A little reminder to clean your filter!

spent my friday evening washing my filter. here are some pics...
second last pic is before the filter was re-oiled. last pic is just before i installed the filter back into the car, after oiling...

oh and in case you guys were wondering, this filter had a little more than 10k kms of mileage on it.

Interesting, had no idea it got that dirty that fast. Ima clean mine this weekend. Thanks!!!!

I too just cleaned mine recently after it had been on for about 5k miles, and I must say that it was pretty dirty.

Maybe that's why my M felt so slow lately.

Wow I have to check mine as well.

Is that the stock filter?

KANdaddy wrote

Is that the stock filter?

no

stock is one time use

How do you get to the air filter?

New_m3 wrote

How do you get to the air filter?

Air Filter DIY

I did a clean with most every oil change to keep it fresh

I guess this is where the advantage of having a dry filter like AFE DryS comes in handy
No re-oiling involved just soap and water and dry it.

KANdaddy wrote

Is that the stock filter?

its a Macht Schnell air filter. you cant clean and re-use the stock air filter.

Panda///Monic wrote

I did a clean with most every oil change to keep it fresh

I guess this is where the advantage of having a dry filter like AFE DryS comes in handy
No re-oiling involved just soap and water and dry it.

youre right, it did take me about half an hour just to evenly oil the entire filter and allow it to soak through the filter media.

That's awesome - filter is doing its job.

Wow! I just cleaned my oem filter at 10K and it had a couple small leaves in there but no dirt or discoloration like that. I didnt think Montreal was that dirty a city!

That is pretty dirty.

Subw00er wrote

Wow! I just cleaned my oem filter at 10K and it had a couple small leaves in there but no dirt or discoloration like that. I didnt think Montreal was that dirty a city!

hahah it was the opposite for me. i didnt find any leaves. just one or two small bugs but there was a lot of dirt on the filter.

did you notice a difference in response or performance after the cleaning?

ADubM3 wrote

did you notice a difference in response or performance after the cleaning?

didnt notice a huge change in engine response but it definitely feels good to have the filter clean again and not filthy like before... kind of like when you change your engine oil.

oh but one thing that shocked me is how much air filter oil you need to even oil this beast of a filter.. i had previous cars before that use only about 1/4 of the amt of oil i used this time. the numerous pleats and large filter size soaked up a lot of oil.

I'm on my 3rd Air Filter. i pulled the stock one off at 5K and it was filthy it went straight to the trash. installed AA air filter i kept in till 15K but i cleaned it at 12K with my shop VAC to get all the debris out of the pleats. Know I'm installing a BMC air filter you can't overlook something so simple to access.

Trier Germany wrote

I'm on my 3rd Air Filter. i pulled the stock one off at 5K and it was filthy it went straight to the trash. installed AA air filter i kept in till 15K but i cleaned it at 12K with my shop VAC to get all the debris out of the pleats. Know I'm installing a BMC air filter you can't overlook something so simple to access.

was the AA filter oiled as well? if it was, why didnt you just clean it and keep using it ?

montreal red wrote

was the AA filter oiled as well? if it was, why didnt you just clean it and keep using it ?

AA air filter is paper.

Trier Germany wrote

AA air filter is paper.

ah i see... now that makes sense... i havent seen an AA filter in real life before.

Thanks for the write up!

I used the K&N Recharge Kit from Checker-O'Reilly Auto Parts (99-5000 / $11.99).
http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=99-5000

The Degreaser was a finger-pump type, which got a bit annoying, and tiresome toward the last portion of the bottle. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Then spray it clean with HOT water. Cleaned up just fine! Remember to spray water from the INSIDE to OUTSIDE (not outside-in).

The Air Filter Oil was an aerosol-type can. Appeared to be just the proper amount of oil for this size filter.

Thanks again!

wowwowowow $170 for an air filter?!?!?

http://www.europeanautosource.com/product_info.php?cPath=67&products_id=3135&osCsid=c8f2df7245f086999233e9744edccba6

anyone know where I can get it a little cheaper? That's just very pricy for an airfilter.