Do It Yourself Thread approved.

Correction in step 13. Plow air from behind the filter.

There's a rubber cover filling the gap around the filter cover opening [missing in the above snaps, I threw away mine ]. With that rubber thing in place, removing/refitting the filter cover was tricky.

Isnt it NOT recommended to use Vacuum Cleaners?
you have to use compressed air right?

this is indeed very helpfull.. but i guess u should vaccum the air filter from the other side(the mesh side).. i think thats what written in the manual.. dont know if people actually follow that..

seniors pls put some light on this..

Okay friends before this misleads, I have edited "vacuum" to blower, this feature exists in major vacuum cleaners and I have mentioned that the air should be blown from the mesh part. Hope now the DIY is perfect. I am still a novice so yes, seniors please throw some light ! Thank you

@deville_56 - Not only you, everyone chucks it off !

The air should always be blown from the cleaner side. household vacuum cleaners rarely have enough air pressure to dislodge dirt off the filter, I have even tried the blowers used by the domestic AC repair guys, but it is only slightly better than the vacuum cleaner. the filter is best taken to a puncture/ washing guy who has a high pressure air pump.

There apparently is a LOT of confusion regarding blowing of air through a paper element filter to clean it. Time to clarify things here.

Paper Element filters CANNOT be cleaned by merely blowing or sucking air through them. The paper element is cellulose paper that has loose fibres which provide a tortuously contorted path for the air to flow through. (Think of a dense forest of bushes that does not allow any straight-line movement through it all) Air molecules are a lot smaller than dust and also carry lesser inertia. So while air molecules can twist and turn and squeeze their way through the cellulose fibres, the accompanying dust cannot and it gets stuck between the fibres along the way. Blowing air through the filter in the reverse direction will not help. It might displace some surface dust as seen as the initial puff that arises when the blower air first hits the filter but the dust trapped inside the filter stays put. Force can reverse a linear path but no amount of pressure can make the particles twist and turn out of the maze of fibres they are stuck in. The very randomness of the pattern that caught them on the way to the engine now holds them fast.

Tapping the filter body on a hard surface will loosen SOME of the dust and will probably make you feel better but the only real way of getting back the flow is to replace the paper filter with a NEW one.

PS: If you still want to 'clean' the filter by blowing air through it, do it from the engine side or the cleaner side. Though I repeat, you cannot clean a paper filter element in any way.

old fox sir then in that case do you think that the foam type air filter might have any kind of advantages due to a lot of factors & since it can be cleaned by using petrol. But we cannot use the same method while cleaning the paper air filter.


What are the pros & cons of a foam air filter & a paper air filter??

BTW wouldnt replacing of the filter be a costlier solution??

Madhav: All said and done, there's nothing better than a Paper Element filter for engine air intakes and even for oil filtration for that matter. But as it happens, the paper filter needs to be replaced and is not re-usable. Replacement is usually costly.Thats where the sponge-with-oil carries its advantage. For a small decrease in filtering efficiency (both in allowing the really small particulate matter to get through and a slightly increased restriction to free breathing), the sponge filter is re-usable, works well even if wet and can be kept in a better state of maintenance as it doesn't cost much to clean it in monetary terms. For everyday use, if the paper element filter is too costly to replace, using a sponge-with-oil element suitably rigged would work just as well and at a far lower cost.

can you please elaborate on the sponge-with-oil thing... is it a type of filter and how can it be used in fz??

Check the 'Air Filter Cleaning Of Pulsar' thread below at similar threads.
Yes it is a type of air filter that comes in Pulsar. The oil applied in the sponge attracts the dusts from the air. I have cleaned it many times. Good for practical use, dusty conditions since it is not necessary to replace it each and every time. Very much re usable.
I dont know whether it can be used in fz...

can the paper filter in FZ be replaced by the sponge with oil filter as seen in pulsar?

Hi,

I had changed my bikes original filter with an sponge filter.
I didnt notice any major change except that a sponge used is much economical & easy to maintain.

If you want to replace you original filter with a sponge :
Remove the filter from the air filter box.
Cut all the yellow paper from the filter, but leave the netted mesh at the bottom.
Buy a foam from any two wheeler shop and cut it exactly the size which will fit in the paper removed area.
Before putting in the sponge, make sure you soak the sponge in little oil and then put it back in and you are good to go.

One thins i would like to know from seniors/experts, will changing the FZ's existing paper filter to a foam filter hamper the engine on the long run....

Re: Cleaning air filter of fz

The pictures in the DIY no longer show up. Can the moderators bring it back or point to some other DIY for FZ-S?