What type of plastic are most engine air filter boxes are made of (esp Honda)?

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Apr 14, 2021
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Never had a chance to change the filter (aka "Air Cleaner Element" as per Honda) in the ol' 2004 Acura TSX myself (was always done in a shop along with some other job). But thought since ordering other parts, why not the next time, so decided to check out the box and noticed that one of the four bolts had been driven so tight that the plastic around it is cracked.

The box seems intact and well "sealed" so thought might try to fix the crack when have to remove the bolt to do a filter change - so would help to know if it's ABS or whatever other plastic.

Thanks for any info.
 
Plastic, not abs.

Abs is much more harder.

The plastic is HDPE
 
Check the price of a replacement air box. I was looking for one of the air "tube" parts for our Civic and was surprised at how inexpensive the air box was. If you have to remove it to "repair", it might worth just replacing it.

Heh, maybe it's the age or maybe it's because it's on the Acura side.... The air box cover for a '12 Civic is $19 while it's $71 for your Acura !
 
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More than likely it is Polypropylene. It may have a mark on it somewhere that says PP.
Regardless of the Plastics it made of it’ll be difficult to glue back together. Using a RTV to seal the crack might be a decent fix
 
Never had a chance to change the filter (aka "Air Cleaner Element" as per Honda) in the ol' 2004 Acura TSX myself (was always done in a shop along with some other job). But thought since ordering other parts, why not the next time, so decided to check out the box and noticed that one of the four bolts had been driven so tight that the plastic around it is cracked.

The box seems intact and well "sealed" so thought might try to fix the crack when have to remove the bolt to do a filter change - so would help to know if it's ABS or whatever other plastic.

Thanks for any info.
My Chevy truck 5.3 cracked at the corners making sealing the top and bottom together impossible. I just used small zip ties at each corner and it seals tighter than new. The factory screws tended to work loose.
 
Yup, LKQ salvage or after market beats the pants off of old and busted. It's super hard to bond original GM plastics. I had a washer bottle fracture apart and failed wiper washer pump.

I went OE equivalent on both with new gaskets and haven't look back.
 
Ya I have bought cars that somebody got carried away and stripped the lower part of a two part airbox. All the plastic is different from platform and year of OE there is no industry standard. JB Weld seems to work the best but you may need to add extra and do a little sculpturing and the carefully
drill a new mounting hole. Or what really works the best is to install a time-sert thread replacement . But they are not inexpensive.
If the JB Weld in the end looks really ***** paint the lower box or complete airbox with Truck Bedliner paint. It will have a nice black textured look , and will stick nicely to most engine plastic even valve covers.


JB Weld will work on most all the following thermal plastic parts.
Valve covers,intake manifolds,airboxes, fuse/relay covers, radiator stay tabs.

It will not work at or or very well on most clear or semi clear fluid tanks or any rubber or soft plastic flexible parts
 
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