The Air Filter Cleaning Guide

An air filter is a device that traps impurities from the air and supplies clean air to the engine to facilitate internal combustion. It stops airborne contaminants, such as dust, pollen, mold and bacteria, from being sucked into your car’s engine. Over time and usage, the air filter gets clogged with dirt and dust and its overall efficiency reduces. Air filter cleaning is a very important part of your car’s maintenance. A sufficiently dirty and damaged air filter would allow abrasive contaminants into the combustion chamber. Air filter cleaning is one of the most important acts of maintenance you can perform on your car’s engine. It will give you many more miles of trouble free driving. Three basic reasons why you should have a clean air filter in your car are:

• Improved airflow to your engine to facilitate combustion.
• Increased horsepower, performance and gas mileage.
• Better filtration of engine-destroying contaminants.

How to carry out Air filter cleaning

The three basic types of air filters for cars are the paper, foam and cloth filters. Most cars have disposable paper air filters that need to be replaced very often. Replacement air filters are available for most cars and they give better performance. Many replacement filters last the lifetime of your car’s engine. Most air filters need to be cleaned between 30,000 to 50,000 miles depending on the road conditions. If you regularly drive on dusty rural roads, you may need to carry out air filter cleaning more frequently.

With more and more car users switching over to performance air filters, this is how you carry out cleaning of K&N air filters:

• K&N air filters have a running life of 1,000,000 miles and need to be cleaned every 50,000 miles unless you frequently drive on dusty roads. You may then need to clean them after about 30,000 miles.
• To dislodge loose dirt, tap the base of the round filter gently on a hard surface. In case of a panel filter, tap with the dirt side down. Never tap your filter on the edge. Then brush the dirt side with a soft brush, even a toothbrush, gently.
• K&N air filter should not be cleaned with gasoline, solvents, strong detergents, caustic cleaning solutions, or high-pressure car washes, as these will damage the filter. Use only spray-on or liquid K&N Filter Cleaner.
• Spray the K&N Filter Cleaner onto the entire filter element. In the case of liquid filter cleaner, pour it into a container and dip the round or flat panel filter in it. Do not agitate the filter in the cleaner solution. Remove from the container and let the solution soak in for 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes of soaking time, rinse the filter under a low-pressure tap water. Flush from clean side to dirty side to dislodge dirt particles.
• Shake off excess water and let the filter dry at room temperature. Do not use compressed air or heat to dry, as this will damage the filter element.
• Before putting it back into service, oil the filter. This is important, as it will not function properly. Use K&N Filter Oil, which is a unique blend of mineral and organic oil. A red dye has been added to the oil to identify places where oil has reached. Do not use automatic transmission fluid, motor oil, diesel fuel or any other kind of lubricant except K&N Filter Oil.
• Spray the oil onto the pleats once. The red dye will indicate the areas oiled. Let the oil soak in for 10 minutes and re-spray any area left out. In case of tube oiling, squeeze the oil onto each pleat and let it be for 10 minutes. Re-apply oil in areas left out.

Buying Air Filter Cleaning Kits

There are many types of air filters for cars available from many different manufacturers. Most of them have there own cleaning kits to suit their products. A visit to www.autoanything.com will show you many cleaning kits on offer. These air filter cleaning kits range from $10.37 - $15.99 and charge an extra $4.99 towards shipping costs. www.speed-sports.com offers K&N Filter Cleaning Kit that includes a 6-1/2 oz. Spray Oil and a 12 oz. Filter Cleaner for $13.95.

A clean air filter certainly improves the performance of your car. You could see an improvement in fuel economy up to 1 – 2 mpg due to improved combustion.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright © 2006