Is it OK to wash air filter with soap & water?

[Lurch]

I'd like to wash mine with some non toxic cleaner, not kerosene or anything like that. Hot soapy water with dish or laundry detergent OK?

Then what's a good oil to oil it up with? I have gear oil and many motor oils.

I decided to hold off on getting that No Toil 3 pack kit.

Thanks.

Joe

 

[scurvy]

FWIW, Joy dishwashing detergent was frequently used in an industrial lab where I used to work because it rinsed spectrographically very 'clean' and cut through most oil & grease well.

Why are you washing an air filter? Just replace it with a new one. I hope this is not a K&N sandblaster screen.

 

[Lurch]

I thought it was meant to be washed, re-oiled, and used for an indefinite amount of miles. This is an OEM air filter as far as I know. The bike has 11k miles on it, so, at worst, this filter has no more than 11k miles on it.

Joe

 

[scurvy]

Durr, didn't see that this was in the Motorcycle forum. Carry on, and use Joy with confidence!

 

[AuthorEditor]

I bought the No Toil kit and the cleaner seems to be very similar to dishwashing detergent, but who knows what is in it? In any case, I would second the fact that Joy is about the best grease cutting detergent I have found on the shelves of my supermarket, so I would imagine it would be fine for the air cleaner. I've heard it said that straight 30 weight motor oil is good for oiling the filter. The No Toil kit works great, by the way.

 

[AuthorEditor]

Quote:
I bought the No Toil kit and the cleaner seems to be very similar to dishwashing detergent


Correction to that post--I meant to say it seems to be very similar to powdered laundry detergent. In any case, the NoToil stuff is a system. The NoToil oil is designed to clean out easily using the special cleaner in water. Not all oils can be cleaned out this way. I think if you're not using the NoToil oil you will probably want to wash your filter with some sort of solvent. Personally, I like not having to deal with solvents and the NoToil kit works well.

 

[Zedhed]

Check it out -- some people buy $30-50 worth of chemicals to clean a $15 foam air filter. HUH? I replace my dirtbike filters every 2 years or so, and clean them in kerosene or naptha. They just have to filter dirt, they are not HEPA filters.

 

[boraticus]

Originally Posted By: Zedhed
Check it out -- some people buy $30-50 worth of chemicals to clean a $15 foam air filter. HUH? I replace my dirtbike filters every 2 years or so, and clean them in kerosene or naptha. They just have to filter dirt, they are not HEPA filters.



$30.00 to $50.00 to clean a $15.00 filter? You're forgetting that you can clean the filter several times right? However, using kerosene or solvent, for cleaning and engine oil or chainsaw bar oil to re-oil the filter, you can get the same results for a few pennies.

There are no cheap seats to mechanical nirvana!

 

[AuthorEditor]

A NoToil kit with both cleaner and oil is $14.95, and it is good for many uses.