FranklySpeaking

I have a Pulsar Classic. Is it anywhere mentioned in the manual that we should apply 20W40 on the filter after cleaning it? I have always wondered about this every time I went to the mechanic to get the bike serviced.

At one end, we are running towards free flow air filters and on the second we are even clogging the foam filters with the application of oil?

My Pulsar is more than 7 years old now and the air filter is regularly cleaned and oil applied, does the filter need to be changed if there is no visible damage to it? It has never been changed all this while.

bala_racing

Same for my case. They dont bother about that...we cannot expect them to bring kerosene/diesel for us.

GinsBabu

Hi,

Very good DIY.

One quick note - you have specified in the article to clean the sensor.How we do that?

Also hats off to you...i did this for my pulsar...

__________________
Babz,
Muvattupuzha.

FranklySpeaking

Guys, can someone tell me what the company-recommended way of cleaning the air filter is? Do we really need to apply 'engine oil' on the foam after cleaning it with diesel/kerosene. I understand that it helps catching the dust better, but then it also reduces the flow of air to a great extent.

I am asking this because I have bought a new foam-type air filter today and will be changing tomorrow myself. Shall I apply oil, because I am taking it to Ladakh and the bike will eventually be gasping for air. There is a compromise in applying the oil, that is why the question.

If company wanted us to apply oil on filters, why do they themselves give us dry filters and not filters soaked with oil?

PS: My mechanic has been cleaning the filter with petrol and applying oil all these years. Now, I am changing the filter just for peace of mind.

Rookie Biker

Rahul u r a god for me ..i had seen the service center mechanic handle my bikes pulsar 150 cc air filter during service center before reading this post and i knew something was not right... man u shared a grt info with detailed pics .. must have taken a lot of efforts for you to do so..
i'm very happy to see these thread as it is very helpful and i can do things the way i like it.. thanks a again

oh !! thanks to oldfox..man if rahul did the HARD WORK u surely toped it up with some very very helpful info..

1 q's though thus the 150cc pulsar 2010 model has a air filter sensor also as i did not see the mechanic clean that..

harish_gkumar

As per almost all bikes manuals , we have to soak the entire filter in oil and squeeze out the excess. In kerala I think almost all local mechanics use petrol to clean the foam filter. They are so lazy that they put some oil on the top of the filter and will not check the oil is spread evenly.

enfro

The best oil to apply, as OF said, is the 2T oil. It will never be mentioned in any manual "that we should apply 20W40 on the filter after cleaning it."
Second, by applying we are not CLOGGING the filter. Thought the air flow is restricted but it is negligible if proper quantity of oil is applied. Infact by doing this we are helping the filter in doing its job more efficiently.

You can keep it for long but its good if you change it periodically. Like for P220 I get a new filter after 15-18K kms. After all it does not costs me a fortune and is easy to install too.

Didnt get you? We are not cleaning the sensor. We are just cleaning the filter so that sensor does not cause the warning icon to blink.

Answered

If you check the filter once you get your bike back from service station, you will find oil applied on it. They do not give bikes with dry filters

Petrol is very hard on such thing. It will shorten the foam's life

my1000cc

Thank you so much, all these days whenever I cleaned the air filter I used petrol to wash the foam

I also noticed that even some mechanics do the same! and they take out at least 250ml of petrol from the tank and they do the cleaning.
Although they dont use all the petrol they take out, they sometimes just spray it into the air filter chamber.

I will use kerosene from now on, Thanks once again.