In both my Land Rover and my Mercedes factory workshop manuals there are references to washing paper air filter elements.
This seems to me to be a good way to extend the service life of the element and reduce costs (and landfill).
Has anybody ever done this?
The LR Defender Tdi maintenance section says (only for elements not contaminated with oil or carbon deposits): soak the element for 15 to 60 mins in a solution of automatic washing machine detergent and water. Rinse in running water. Allow to dry naturally and dry fully before fitting. Do not attempt to clean a V8 air filter element. It must be renewed.
The Mercedes manual states: blow out with compressed air first, soak for 10 minutes at 40 degC in washing solution specified in Service Products Specification Sheet 370 (which I can't find). Rinse in washing solution for 5 minutes, rinse in clean water till no further dirt emerges, shake out water and dry at max 60 degC. This can be done a maximum of three times thus extending the change interval to 40,000 miles or 2 years (which ever comes first).
"Air filter elements without perforated metal covering are not to be cleaned, these must always be replaced."
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they are so cheap why bother?
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These are £20+ for a genuine part.
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This seems to be a peculiar false economy. In addition, I would have thought that items made of paper would turn to mush given this sort of treatment. At best I'm sure that their ability to filter out impurities would be impaired.
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Spray with carb cleaner and then hoover they become as good as new
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And yet the "factory workshop manuals" say this can be done...
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I think this is false economy in the extreme, you dont have to change air filters that often usually, and I would have said that if you try and 'wash' a paper air filter probably all you will achieve is the creation of a mud-like substance ingrained in the paper makin gthe filter more restrictive than before.
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For trucks which were in and out of quarrys and brick yards, we used to blow the filters out, and clean the filter housing every fortnight or so, but I've never done anything but replace the air filter elements in cars.
Number_Cruncher
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>I would have thought that items made of paper would turn to mush
Don't you think that both Land Rover and Mercedes would have tested this just a little bit before including 2 full pages in their workshop manuals ;-)
Of course, the term paper is a little confusing as it is not the same paper used in ereryday life, it is bonded wood pulp.
It must be a bone fide technique otherwise the manufacturer would not have included it.
Cotton items and delicate silk items (clothes) can be washed clean in a washing machine time and time again.
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One problem is surely that one has to wait several hours (at least) before the filter is ready (dry) to be refitted. So unless this is overnight (or similar) when you don't need the car you will need to purchase a second filter to enable the car to get back on the road.
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I have a washable K&N in the bike, it is cleaned with a solvent, washed and dried and the re-oiled.
I hear that the oil can interfere with MAFs etc though on modern cars.
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I hear that the oil can interfere with MAFs etc though on modern cars.
It certainly seems as though thre finger of blame has been pointed at this type of filter causing MAF problems on most diesels, which is logical, as MAF sensors cannot tolerate much dirt coating them.
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I have a washable K&N in the bike it is cleaned with a solvent washed and dried and the re-oiled. I hear that the oil can interfere with MAFs etc though on modern cars.
I have one similar to a K&N in my car; when I clean it its amazing the amount of black crud that comes out of it, which is then quite difficult to clean off the kitchen sink!
Mine cost £35 and is apparently "guaranteed for the life of the vehicle".
I've had this filter for over 45k miles and not had a problem with the MAF (I know some do), but then my MAF sensor gets cleaned twice a year. You have to try not to over-oil the filter before refitting.
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For £35 I can buy 4 paper filters which last 50,000 miles. And no cleaning!:-)
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>For £35 I can buy 4 paper filters
madf, I can get 10 for that price delivered but it doesn't help me, they won't fit my car ;-)
Potentially, spending a total of 10 minutes washing my filter with some soapy water saves £20 and saves a huge filter from landfill.
So far it seems, no one has even heard of this procedure :-)
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>Cotton items and delicate silk items (clothes) can be washed clean in a washing machine time and time again.
Which coincidentally brings us to an entry in old LR user manuals - the recommendation for washing clothes was to put them in a bag with water and soap and go for a good long drive. Anyone who has been in a LR would understand.
BIG
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What sort of Merc is this? In the workshop manual for my W124 it says to change the air filter element every 60,000km, or more frequently in dusty climates, and specifically not to clean it.
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I have not encountered washable paper elements and I wonder if there is some confusion.
Both MB and LR offered oil bath cleaners for some export markets - particularly when a diesel engine is fitted. The principle of these is that there is a small amount of oil in a "saucer" at the bottom of the filter housing over which the dirty air is passed. Above this is a cylinder of wire mesh which becomes sticky with the oil carried upwards by the airflow.
Maintenance of these (excellent) filters consists of washing out the element (usually in petrol or paraffin) and replacing the oil. These are still common on commercial diesels, but I've not seen one fitted to a small engine for years.
659.
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They used to fit those oil bath air cleaners to VWs and other cars for use in the Sahara 659. In the desert, with a lot of very fine dust sometimes quite thick in the air, the saucer used to get clogged with a sort of oil-and-dust cement or putty. You had to scoop it out, which wasn't as easy as you would expect, and put new oil in the thing.
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Goodness me you're a sceptical lot!
Bagpuss, the MB manual is for W460 and W463 (Cross Country Vehicle aka G-wagon) and it is on page 0950.10/4 of the Maintenance Manual.
659FBE, no confusion here, the manuals are right in front of me!
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It sounds like those are special reusable filters, not like the <£10 ones you get in most cars. I did read once that blowing the filters out with compressed air causes the filter to let through bigger particals, which is not good for the engine. It also said that after blowing it out, it will also clog up much easier, so there's not much point doing it.
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Purely in my personal experience, in typical UK driving conditions, changing air filters ahead of schedule is usually a false economy as they tend not to get THAT dirty.
However, I was shocked to see how much gravel, twigs, leaves, feathers, bits of plastic bag etc had gathered in my Passat B5.5 airbox after just 20K miles (filter change is 40K). Literally handfuls of crap.
But all it needed was to scoop / vacuum out the airbox and vac the filter gently.
On the Seat Cupra forums a member there found the cause of poor performance was a large piece of plastic bag that had been sucked into the airbox and had covered most of the air filter ....
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Craig, have you read this eye-opening 2002 thread from HJ about how car fires often start from discarded cigarettes ending up in air filter airboxes:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=67...4
Anyway, I try my original question over in technical :-)
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Lawnmowers have cleanable foam filters. Wash in water and then impregnate with oil.
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Purely in my personal experience in typical UK driving conditions changing air filters ahead of schedule is usually a false economy as they tend not to get THAT dirty.
My ones tend to get quite discoloured by the time they need replacing.
However I was shocked to see how much gravel twigs leaves feathers bits of plastic bag etc had gathered in my Passat B5.5 airbox after just 20K miles (filter change is 40K). Literally handfuls of crap.
I probably get one small leaf or feather every couple of years in mine.
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I would never clean such a filter, the risk of cross-contamination from the dirty side to the clean side is too great.
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Sadly, this has reared its head in a domestic sense. Mrs P wanted to wash the paper filter from her vacuum cleaner. I have made several dire predictions.
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