How to clean a paper air filter?

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I know a lot of you guys will say that I should not clean one. The problem is that I am only getting a few weeks use out of a new air filter before it gets restrictive. They get so restricted that my truck blows black smoke and power,acceleration goes down.In the past I have blown out a filter that's only been in service a few weeks and got a huge amount of dirt and dust out of it. After I blew it out I reset my restriction gauge and it was good again for a few weeks again.

A K&N is not an option for me.
 
Who says not to clean them? I take them out and beat them on the ground to get all the lose dirt out. makes them last longer with no damage.
 
^ I would do the same as above and then vacuum them out with a shop vac. I did a uoa and the silicon level was kind of high. So vac'd the filter and did another uoa. The silicon reading went down 10 ppm. Then I just replaced it at that point. I forget how many miles were on the filter but it was ready to be changed.

Fram or oem filters are good. But there's a lot of junk air filters out there that I've seen from major brands.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimzz
Who says not to clean them? I take them out and beat them on the ground to get all the lose dirt out. makes them last longer with no damage.


+1. Chris do you have any pics of the filter before cleaning?

Maybe it's a good idea to keep a second "Clean" filter for quick swaps. Once swapped out you can clean it within the first week before it gets dirty again.
 
If you intend on cleaning it you should get a filter that is designed for that. I think K&Ns are dry filters now along with the AEM dryflow

If you want to use paper air filers I see nothing wrong with that other than you might tear them eventually.
 
Give it a whack then use a vacuum with a brush attachment. Not super dusty where I live but I do that every so often to knock the bugs and sand out.

Is the air box a standard design where air comes in the bottom and flows up through the filter?
 
Good or bad, the farmers and the shops where I grew up used to blow out filters with an air chuck.

Maybe you could use a pre-filter to extend the time between cleanings. I just checked "air filter wraps and prefilters" on Summit Racing and found the old-school foam wrap for round air cleaners, as well as rectangular pieces of bulk foam and polyester socks in different sizes. I don't know how much dirt the socks would stop, but you might be able to fit one on the inlet of a modern airbox.

Edit: posted at the same time as earlyre. I was also going to suggest a guy could get him some pantyhose to do the same thing as the sock from the go-fast place.
 
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Originally Posted By: VeryNoisyPoet
Give it a whack then use a vacuum with a brush attachment. Not super dusty where I live but I do that every so often to knock the bugs and sand out.

Is the air box a standard design where air comes in the bottom and flows up through the filter?
No. Old school with a round lid and a wingnut.
 
Can you put pant hose over the inlet tube?

I wonder if you have room to rig up and add an additional box. The box from the TJ should be narrow enough.
 
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Originally Posted By: Chris142
No. Old school with a round lid and a wingnut.


That's part of your problem, and also why knocking dirt loose and hitting it with a vacuum will do a lot of good for extending filter life.

Air box designs that have the air flow upwards into the filter allow heavy large particles to fall back down off the pleats. Similar to how a bagless vacuum uses changing air direction and gravity to extract dirt from air. Even after just a couple thousand miles there's a layer of dust and sand in the bottom of my air box, but the filter itself stays relatively clean.

If you have room in the engine bay, you could possibly make a pre filter box using pantyhose or other fine mesh as the filter and the upwards flow path to keep the large stuff off the main filter.

 
Originally Posted By: earlyre
put some sort of prefilter over the actual air intake? oiled foam, or a pantyhose? like an OPE engine..


I think this is the best way to go. Probably best to use foam but don't think it needs to be oiled. You want something you can remove, wash and reuse.
 
Compressed air at close range tends to badly compromise effectiveness of the filter, even if you can't see an obvious hole. Vacuuming from the dirty side works, and is safer. Work upwind of the vacuum cleaner's exhaust.
 
If you craft a "pre-box" for your system, as drawn by VeryNoiseyPoet try to "make the box bigger" just above where the red dotted line is drawn.

This will cause the incoming air to drop in velocity which in turn causes the vast majority of particles to fall out. This is what happens in today's box designs.

Do remember, you can tap away and vacuum all you want but the finest dirt gets INTO the filter and diminishes its usefulness.

Even if you wash a paper filter with soap and water you still won't get the finest stuff out.

Sounds like you're driving in choking dust conditions. Also sounds like you're OK with frequent element changing....so give the suck-tap and wash (let dry) method a shot.
 
See if you can find a NOS Fram Synwash air filter for your truck. You can wash it 20x

Part number starts with WA or LLA (for example LLA9345 or WA9345)
 
You need those foam covered ones-I use Baldwin & Purolator on the F-450 in my sig. When they get dirty, you can peel off the foam & wash it, & even glue it back on. Or pitch it & run it until the paper one starts to clog. Must be dusty out there in the high desert-but I would take it if it meant NO MORE RUST!!!
 
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