rahul9985

Introduction:

One of the most irritating things on the digital cockpit of a Pulsar is a flashing icon of the air filter which also becomes really embarrasing when our friends ask if the bike has not been serviced for a long time.


The purpose of the air filter is to filter the air from dust & any stray particles that may damage the engine internals. An air filter over a period of bike’s usage gets clogged with dust. It decreases the air flow & makes the bike run slightly on the richer side thereby decreasing the fuel economy & affecting the performance negatively. Hence it is recommended to clean it regularly. More so when the bike is subjected to riding in dusty conditions.

This is a detailed post of the process of cleaning the foam type air filter at home for the DIY enthusiast. During the process of cleaning the hands will get dirty. If the job is done carelessly one may end up throwing kerosene or diesel on his clothes as well. Happy cleaning.

Tools required:

1. 8mm T-Spanner
2. Air blower

Cleaning Agents required:

1. Kerosene
2. Diesel
3. Petrol
4. WD40 (if available but not a must)

Procedure:

• Keep the bike on center stand.

• Open the RH side cover for the new Pulsars. (The older ones have it on the LH side)

• Open the 4 bolts (encircled in the picture) of the air filter cover using a 8mm T-Spanner & pull it out.

• Pull out the dirty air filter by holding it at the protrusion provided at the lower bottom.

• Pull out the black colored support frame from inside the air filter.

• Also pull out the mesh which faces the engine side. Keep them on a surface away from dust or sand preferably on a clean paper.

• Take Kerosene & Diesel in two separate bowls/vessels if u have any. Dip the air filter in Kerosene & then in Diesel. In my case I don’t have either of them. So I prefer to spray Kerosene & Diesel heavily on it & continue with the cleaning process.

• Now fold the air filter from the middle & gently rub it thoroughly. Now squeeze it completely till all the dirty liquid (either Kerosene or Diesel with the dust) drips down. Check for proper cleaning of the filter & repeat the same process if required.

• After cleaning it thoroughly gently squeeze the air filter using both your hands. Caution: Do not twist & squeeze the foam air filter as it will damage it.

• Now blow air all over the air filter using a air blower so that all the remnants of Kerosene & Diesel are removed from it. In my case I don’t have a blower. Hence I tap the air filter on my palm for sometime so that all the Kerosene & Diesel comes out. Keep the air filter aside on the clean paper.

• Now spray Petrol on the black colored support frame of the air filter & the mesh & rub over it using your fingers & tap it gently on the palm to clean it. Then place them on clean paper.
  

• Now take the air filter & pour a few drops of oil on the yellow side of it. Preferably use engine oil (any grade will work) as it is used by all the service centers. This is used so that the dust & the particles in the air stick to the air filter easily.

• I personally use SAE90 gear oil as it is more viscous than engine oil & hence the dust sticks better to it. Now gently squeeze the air filter so that the oil spreads evenly on the foam.

• Now spray WD40 on the air filter sensor so that if any dust or oil is deposited, it gets cleaned. This is basically to clean the air filter sensor due to which the air filter icon starts blinking. This step is not a must & incase of non-availability of WD40 this step can be skipped. I don’t have WD40 right now. Hence I have skipped it.
  

• An alternative for the above step can be to spray petrol inside the air filter box so that all the dust which has accumulated drips down with the petrol. Sorry iam not able to take a pic of the interior the air filter box.
  

• Next Put the mesh back into the air filter box. The round notches should face outside. When completely in they should lock into the slot provided for it.
  

• Now gently push the air filter back into the air filter box with the white side facing the engine & yellow side facing the outside air. Make sure the protrusion which is used to pull out the air filter is on the lower side.

• Close the air filter cover & tighten the 4 bolts using the 8mm T-Spanner. Do not over-tighten them as their treads may slip. Make sure the direction reference notch is at the lower side of the air filter box.

• Fit the RH side cover back.

• Switch the bike on, let it idle for a minute & Tada the air filter icon flashes no more!

