alternative to foam filter oil & cleaner?

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my 'new to me' v star 250 has a foam air filter element; not really interested in buying uber expensive foam filter oil & cleaner (tightening my budget due to unpaid time off work); what are good alternatives for cleaning & oiling foam filters?
 
Chainsaw bar oil for the oil and Kerosene to clean it.

I do like the No-toil filter treatment system and it is one of the cheaper foam filter kits, if that is in your budget. The most expensive part about No-toil is the cleaner. The cleaner is said to be very similar to oxy-clean and oxy-clean is available cheap at Wal-Mart; so that could lower the cost a bit.
 
Never had one, but I think at least some of them were cleanable with kerosene and oilable with motor oil.

If you have an old one you could test to see if it falls apart.
 
Any solvent and any oil will do...but a non filter oil will be prone to dripping out the bottom. Any seam in the filter is the failure point, but they also just fall apart with age. Instructions for my Piaggio scooter are to wash in premix...which is a bit strange as it has an oil pump and doesn't run on premix, and at 50:1 there won't be much oil in the filter.
 
I am assuming you are comparing a K&N air filter to the stock paper filters. I checked on Amazon and the K&N Filter Care kit (cleaner and oil) is $13. I doubt you could get a paper filter cheaper than $13.
 
Originally Posted By: kmrcstintn
my 'new to me' v star 250 has a foam air filter element; not really interested in buying uber expensive foam filter oil & cleaner (tightening my budget due to unpaid time off work); what are good alternatives for cleaning & oiling foam filters?


I have ridden dirtbikes and atvs for 25 years, now into UTVs.. so i have cleaned and oiled many filters.

To clean- dawn and warm water. (simple green is good also but most people have dawn already).

To oil- Bel-Ray is one of the best and $6.99 should last you a couple of years.
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/932/4289/Bel-Ray-Foam-Air-Filter-Oil-Spray

You are lucky that you have a reusable foam filter and not a paper filter that you have to replace..
 
Originally Posted By: kmrcstintn
my 'new to me' v star 250 has a foam air filter element; not really interested in buying uber expensive foam filter oil & cleaner (tightening my budget due to unpaid time off work); what are good alternatives for cleaning & oiling foam filters?


Hmmm......I just did a quick price check on the filter, it's $9 at Partshark. Might be more economical simply replacing the thing rather than cleaning it, depending on how much the filter oil and cleaner cost and how much your time is worth to you.
 
14 Yamaha V Star 250


If there's a MAF sensor on the engine, make sure the oil on the filter does not get sucked onto the MAF or
it'll malfunction or set a code. If anything, oil the filter and squeeze out extra between paper towels, etc
 
Originally Posted By: Silk
Any solvent and any oil will do...but a non filter oil will be prone to dripping out the bottom. Any seam in the filter is the failure point, but they also just fall apart with age. Instructions for my Piaggio scooter are to wash in premix...which is a bit strange as it has an oil pump and doesn't run on premix, and at 50:1 there won't be much oil in the filter.


Thats pretty thin premix. If that's their specific recommendation I suppose it might be to avoid over-oiling, since most of the petrol will evaporate. Do they have you squeeze it, blot it or just drip/air dry?
 
Squeeze. Pointless as there will be hardly any oil. I forget what I did, but wasn't that. Engine oil...or I may have used some NoToil, but I don't like the stuff, so I doubt it. I might revisit the air filter over my holiday break, see how it looks after a year.
 
Hardly any oil might be about right. I'd think it'd take a while to dry though and if you put it on wet it'll tend to suck most of it into the engine
 
I had a look at my filter today, looks like I used engine oil...and it's pooled to the bottom of the filter. That's why I don't like to use engine oil. So I No-Toiled it.
 
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