How to Clean & Oil your Air Filter Properly!

My secret and I've used it myself and you know get ready for all the keyboard warriors to flip out. Okay back into it the final stage of preparing your bike for that big ride is the air filter. So I'm going to go into a lot of detail about that but first we'll give the T7 a quick wash and a bit later I need to call upon the CR for a quick cameo to better explain a few things so with these high-pressure cleaners treat anything on your bike that has a seal like your eyeballs okay your eyelids are the seal so anytime you see a seal avoid it so you're not squirting dirt and injecting it into the eye okay because it's not just water getting in there you're actually full you can force and inject dirt like up under the seals and fork seals for example you can hit them full pressure but don't hit them from underneath just get down and like vacuum draw the dirt away even around the carburetor injectors throttle body just back away with these um adventure bikes even the dirt bikes but the dirt bikes you know you sort of want to go a bit more aggressive with the cleaning products but i find with adventure bikes in general as long as you blow the main mud off first you can these foamies do a good job don't be scared coat everything um the connectors on these modern bikes even the warhorse everything that's important all the electrical connectors have like a rubber seal so don't be scared they're designed to be ridden in the rain naked you know don't be scared to get right in on top of the motor either Go behind the radiators and try and back blast the radiators. There's no real access but have a go. Radiator fins are super sensitive too. High pressure washers will just fold those fins so just get back. This is a very low pressure system anyway so you can get closer with the frother. Everybody freaks out about exhaust bungs. Just don't squirt water in there. Simple. You're gonna run it and blow it out anyway if i was really into it i'd have taken my bash plate off but um as you can see the the bash plate actually these ones act as a bit of a mud guard and i can i can see there's nothing in there so i'll just get a bit of detergent down there happy days right back to full pressure now full blast remember what i said about the seals it's all about the angle you can just look how far i can pull that out get those grass seeds out i always run the bike and get it hot and let it evaporate all the moisture away don't rev it just run it dry it now i want to give you guys a hot tip before you touch your filter you will be amazed at where sand will get to and sit and the biggest mistake people make is like oh quick clean your filter change your filter they just forcibly do it routinely i see it a lot in racing people just run in and oh quick change the filter because you have to you're supposed to and they let more dirt into their engine then that filter would have let in if they just left it in there a properly oiled air filter should completely block and start to choke out the motor that's what you want okay and the only way you'll get that is if you oil it properly now back to the the little vac get into all the get into all the little nooks and get every like sand the whole point of this is to make sure nothing drops in even when you're pulling the dirty one out it shaves on the edge of the frame and granules of sand and dirt just drop down into the air box the height of the T7 you know snorkel for the air box it's pretty good and well protected like in terms of river crossings you can uh you can kind of confidently go into decent depth river crossings so far so good the reason i've got the cr on standby is because it's a conventional air filter system the t7 is inverted like you can see here successfully i managed to get that out of there without really dropping anything in there so this is the in it's weird it's inverted this is the inside of the filter and um this is the outside it's it's really not dirty because i've been riding by myself important thing i want you guys to see um let's see how i've done motos on my track like i haven't i haven't touched this filter for 12 months because the bike just doesn't get ridden anymore i did the a-stars air test with it and before that was a couple of motos in the dirt kitchen with um charlie creech that air filter you know over 12 months old and the secret to longevity if you're not riding your bike much and it sits around a lot i'm going to show you a little trick later with the filter oil this is important show you what i mean see how you know after being sitting in there for 12 months it's not dry and dusty see it's wet the proof is in the pudding this old school never fail motocross technology have a look at that that's the dream okay properly oiled completely oiled when the day comes that you see like a 50 cent patch inside your air filter that looks like the outside you will die you will feel sick to your stomach because you've left a dry spot in the foam and it's the path of least resistance and the engines just suck in that dust and you have no idea and then what's worse you look down through the airbox boot to the mouth of the carby or the throttle body and it's like someone's just got a handful of Milo or cocoa and gone your engine's toast it's all over you have failed that is a win winning okay winning this is a motel cleaning station really good it's got a um a raised grill like a thing in the bottom of a fat fryer keeps the filter off the bottom where all the dirt goes so i've done i don't know a lot of filter changes in here i like to just submerge it in in the fluid okay let it let it submerge and just give it a bit of a shake let let the dirt just sort of naturally fall away and start to sink to the bottom and then close it up on itself see how See how it's just pretty much just stripped all that dirt away You can see that it's a in fact a white filter by closing the clean part up sealed And crushing it like that all the oils forced to come out and just carry all the dirt and particles with it Here's how to return a filter to like a brand newie Remember what I said about angling the jet so it acts like a vacuum and sucks the dirt away from things if you've got a shorter nozzle it's easy but i can do this just fine turn it inside out now that pressure washer could just obliterate this filter at close range um notice i'm holding it right back and just skimming it but if there's any dirt granule in there it's getting sucked out okay um i'm going to ditch this anyway i wouldn't if you've got another drain i'm just going to show you this now this emulsified oil the remaining oil is a good thing about the water if you've got a good cleaner in there it'll emulsify and this just gets the finer finer particles out look at it all, it's just like see all that fine dark crap and it's just acting like a particle carrier getting the finest crap out that is now ready to go dunk in the kitchen sink squeeze out the final bit, dry it out, i could put that back on the shelf at the bike shop and sell it to you, it's brand new, i'll just go wash