AIRAID Filter cleaning / re-oiling: Alternate method write-up
11-26-2007, 08:44 AM
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AIRAID Filter cleaning / re-oiling: Alternate method write-up
After several serious off-road trips and 10K+ miles, I cleaned my AIRAID air filter for the first time. If you bought an AIRAID and have the "recharge" kit for the filter, you're probably thinking that the directions that come with the re-oiling kit are pretty idiot-proof, and this walkthrough is therefore superfluous.
Well, my filter was absolutely caked with mud and gunk in spots, from several water crossings and plenty of muddy wheeling. Therefore, I used my own modified method. I figured I'd share my own experience and tips, because my method worked phenomenally well. Unfortunately, I didn't snap pictures... but this is so simple you really don't need them! I'll try to take pics the next time that I do this.
Re-oiling an AIRAID Cold Air Intake air filter - alternate method. Total time, start to finish: <1.5 hours. Total "action" time: <25 minutes.
1. Remove your AIRAID filter. To do this, you'll simply use a flathead screwdriver to loosen the hose clamp that holds the conical filter in place.
2. Rinse the filter using warm water FROM THE INSIDE OUT (you want to push the dirt OUT, not deeper into the filter!). The conical filter is hollow, so you can simply hold the filter in your sink and run the tap into the inside of the filter, rotating the filter as necessary to rinse every fin.
3. Allow the filter to dry at least slightly, so that it's not completely saturated with water. I waited a few minutes, very gently blotted with a paper towel, and shook excess water out of the filter.
4. Apply the AIRAID cleaner / solvent spray. This stuff is not fun to breath in, so don't! I did this in my empty kitchen sink. You'll want to saturate the filter in this solvent (caution: it IS corrosive), then let it sit. Go heavy with this stuff: you really want to flush your filter well.
5. Wait at least 10 minutes to allow the solvent to dissolve the tiny particulate matter trapped inside the filter. I waited about 15 minutes, at which point my filter had a watery brown "ooze" flowing out of it.
6. Rinse the filter once more, again being sure to wash from the inside, outward, so as not to push any dirt into the filter. The instructions make it clear that you're not to use high-pressure, as this could damage the filter itself. I simply used my faucet sprayer with the tapwater turned to its hottest setting - worked like a champ.
7. Allow the filter to dry; this will take at least 30 minutes under most conditions. The instructions make it clear not to use any heated drying method, because (again) you may deform/ruin the filter. While you may use a fan to expedite the process, I simply toweled off the excess water, and then let the filter sit for an hour or so. Have a beer or two to pass the time.
8. Re-oil the filter. The filter oil is tinted red for your convenience. Go LIGHTLY with the oil, applying it sparingly. You don't want your intake sucking gobs of filter oil into it! The bottle that holds the oil has an interesting applicator tip that allows you to dispense just a drop of oil at a time; do this, and run that tiny bit of oil up and down each fine individually. Work from one side to the other, and gently apply oil to each fin of the filter. Use the color of the oil to gauge where you missed oiling. Err on the side of caution here: you're NOT trying to get a shiny red coat of oil on the entire filter!
9. Allow the oil to set on the filter. Leave the filter to soak in the oil, for at least 20 minutes. Go have a beer or 3 while waiting.
10. Spot-treat the filter (if necessary - I didn't need this step). Review the filter fins, and make sure that there are no huge "white spots" that didn't receive oil. If you misssed any spots, apply the oil just to those spots rather than to the entire fin. Again, you want to err on the side of caution and not over-oil your filter! After spot-treating the filter, allow the oil to set for at least 20 minutes.
11. Remove excess oil. Use a good paper towel or shop cloth to remove any excess oil. Despite my careful re-oiling, there were some drips and accumulation of the red oil along the base of the filter that was facing downward.
12. Adjust the hose clamp postioning. I would recommend that you slightly adjust the hose clamp position, so that you're slightly "rotating" the filter each application, so that a different section of the filter is facing forward after the re-install.
13. Clean the cold air "chamber" that the filter sits in (I forgot to do this, and had to just reinstall and drive away, but I will do this the next time I'm under the hood. Now that you've cleaned the filter, why reinstall it inside a dirty air chamber that's just going to soil the filter quickly? Take a couple minutes to clean up the air chamber before reinstalling the filter.
14. Re-install the filter. This step couldn't be easier - simply seat the filter against the air tube, holding it in position as you tighten the hose clamp that secures it. Make sure that you tighten it enough to hold the filter firmly in place, but you don't need to tighten it to death here.
You're done! I hope that this is helpful to someone out there - please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about this, or the AIRAID CAI itself.
