1. Kerosene is a better cutting-solvent for the old oil and dirt trapped in the foam than diesel while still having high enough flash-point to be non-flammable . You can use diesel in a pinch but it's not the right thing for the job .
2. Don't even think about the brake fluid , it's corrosive ... never use it for any lubrication purpose . You can use 90 weight gear oil or fresh motor-oil (20w40/20w50/straight-40 ) you may have .

Thank you so much Pinaki....actually i heard that kerosene can reduce life of the air filter..thats y asked that...
Thanx for your advice...

I use just a solution of soap and water (Water + Tide + Vim) to clean the air filter. No Kerosene/Diesel and stuff. Soak for 10 minutes and squeeze everything out. Tide cleans the dirt and Vim cleans the oil. Then clean it again with plain water to get rid of the soap. Squeeze gently to dry slightly and then keep to dry the filter in a clean place (like on the dashboard of a car parked under the sun) so it dries out within 1.5-2 hours. In this condition, the filter is ready to be carried as a spare on a long ride.

Oil the filter before installation when you want to use it (I used chain lube, the only oil I had with me at the time). I changed mine ~4400km into my Leh ride ride. Carried it un-oiled all the while.

why to put extra effort in purchasing diesel/kerosene or try something like tide+vim (never seen this), when we already have petrol in fuel tank.

is petrol bad, or kerosene/deisel/tide+vim any better..??

Petrol is a good solvent but it has a very low flash point. Any sparks near your working environment could have catastrophic effects.

I got the idea of using soap and water solution after watching this video:



Since I didn't have all the fancy stuff that this guy used, I improvised .

Re: TVS Apache RTR 150/160/180 Air Filter Cleaning

Can you please tell me if we change the air filter then also some oil should be added to it ? If yes it should be added seperately to small filter inside the bigger one ?