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Can't keep air filter clean

1K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  happytech 
#1 ·
I'm doing some general maintenance and trying to track down a racing idle (when hot). I've just checked my air filter after about 3,000 miles.

I pulled the filter and it was not only dirty, but greasy and grimy. I know that the air filter is there to protect the engine.

I wish there was another way I could make an air inlet for the air box - a way to run a tube from somewhere else. With the design as it is on the K9, the open end of the air box inlet is only a few inches off the pavement so any junk down there will be drawn up in to the air filter.

Has anyone ever experimented with creating a different air intake source? I'm almost tempted to get one of those old flexible tubes they used to use for hot air intakes, cut a hole in the airbox and then run that tube up under the seat behind the little grill area or have it exit at the front of the bike.
 
#2 ·
Trust me, don't mess with it! The intake is there for a reason and mostly to avoid too much moisture ingression into the filter/box, and it is part of a tuned induction system. If you move it you may end up with more moisture getting into the airbox and may end up altering the air pressure inside the box. You may get less performance. Whilst I'm no expert, this is a particular specialism of mine in engine development so I have some idea of the problems this can cause if you get it wrong. Suzi got it about right!
 
#4 ·
"Greasy and grimy"
I don't know where grease and grime would come from except in the engine, Is there a breather hose of some sort that leads to the air filter? I am not familiar with the inner workings of the mighty 400cc lump of aluminum in the Burgman except that I finally figured out how to R&R the air cleaner in 5 minutes.
(Aside: my mom had a beloved Buick Skylark X-car. It would contaminate the air cleaner in as few as 3000 miles. Wicked bad blow-by. Poor thing was crying for new rings, or valve seals. Oh thank god she got rid of it.)
 
#5 ·
BTW I made a "Hugger" from a scrap piece of aluminum sheet, it fills in the area between the frame and bodywork nicely. Will post pix one of these days.
 
#6 · (Edited)
mike1nw, I'm looking forward to the pics.

As to blowby, I don't know. I don't see any oil issues (no oil usage and yes, I drive it on enough highway miles to burn off any condensation in the crankcase). Being the previous owner of a K5-400 (an oil blower), I never had an air filter problem with that one. It's only been the K9 with the pickup just off the pavement.

I think it's how they do the streets around here in the tri-city area. When I would do highway trips, I never, in many thousands of miles, had a filter filth up on me like this. I had an OEM once that got so bad that it gave me fits (horrible mileage and fouled a plug). It didn't get dirty on a 5,000 mile trip, but a few thousand miles of driving around here - almost totally blocked.

So, Mike1nw, send me some pics of this fabrication job.

PS: I looked at the pic shown in the link referenced above. At least in his dirty air filter, you can still see some pink. On mine, the entire air intake side was basically black.
 
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