Well, my filter was absolutely caked with mud and gunk in spots, from several water crossings and plenty of muddy wheeling. Therefore, I used my own modified method. I figured I'd share my own experience and tips, because my method worked phenomenally well. Unfortunately, I didn't snap pictures... but this is so simple you really don't need them! I'll try to take pics the next time that I do this.
Re-oiling an AIRAID Cold Air Intake air filter - alternate method. Total time, start to finish: <1.5 hours. Total "action" time: <25 minutes.
1. Remove your AIRAID filter. To do this, you'll simply use a flathead screwdriver to loosen the hose clamp that holds the conical filter in place.
2. Rinse the filter using warm water FROM THE INSIDE OUT (you want to push the dirt OUT, not deeper into the filter!). The conical filter is hollow, so you can simply hold the filter in your sink and run the tap into the inside of the filter, rotating the filter as necessary to rinse every fin.
3. Allow the filter to dry at least slightly, so that it's not completely saturated with water. I waited a few minutes, very gently blotted with a paper towel, and shook excess water out of the filter.
4. Apply the AIRAID cleaner / solvent spray. This stuff is not fun to breath in, so don't! I did this in my empty kitchen sink. You'll want to saturate the filter in this solvent (caution: it IS corrosive), then let it sit. Go heavy with this stuff: you really want to flush your filter well.
5. Wait at least 10 minutes to allow the solvent to dissolve the tiny particulate matter trapped inside the filter. I waited about 15 minutes, at which point my filter had a watery brown "ooze" flowing out of it.
6. Rinse the filter once more, again being sure to wash from the inside, outward, so as not to push any dirt into the filter. The instructions make it clear that you're not to use high-pressure, as this could damage the filter itself. I simply used my faucet sprayer with the tapwater turned to its hottest setting - worked like a champ.
7. Allow the filter to dry; this will take at least 30 minutes under most conditions. The instructions make it clear not to use any heated drying method, because (again) you may deform/ruin the filter. While you may use a fan to expedite the process, I simply toweled off the excess water, and then let the filter sit for an hour or so. Have a beer or two to pass the time.
8. Re-oil the filter. The filter oil is tinted red for your convenience. Go LIGHTLY with the oil, applying it sparingly. You don't want your intake sucking gobs of filter oil into it! The bottle that holds the oil has an interesting applicator tip that allows you to dispense just a drop of oil at a time; do this, and run that tiny bit of oil up and down each fine individually. Work from one side to the other, and gently apply oil to each fin of the filter. Use the color of the oil to gauge where you missed oiling. Err on the side of caution here: you're NOT trying to get a shiny red coat of oil on the entire filter!
9. Allow the oil to set on the filter. Leave the filter to soak in the oil, for at least 20 minutes. Go have a beer or 3 while waiting.
10. Spot-treat the filter (if necessary - I didn't need this step). Review the filter fins, and make sure that there are no huge "white spots" that didn't receive oil. If you misssed any spots, apply the oil just to those spots rather than to the entire fin. Again, you want to err on the side of caution and not over-oil your filter! After spot-treating the filter, allow the oil to set for at least 20 minutes.
11. Remove excess oil. Use a good paper towel or shop cloth to remove any excess oil. Despite my careful re-oiling, there were some drips and accumulation of the red oil along the base of the filter that was facing downward.
12. Adjust the hose clamp postioning. I would recommend that you slightly adjust the hose clamp position, so that you're slightly "rotating" the filter each application, so that a different section of the filter is facing forward after the re-install.
13. Clean the cold air "chamber" that the filter sits in (I forgot to do this, and had to just reinstall and drive away, but I will do this the next time I'm under the hood. Now that you've cleaned the filter, why reinstall it inside a dirty air chamber that's just going to soil the filter quickly? Take a couple minutes to clean up the air chamber before reinstalling the filter.
14. Re-install the filter. This step couldn't be easier - simply seat the filter against the air tube, holding it in position as you tighten the hose clamp that secures it. Make sure that you tighten it enough to hold the filter firmly in place, but you don't need to tighten it to death here.
You're done! I hope that this is helpful to someone out there - please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about this, or the AIRAID CAI itself.
11-26-2007, 06:34 PM
#2
JK Enthusiast
After several serious off-road trips and 10K+ miles, I cleaned my AIRAID air filter for the first time. If you bought an AIRAID and have the "recharge" kit for the filter, you're probably thinking that the directions that come with the re-oiling kit are pretty idiot-proof, and this walkthrough is therefore superfluous.
Well, my filter was absolutely caked with mud and gunk in spots, from several water crossings and plenty of muddy wheeling. Therefore, I used my own modified method. I figured I'd share my own experience and tips, because my method worked phenomenally well. Unfortunately, I didn't snap pictures... but this is so simple you really don't need them! I'll try to take pics the next time that I do this.