this in water, you don't need to see me do that, she's all rinsed, don't hang around waiting for it to dry, just curl it up in a rag and squeeze the bejesus out of it and you watch how much water you sit around waiting for that to dry, we're out here, we're long gone, okay, and it doesn't have to be bone dry, look at that, perfect, the moment you've all been waiting for dedicated air filter oil is ultimately designed to be changed regularly it's super tacky, it's thick, it's supposed to hang there and not move and just catch any particle that comes great, um motocross scenario where it's not in there for any longer than a weekend sometimes a race, you know, multiple races, multiple air filters, whatever, it's not in there long after 12 months they dry up when they're just left in the open air in your airbox sitting in your garage they go dry and you can look in there and go my air filter is pretty good changed it on you know for that ride last year, it's not dirty, you go on another ride what happens is and and the giveaway if you take your seat off mid-ride and you look at your air filter and it's got the same color dust on it as the ground you're riding in you might be in trouble the air filter's dry it's no longer retaining particles and they're just going straight through it so i'll get to my point in a second i'll just tip some in a container my secret and i've used it myself and you know get ready for all the keyboard warriors to flip out i mix a 50 50 air filter oil and engine oil in this case it's just a bit of two-stroke pre-mix and you can use four-stroke engine oil whatever the whole point is to keep it wet this engine oil will never dry up okay yes it's going to drip out onto your swing arm and that's when you know that your air filter is oiled properly if you don't have oil dripping out of your air box and onto your swing arm you haven't put enough on i've done three hour cross countries on one air filter and every lap is just choking dust full revs bulldust ruts can't see 20 meters in front of you for three hours just on the gas and rookies are just blowing engines up all around me some of these guys have changed air filters mid-race they've got it wrong they just haven't oiled the filter properly the dust accumulates like a cauliflower and extrudes the wet oil out of it and it keeps growing i've had air filters that you you look at it and they're like this big and they've just covered in a in a cauliflower air filter oil and dust mud almost crust it just grows like crystallizes and keeps growing outwards because it can it's drawing wet oil outwards when you take the air filter off and hit it and most of it falls off i've had like you know half a centimeter of crust growing on the outside and the CR is still running all the bikes are still running it's not fouled a plug nothing it's still producing horsepower it's still charging through the dust meanwhile motors are blowing up left right and center because people are so by the book they don't know how to experiment and stray beyond that anyway that's all i'm going to say about that so there's my 50/50 air filter engine oil mix i use a bit of two-stroke because um you know you're going to suck some uh excess oil through that dribbles down into the air box and it'll just get burnt so look at this you want that oil to pass okay see you want to see a danger zone that's a that's a danger that's an engine killer right there see that it's a dry patch go into a cross-country or follow a truck through the desert and you can't overtake it for 20 minutes you'll dust your engine spin it inside out dab it in reverse back into the oil and then just squeeze that right through okay that's how much oil you want your filter it has to be completely drowned in it no joke don't believe me come to WA ride a pony express and blow your engine seen it happen so many times so many times and what i tell people at the end of it they just think i'm lying when i tell them i didn't even change one filter just did the whole race on the one there's no way i'm going into open heart surgery mid-race and letting all that crap sure i mean if you can in a pony express scenario you can because you you tagging your partner and if if you can clean around the air box and whatever and do it cleanly just just do it if it's affecting the performance of the motor do it but like i said i know that this filter now will choke that motor will block and choke that motor out before it lets a speck of dirt through and that is the only way to do an air filter that engine oil two-stroke oil is just a you know insurance that if i leave this in for six months and pull the bike out and go for a ride it's not going to be dry so now that we're clear on that method it's exactly how i clean and prepare the t7 filter um there's absolutely nothing wrong with this so freak out if you will but i'm just putting it back in because it's not even ready to be cleaned and one thing i always do first and you know each to their own um some people just coat this foam with grease i just like to use chain lube it's just it's it's just just dries like a super tacky seal and it's very accurate very clean and you can put as little or as much as you like it's just an extra seal watch the keyboard warrior comments roll in but anyway another thing i've been doing forever cross countries racing t7 the secret with air filters is just slowly and wriggly just wriggle things let the foam find exactly where it needs to be seated before you just rush and lock things off the um the post wash two products this isn't about Motul yes Motul products they're my sponsor get whatever silicon spray and get whatever um rust penetrant uh metal what do you call it uh you know a metal protector like a okay an easy lube get yourself some modal easy lube there i said it now silicon spray don't be shy hit all your plastic wiring anything plastic anything metal go to town on it just coat the wiring if you have paid 40 grand 30 grand 20 grand for one of these things and you're not interested in upgrading it's your bike you love it and you want to be riding it when you're an old man you probably bought it as an old man you know what i mean just coat the electrics in silicon spray all the plastics you know just don't be shy get it on there it'll you i've noticed some components on the warhorse because it's 30 year old 30 years old and and some of the wiring close to the motor the wiring has held its shape it's it's gone hard in that position you've got to be delicate with it so i just hit that it's you know anything that restores um plastics and rubber just hit it just go your key hit the anti-rust with you just shoot it down there your controls hit it with silicon spray don't be scared you know a little little hit on the levers just go to town right the acro just get in the bolts there with the you know the anti-rust get up in there with the silicon spray all your rubber hosings your vacuum hoses your radiator hoses everything just get it in there once again thanks for subscribing everyone Yeah, that's the only way to do an air filter. See you next time.