Hello all,

Bad news to report...

I pulled the OEM air filter out of my Savage (see my signature block for specifics).  The bike had 13.9K miles on it and had seen almost totally urban use over the years, with no memories of dirt road riding at all.

I was horrified to discover dust inside the "clean" section of the airbox.  Grrr....out comes the carb and the airbox for cleaning.

How did this happen?  Some background:

I bought the bike used in late 2001, it had 50 miles on it.  Based on what I know, it was ridden once, then put away in a shed long enough for the carb to gum up.

After buying the bike, I cleaned the carb and she's been running great ever since.  When the bike had about 600 miles on it, I took out the original air filter, applied waterproof grease to the sealing foam, and popped 'er back in the airbox.

Over the years, I occasionally peeked inside the airbox, always thinking the filter looked good enough to leave in place.  In short, since that 600 mile check, I've never pulled the original air filter, much less cleaned same.

Here are some recent pics:








While I don't believe the dust came in around the foam seal, based on my inspection of same, I suppose that is possible.  More likely, I think, is that the dust was sucked through the filter media proper....which is surprising to me in that I've gone much. much further on air filters without cleaning them on my other street bikes.

Just a cautionary tale....don't be like me.... :'(

Well mine is a 2003 so I guess I have 2 more years before I check  


PS... um Serow... that wrench on yer tag... we call it a "Ford Wrench" in the military, were did you get the pic? Do you have a link were I can get one?

My '08 is running its stock filter and it looks brand new. Great tip on sealing the edges Digger!

Dave wrote on 07/06/15 at 11:02:16:



Thanks, Dave, for getting this thread back on track....well, mostly.  

Yes, both plugs were in place.  In addition, I have verified that the drain tube itself is free of any splits that could let air in.

In addition, I was able to verify that (for my model of Savage, anyway (see my signature block)) the plugged drain (corresponding to the aft-most of the the two "nipples" on the underside of the airbox) leads to the "dirty" side of the airbox, while the drain tube (corresponding to the forward-most of said two "nipples") leads to the "clean" side of the airbox.

Boogie_with_Stu wrote on 07/06/15 at 12:58:22:



Hi Stu,

Well, there's not really a "channel," per se, but there are two plastic "stays,", one that engages the air filter element's upper-port corner, and one that engages said element's lower-port corner, when said element is installed.  Since said element has a stiff metal frame, said "stays" act to hold said element's port-most edge firmly against the airbox's sealing surface (well, in theory, anyway) - note that the starboard-most edge of said element is held in place by the single mounting screw that you had to remove in order to slide said element out of the airbox.

Here is a look at the upper-most of the two said "stays":





IHTH!

OK Dokey......lets talk air filters!

Digger.....can you see anything that would indicate the air cleaner just wasn't sealed in the housing?  A trail of dust or cleaner spot where the air flow might have gone around the filter housing?

Paper elements generally don't bypass anything....the more they are used and the pores close up -  the more stuff they filter.  Eventually they even won't let the air through!

Roger that Col. Digger sir! Thanks for the photos. My old back doesnt bend the way it used to and I never saw those hardpoints.

LANCER wrote on 07/09/15 at 11:53:22:


Hi Lancer,

Thnx for the kind words!

The time I usually devote to my MC forums has been consumed by other projects.  Hope to be back regularly soon...

Ride safe!