Re-oiling an AIRAID Cold Air Intake air filter - alternate method. Total time, start to finish: <1.5 hours. Total "action" time: <25 minutes.
1. Remove your AIRAID filter. To do this, you'll simply use a flathead screwdriver to loosen the hose clamp that holds the conical filter in place.
2. Rinse the filter using warm water FROM THE INSIDE OUT (you want to push the dirt OUT, not deeper into the filter!). The conical filter is hollow, so you can simply hold the filter in your sink and run the tap into the inside of the filter, rotating the filter as necessary to rinse every fin.
3. Allow the filter to dry at least slightly, so that it's not completely saturated with water. I waited a few minutes, very gently blotted with a paper towel, and shook excess water out of the filter.
4. Apply the AIRAID cleaner / solvent spray. This stuff is not fun to breath in, so don't! I did this in my empty kitchen sink. You'll want to saturate the filter in this solvent (caution: it IS corrosive), then let it sit. Go heavy with this stuff: you really want to flush your filter well.
5. Wait at least 10 minutes to allow the solvent to dissolve the tiny particulate matter trapped inside the filter. I waited about 15 minutes, at which point my filter had a watery brown "ooze" flowing out of it.
6. Rinse the filter once more, again being sure to wash from the inside, outward, so as not to push any dirt into the filter. The instructions make it clear that you're not to use high-pressure, as this could damage the filter itself. I simply used my faucet sprayer with the tapwater turned to its hottest setting - worked like a champ.
7. Allow the filter to dry; this will take at least 30 minutes under most conditions. The instructions make it clear not to use any heated drying method, because (again) you may deform/ruin the filter. While you may use a fan to expedite the process, I simply toweled off the excess water, and then let the filter sit for an hour or so. Have a beer or two to pass the time.
8. Re-oil the filter. The filter oil is tinted red for your convenience. Go LIGHTLY with the oil, applying it sparingly. You don't want your intake sucking gobs of filter oil into it! The bottle that holds the oil has an interesting applicator tip that allows you to dispense just a drop of oil at a time; do this, and run that tiny bit of oil up and down each fine individually. Work from one side to the other, and gently apply oil to each fin of the filter. Use the color of the oil to gauge where you missed oiling. Err on the side of caution here: you're NOT trying to get a shiny red coat of oil on the entire filter!
9. Allow the oil to set on the filter. Leave the filter to soak in the oil, for at least 20 minutes. Go have a beer or 3 while waiting.
10. Spot-treat the filter (if necessary - I didn't need this step). Review the filter fins, and make sure that there are no huge "white spots" that didn't receive oil. If you misssed any spots, apply the oil just to those spots rather than to the entire fin. Again, you want to err on the side of caution and not over-oil your filter! After spot-treating the filter, allow the oil to set for at least 20 minutes.
11. Remove excess oil. Use a good paper towel or shop cloth to remove any excess oil. Despite my careful re-oiling, there were some drips and accumulation of the red oil along the base of the filter that was facing downward.
12. Adjust the hose clamp postioning. I would recommend that you slightly adjust the hose clamp position, so that you're slightly "rotating" the filter each application, so that a different section of the filter is facing forward after the re-install.
13. Clean the cold air "chamber" that the filter sits in (I forgot to do this, and had to just reinstall and drive away, but I will do this the next time I'm under the hood. Now that you've cleaned the filter, why reinstall it inside a dirty air chamber that's just going to soil the filter quickly? Take a couple minutes to clean up the air chamber before reinstalling the filter.
14. Re-install the filter. This step couldn't be easier - simply seat the filter against the air tube, holding it in position as you tighten the hose clamp that secures it. Make sure that you tighten it enough to hold the filter firmly in place, but you don't need to tighten it to death here.
You're done! I hope that this is helpful to someone out there - please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about this, or the AIRAID CAI itself.
Well, my filter was absolutely caked with mud and gunk in spots, from several water crossings and plenty of muddy wheeling. Therefore, I used my own modified method. I figured I'd share my own experience and tips, because my method worked phenomenally well. Unfortunately, I didn't snap pictures... but this is so simple you really don't need them! I'll try to take pics the next time that I do this.
Re-oiling an AIRAID Cold Air Intake air filter - alternate method. Total time, start to finish: <1.5 hours. Total "action" time: <25 minutes.
1. Remove your AIRAID filter. To do this, you'll simply use a flathead screwdriver to loosen the hose clamp that holds the conical filter in place.
2. Rinse the filter using warm water FROM THE INSIDE OUT (you want to push the dirt OUT, not deeper into the filter!). The conical filter is hollow, so you can simply hold the filter in your sink and run the tap into the inside of the filter, rotating the filter as necessary to rinse every fin.
