Does the OEM air filter suck?

[KMW]

Curious if anyone has found the OEM air filter to suck. I just pulled mine at just over 9000 miles, and found the clean side of my airbox covered in fine dust. And when I blow on the dirty side of the filter, you can see dust just blowing right through the filter.

In all my cars, trucks, motorcycles, lawnmowers, chainsaws, etc, I've never seen this much dust accumulation on the clean side of my air filters.

Other than my half mile gravel driveway, which I never get over idle in 1st gear on, I have never ridden the bike on any gravel or dirt roads at all.

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[FJRoss]

Never found the inside of the airbox to be very dusty. Maybe you got a bad filter. Or it wasn't installed correctly.

[KMW]

That could be. This was the first time it's been out, unless the dealer took it out on the first service. Airbox lid was tight, and the way it slides over the horn on the intake cover, I'm not sure how one could get it in wrong.

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[bill lumberg]

I’ve found the OEM filters to work very well. The hifiltro equivalents work well too.

[KMW]

I just ordered a Hiflotro filter. I'm thinking I might try putting some grease on the foam rings on the ends of the filter. Maybe some dust is working its way through the foam.

Although just blowing air down the center of the filter, there was dust blowing off the clean side/outside of the filter. As though it was just going right through it.

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[bill lumberg]

You can’t go wrong with either. Neither one is going to pass anything of concern unless it’s been cut or displaced.

[raYzerman]

Interesting, but I've never seen that much dust from the OEM filter. You may be able to force dust through one with high pressure air, but I usually clean it from the opposite to normal flow direction.
I used to be skeptical about K&N filters, which are a cotton filter trapped between metal and pleated. When I got my VFR with a K&N, it was quite obviously overdue for service as it was caked on the intake side, engine side was totally clean, nothing in the airbox at all. Impressive. My other Honda also came with a K&N, and it was clean as the bike has low mileage and I know the PO took care of it. So, no more worries about K&N.

[ionbeam]

My air filter seems to take out particles just fine.



I haven't seen the kind of dust the OP shows. Plastic can take on a static electricity charge and it really makes dust stick and collect. In a very dry environment it wouldn't surprise me to see dust like that stuck to the air box. Frankly, that isn't a bad thing, having a secondary dust trap.

I have used K&N filters on several cars, initially they provide minimal filtering. It isn't until the filter starts to clog with dirt that the filtration level goes up. If the OP is concerned with dust and dirt infiltration a K&N is not for them. Older cars used to have an oil bath type filter with oil poured into the filter.

FWIW, if the dust collection in the air box is caused by static electricity and it bothers the OP; go the the grocery store (after lock-down is over) and get a can of laundry anti-static spray and spritz the inside of the air box. Voilà, no more stuck dust. Where do you think that missing dust went?

...Other than my half mile gravel driveway...

I think dust is gonna be part of your motorcycle's life. You need to ping dcarver who lives at the end of a very long dirt road and see what his experience is with dust.

[Hppants]

Does the OEM air filter "suck"? Why yes, it does. Like all air filters, air is allowed to be "sucked" through it. Otherwise, the internal combustion engine cannot work, and to tell the truth, there is only so much fun one can have sitting on the bike in the shop making "v-room v-room" noises.

(feeling a little playful this morning, forgive me....)

I've never taken the air box off an FJR and examine the throttle bodies for cleanliness. But I do know that in about 150,000 miles of riding FJRs, I've never had a ride ability issue indicative of having dirt in the induction system. Further as Ray mentioned, if you blow high enough air pressure through any pleated air filter, dirt will get through it. I do clean my air filter about every 10K miles, but I blow low pressure (about 30 psi) air in the reverse direction of the normal flow.

Still further, I would offer that your short and slow gravel/dirt stint for each ride is in fact contributing to your condition. I've followed other riders into the campground and other situations where we are riding slow on gravel/dirt. If it's dry, trust me - you are stirring up crap, and based on the location of the intake, that crap is absolutely getting sucked in. Not saying that is a deal breaking issue, the filter is doing it's job. Just make sure that your filter is sealed well into the box (film of grease is a great idea), and perhaps clean it out (reverse blow job) at every oil change. I replaced my air filter at 50K, just because I wanted to and I had one in my shop that I bought for my Gen 1 bike, and never used. You may want to replace yours every 25-35K. But I wouldn't buy an aftermarket filter. The bike just runs too dam good in OEM form - no point in throwing curves to the ECU.

Just my $0.02 worth. Money back guarantee if not satisfied.

[raYzerman]

Dust per se isn't that big a problem, you of course want to keep the big chunky stuff out. I'm not sure what microns these filter down to, but fine enough such that it blows on right through, doesn't accumulate anywhere, you should be more concerned about riding like grandma and carboning the intake valves and pistons up. No harm in riding an FJR like you stole it, you can't really hurt it.

[raesewell]

Air filter do suck, that's what they are supposed to do