Precautions:

1. Never turn on the bike without the air filter. Foreign particles can enter into the chamber & damage the engine internals.
2. Don’t let any dust enter the air filter box when it is open.
3. Handle the air filter with care. Don’t twist it unnecessarily. Squeeze it gently using both hands.
4. Make sure u do not use petrol or WD40 for cleaning the air filter. Petrol & WD40 are chemically more reactive & will damage the foam filter by breaking it down thereby reducing its life & adversely affecting the filtering efficiency. Use either Kerosene or Diesel which are relatively less reactive.
5. Make sure u don’t dip the foam in water. Incase dropped in water let it dry completely for ample amount of time under the sun.
6. Store the fuels in a safe place away from sunlight or any other source of heat.
7. Make sure u have a vessel of proper size to collect the dirty fuel dripping down. In my case i have used my backyard where my bike is washed.
   

Note: This is a generalized procedure & is not totally specific to the Pulsar series. The same with minor modifications wherever required is applicable to any bike which has a foam type air filter.

I have tried to make this as simple as possible so that even a layman can do it easily. However if there is still any kind of confusion please feel free to ask here.

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Aryan

DIY Thread Approved.

Wonderfully detailed with pictures and text. Thanks for sharing this. It would help many a people here, I am sure.

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coolboy007

Rahul,
Thats a wondefully written DIY, i have some queries which i will post below but first a special thanks to you, i kept pestering you but finally a brilliant thread is up here.

Query time now:
1. I dont have a 8mm T spanner right now (will get that shortly), last time i opened the air filter box i did that using a plier and it was comfy to do so but time consuming. Will the plier damage those nuts?

2. In the cleaning DIY, you squeezed that foam filter hard to remove dust along with kerosene but in caution you mentioned that ":Caution: Do not twist & squeeze the foam air filter as it will damage it.", am a bit confused here.

3. I have a small vaccuum cleaner cum reverse vaccuum funtion (blower) with it, will it work or i have to tap it on my hands? Cant we spray Kerosene on black mesh filters too?

Today i got 2nd service done and he adjusted CO alongwith cleaning of air filters (last cleaning done 1500 kms back), theres a lot of diff in how smoothly my bike behaves now, is cleaning air filter that important?

Whats the cost of this entire air filter kit (Foam one)?
Thanks, a lot of Q's from my side though so double thanks

rahul9985

Thanks & sorry for taking so much time..

You can do it with a plier as well but incase the teeth slip over the bolts, it would damage its head & in the worst case u might not be able to remove it with a T-spanner as well.

There is a difference between 'squeezing' & 'twisting & squeezing'. The latter may tear the foam filter. Just fold it & squeeze it hard. Do not twist it & squeeze like clothes when washed with hands.

Yes u can use the blower function of the vacuum cleaner.
Kerosene is more viscous (to be precise oily) than petrol. Also it is comparatively less volatile. So getting rid of the remnants of the dirty kerosene consumes more time. Not only this removing it fully isnt possible. When the bike is turned on after fitting the air filter back, it can also enter the engine from the intake alongwith air & Iam sure u wouldnt want kerosene or Diesel burning in your chamber which would deposit soot wherever possible. Whereas petrol evaporates instantly & even if it enters your engine it wont harm it.

Yes air filter cleaning is a very important ritual just like engine oil change. Fresh engine oil & a clean air filter instantly changes the behavior of the engine. I was actually wondering if i was riding my bike after the cleaning process.
A dirty air filter would restrict the air flow to some extent thereby effectively changing the tune of the engine. Over a prolonged period of usage the air entering from the intake may also consist of dust trapped in the filter.
It should be cleaned once 1500-2000 kms. More frequently if the riding conditions are dusty. My riding conditions are very very dusty & i happen to clean it every 300-400kms atmost.

The air filter kit consists of the foam type air filter & the black colored frame. It costs around Rs 90 & is advisable to replace every 10000 kms.

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Old Fox

Nice and well-presented DIY there Rahul.

Couple of procedural details that need rectification though.

