Cleaning of Air Filters?

[jtay2024]

This is something that interested me when I was having a look through the owners manual on my Moms new Suzuki. I always thought that cleaning an air filter with an air gun was a terrible idea. I thought it would damage the element and no car manufacture would ever consider it an option.

What are your thoughts on cleaning filter elements? Is it unusual to see a recomendation like this in a manual?

 

[DemoFly]

Definitely bad practice. You risk dusting an engine by merely inspecting a filter. You can get away with it if you blow parallel and use the venturi effect for things like leaves and acorn shells. Even K&N warns against this for their reusable filters. Interesting find.

 

[Jetronic]

I've done that in the past, but it never reduced the backpressure any so I stopped doing it. I did give the filter a tap, as I was obliged to check them at every service.

 

[rszappa1]

Air filters are cheap....Just install a new one...

 

[fantastic]

To me it looks like a water spigot & not an air hose in that photo. Highly doubt they're recommending air pressure on the filter.

 

[dnewton3]

I would agree that the cheap, single layer cellulose filters typical of many on-road vehicles would not allow for this, but obviously this application isn't "typical". I'd be curious to ask exactly what the application is; OP, can you tell us?

Some air filters are made able to be blown out. (This is not uncommon on large equipment such as tractors, excavators, etc.) If Suzuki recommends this in the manual, it may not be as detrimental as some here would decry. Moderate, gentle pressure is key to not harming the media. Also, blow it back via the direction it came. Don't try to force the particulate through to the other side.

 

[BrendanC]

with how cheap air filters are, just toss a new one in if you already have it apart. they last for a lot longer than most people are willing to let them ride.

 

[Sayjac]

No, I wouldn't do that, force compressed air through the pleats. I think a tap or two might be ok. If the AF looks bad enough to even consider that, should just replace the filter instead imo. Also, opening the air box as little as possible is best practice, seals a consideration with that. If you're further interested in air filter function and maintenance practice. there's a piece by member Jim Allen linked, that's well worth reading. Fwiw, my average AF interval ~30k miles, just did one recently.

https://www.rv.com/rv/towing/the-truth-about-engine-air-filtersinternal/

 

[dnewton3]

All -

The OP location is in England, so I'm not exactly sure what the application is.
Being a "new Suzuki", it could be an off-road application, or on-road. We have no idea.
Regardless, the OE states it can be done.


I have off-road equipment which I regularly blow out the filters; it's the way they are designed to be used.
I have on-road equipment which I would never blow out the media; it's not designed to be maintained that way.

Without knowing more details about the application, it's premature to say one way or another for sure. The only thing we know is that the OE allows for this.

 

[Leo99]

All -

The OP location is in England, so I'm not exactly sure what the application is.
Being a "new Suzuki", it could be an off-road application, or on-road. We have no idea.
Regardless, the OE states it can be done.


I have off-road equipment which I regularly blow out the filters; it's the way they are designed to be used.
I have on-road equipment which I would never blow out the media; it's not designed to be maintained that way.

Without knowing more details about the application, it's premature to say one way or another for sure. The only thing we know is that the OE allows for this.

I was thinking the same. If you're out in the wilderness desert and not able to replace the filter, blowing it out is better than nothing.

 

[nomas]

Nothing is simple ...

 

[Glenda W.]

I’ve used a shop vac to quickly remove pine needles, mouse nests, loose debris etc. But always replaced the filter in short order after.

 

[Pterostylis]

I think the manual for my 2003 Suzuki grand vitara suggests the same thing, but I could be confusing it for one of the other Suzuki manuals I was flicking through last year. I’ll try to remember to check on the weekend.

 

[97prizm]

This is something that interested me when I was having a look through the owners manual on my Moms new Suzuki. I always thought that cleaning an air filter with an air gun was a terrible idea. I thought it would damage the element and no car manufacture would ever consider it an option.

What are your thoughts on cleaning filter elements? Is it unusual to see a recomendation like this in a manual?

View attachment 265269

I've never seen a manufacturer ever reccomend using compressed air to clean an air filter. I had a boss that cleaned out K&N air filters that way but those were on racecars with very low hours used every year.

 

[Sayjac]

Be helpful if the OP came back and gave more information on the specific Suzuki vehicle and use. That said, based on the information provided in the OP, stand by my previous post. I wouldn't take compressed air to clean an AF as standard practice.

 

[Pterostylis]

I can confirm that this advice is also in the 2015 Suzuki Jimny owners manual, I haven’t checked my 2003 Grand Vitara manual yet.

 

[barryh]

I replace air filters pretty much on schedule but schedules are generic guidance and not necessarily cast in stone.

Consider that the pressure drop across an air filter is maximum when the engine is producing maximum power and that's when the new filter will come into it's own. Realistically maximum power is not very often if ever used for many of us. The majority off the time the engine is not remotely troubled by filter pressure drop. If you don't have a spare new filter to hand I see no harm in blowing a used filter out or vacuuming it off until you can source a new filter.

My 35hp motorcycle has the exact same filter as a similar model with 70Hp. My filter sees little more than half the volume of air. Do I need to change it as often as the 70HP model ? In the ideal world filters would be changed on a hitting a pressure drop limit rather a time or mileage interval. And in industry that's exactly what we do. When I was a plant engineer looking after large HVAC systems, the banks of Hepa filters that cost many £thousands to replace were changed on pressure drop rather than time intervals for obvious economic reasons.

 

[Faawrenchbndr]

To me it looks like a water spigot & not an air hose in that photo. Highly doubt they're recommending air pressure on the filter.

That’s an air gun

 

[Faawrenchbndr]

Be helpful if the OP came back and gave more information on the specific Suzuki vehicle and use. That said, based on the information provided in the OP, stand by my previous post. I wouldn't take compressed air to clean an AF as standard practice.

I wouldn’t either. It’s been shown to damage weave of the material and create large voids for debris to pass

 

[fantastic]

That’s an air gun

After the responses I could assume that too but as @Sayjac mentioned perhaps we can get a better description and I should've held my response until then. But still It does look & sound like an automotive type filter though. Still if it's an air gun being recommended that's a bit on the cheap side instead of replacement for an automotive app. Would you agree?