3. Allow the filter to dry at least slightly, so that it's not completely saturated with water. I waited a few minutes, very gently blotted with a paper towel, and shook excess water out of the filter.
4. Apply the AIRAID cleaner / solvent spray. This stuff is not fun to breath in, so don't! I did this in my empty kitchen sink. You'll want to saturate the filter in this solvent (caution: it IS corrosive), then let it sit. Go heavy with this stuff: you really want to flush your filter well.
5. Wait at least 10 minutes to allow the solvent to dissolve the tiny particulate matter trapped inside the filter. I waited about 15 minutes, at which point my filter had a watery brown "ooze" flowing out of it.
6. Rinse the filter once more, again being sure to wash from the inside, outward, so as not to push any dirt into the filter. The instructions make it clear that you're not to use high-pressure, as this could damage the filter itself. I simply used my faucet sprayer with the tapwater turned to its hottest setting - worked like a champ.
7. Allow the filter to dry; this will take at least 30 minutes under most conditions. The instructions make it clear not to use any heated drying method, because (again) you may deform/ruin the filter. While you may use a fan to expedite the process, I simply toweled off the excess water, and then let the filter sit for an hour or so. Have a beer or two to pass the time.
8. Re-oil the filter. The filter oil is tinted red for your convenience. Go LIGHTLY with the oil, applying it sparingly. You don't want your intake sucking gobs of filter oil into it! The bottle that holds the oil has an interesting applicator tip that allows you to dispense just a drop of oil at a time; do this, and run that tiny bit of oil up and down each fine individually. Work from one side to the other, and gently apply oil to each fin of the filter. Use the color of the oil to gauge where you missed oiling. Err on the side of caution here: you're NOT trying to get a shiny red coat of oil on the entire filter!
9. Allow the oil to set on the filter. Leave the filter to soak in the oil, for at least 20 minutes. Go have a beer or 3 while waiting.
10. Spot-treat the filter (if necessary - I didn't need this step). Review the filter fins, and make sure that there are no huge "white spots" that didn't receive oil. If you misssed any spots, apply the oil just to those spots rather than to the entire fin. Again, you want to err on the side of caution and not over-oil your filter! After spot-treating the filter, allow the oil to set for at least 20 minutes.
11. Remove excess oil. Use a good paper towel or shop cloth to remove any excess oil. Despite my careful re-oiling, there were some drips and accumulation of the red oil along the base of the filter that was facing downward.
12. Adjust the hose clamp postioning. I would recommend that you slightly adjust the hose clamp position, so that you're slightly "rotating" the filter each application, so that a different section of the filter is facing forward after the re-install.
13. Clean the cold air "chamber" that the filter sits in (I forgot to do this, and had to just reinstall and drive away, but I will do this the next time I'm under the hood. Now that you've cleaned the filter, why reinstall it inside a dirty air chamber that's just going to soil the filter quickly? Take a couple minutes to clean up the air chamber before reinstalling the filter.
14. Re-install the filter. This step couldn't be easier - simply seat the filter against the air tube, holding it in position as you tighten the hose clamp that secures it. Make sure that you tighten it enough to hold the filter firmly in place, but you don't need to tighten it to death here.
You're done! I hope that this is helpful to someone out there - please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about this, or the AIRAID CAI itself.
Do you have to use the AirRaid oil? Or could you use wd-40 or some other light lub?
Before I get alot of lub answers I mean for the filter lmao
12-01-2007, 06:00 AM
#3
MJS
Have you thought about getting a Pre-filter for your Air-raid? I have placed pre-filters on my pick-ups and once I get a CAI for the Jeep I will be getting a pre-filter as well. The pre-filter is a great item, does not affect your performance and makes cleaning the oiled filters easier! Most pre-filters will run you around $15 and block most of the nasty silt particles from back roads that will cake onto the oiled filters.
Have you thought about getting a Pre-filter for your Air-raid? I have placed pre-filters on my pick-ups and once I get a CAI for the Jeep I will be getting a pre-filter as well. The pre-filter is a great item, does not affect your performance and makes cleaning the oiled filters easier! Most pre-filters will run you around $15 and block most of the nasty silt particles from back roads that will cake onto the oiled filters.
Last edited by RevyJKU08; 12-01-2007 at 06:02 AM.
12-01-2007, 06:01 AM
#4
12-03-2007, 06:27 AM
#6
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12-03-2007, 05:05 PM
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Maybe I'm just a weenie. But as I was spraying it on, I got a little wild with it and sprayed the back of my hand. I kept on going, thinking I'd wash it off when I was done. Well, I had to stop and wash it off because it was really starting to sting. It didn't leave a mark though. I was using the k&n brand but I think they are the same stuff. Normally mild corrosives don't bother me but that stuff either wasn't as mild as I though, or I'm not as tough as I used to be, lol.