1. No need for both Kerosene AND Diesel. Kerosene in fact is preferable as it is a better solvent of deposited waxes and other heavier residues.
WD-40 can damage the foam structure as you've mentioned in the 'precautions' but petrol is not a problem with foams. It is the volatility of petrol which makes it a major fire hazard that its use for such purpose is discouraged.

2. Avoid SPRAYING petrol at all costs. Spraying is about atomizing petrol and such fine droplets are some 10 times more flammable than liquid petrol. Even a mobile phone ringing and attended to in this finely dispersed cloud of petrol vapor will ignite it and the consequences can be disastrous. The filter-retaining wire mesh can also be cleaned with kerosene and the excess dabbed away with a couple of absorbent face tissues.

3. 90 weight oil is NOT the right choice for coating the filter. The oil here needs to be just viscous enough for it to spread well and evenly to the inner-most cells of the foam. 90 grade oil is too viscous for this and no amount of spirited squeezing will make it spread evenly till the core of the foam. And you cannot visually ascertain whether the oil is spread evenly till the inside. The ideal choice would be 2T oil but 20W40 would also suffice. 2T oil is light enough to spread easily and uniformly and 'oily' enough to make dust particles adhere to it.

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indian07_blood

Nice Rahul...Thanks For sharing the piece with guys like me who likes DIY a lot and hates a mechanic touching and twisting things on my machine ..lol..Thanks again


1. Kerosene alone is used in PBK svc, Is it good enough to clean it?
2. Is that why there is signs of "DO NOT USE MOBILES " in petrol pumps??...I always wondered why they put it and my queries to petrol pump guys and friends were not satisfactory
3. Can we just use sae90 and spread it uniformly on the surface of the filter?






How often should we clean it or change it to a new one?....

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rahul9985

Thanks for the kind words & rectification.

I was advised by the service engineer here not to use petrol. Itseems the foam used in P200 & P220's is a lightweight higher quality one. Hence not advised to use petrol as it would break it down soon. However i have myself used petrol many times & i havent found any difference in the total life of the filter.

Thanks for the critical correction Sir.

The reason for me to shift to 90 weight oil was that when i used 2T oil i never found the air filter dirty even after 2000 kms. But when i tried 90 weight oil the air filter needed frequent cleaning & was comparatively much more dirty. But still the correction taken positively.

[QUOTE=indian07_blood;379603]Nice Rahul...Thanks For sharing the piece with guys like me who likes DIY a lot and hates a mechanic touching and twisting things on my machine ..lol..Thanks again
You are welcome.

[QUOTE=indian07_blood;379603]
OF Sir has suggested not to use sae90 as it is heavier & wouldnt spread evenly.

It should be cleaned every 1500-2000 kms in normal conditions & much more frequently in dusty riding conditions or whenever the air filter icon starts flashing.

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Old Fox

The filter appeared dirtier when you were using 90 weight oil since almost all the filtering was happening at or very close to the top surface of the foam where most of the oil was. The viscous 90 weight oil didn't go deeper. If you'd looked closer, most of the dirt would be on the air-box side and very little on the engine side. And if you'd cut up the dirty foam (don't waste a perfectly good filter just for that though ), you would find the core area to be pretty clean. With a less viscous oil the filtering would occur right through the thickness of the foam.

Another effect of a thicker oil is that since most of the filtering is done at the surface, it clogs up sooner and starts acting as a hindrance to the airflow. So in effect, you have a shorter service life of the filter before it needs cleaning again.

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jd666

i would also like to add, that some form of oil/sealant is advised on the filter cover ( the cover panel that gets removed). I read the same in the ninja's service manual, and a similar type of filter is used on the 220. Its probably to ensure a proper seal and make sure no air/dust enters from the sides of the cover.

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Andante

I would like to raise awareness about one thing. In the pictures for this DIY procedure, we see the topic starter handling kerosene, diesel and petrol with his bare hands. All of these fluids contain substances that can penetrate the skin and cause irritation or worse.

See also MSDS sheets: Kerosene, Diesel, Petrol

So please do not handle any of these fuels with your bare hands!