning solution on the filter inside out. You don't see as much dirt in the filter now because I took this picture after a rinse. Sorry I forgot to take the pic before i did that.
Then I let the filter soak for 10 minutes then immersed it in the bucket couple of times. This is what the water in the bucket looked like after the second rinse. The cleaning solution did its job well.
Then rinse the filter in slow running tap water from the inside-out. It is important that you rinse the filter from the inside out. Inside out = Reverse of airflow direction. This is how the filter looks like now.
Oiling the Filter
After cleaning is done let the filter air dry for couple of hours or under the sun for a quicker result. Air drying under a fan will take few hours. After its completely dry you can start oiling it.
While oiling the filter take care not to flood each pleat, I used K&N filter oil. A little goes a long way.
Run the oiler from top to bottom (or vice versa) on each pleat adding drops of oil spaced out from each other. Let it stand for a while; say 30mins; and re-inspect the filter. Where you see gaps in the filtration media with no oil you apply a drop there. Repeat this until the filter is a uniform pink all across.
This is time consuming, but be slow and safe instead of over oiling it. Over oiled filter will coat you MAF in filter oil which will reduce its ability in taking an accurate reading of the air flowing into the engine.
Apply oil carefully, taking care not to put excessive amount.
Fill the gaps with drops...
...until its all pink all across and uniform.
Now its time to assemble the filter which is the reverse of dis-assembly. Take care to put this rubber gasket back into its groove on the sealing surface of the filter. this ensures that the air box stays air tight.
Now its time to refit the BMC OTA airbox back in the Swift. The engine is a 1200cc K12M series engine.
The air inlet duct is fixed in such a way that it gets air flow from the front and outside of the engine compartment when the car is in motion. There is an opening in the air dam for this purpose. The OBD Intake Air Temperature reading supports the theory with a lower IAT reading compared to stock.
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