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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Cleaning K & N filters

I'm a long term lurker on this BBS and thought it's time to put something back. This may seem obvious but if you have K & N air filters try cleaning them - mine looked immaculate but I don't think that I'd ever washed them since rebuilding the engine many years ago. I washed them vigorously in hot water with a dishwasher tablet at the weekend and now the car goes and revs like it used to!
Nick Anderson

You are supposed to re-oil them after cleaning and there is a proper kit to do K&N filters.

What difference it actually makes (using the proper gear) I don't know. I re-oiled one once and it made a right mess!

Malc.
Malcolm Le Chevalier

Thank you for giving back Nick.

As Malcolm put you supposed to oil them according to K&N.

I too over oiled them and Keith at Peter Burgess blew them (from inside to out) with a compressed air line and a lot of K&N oil I put on came out and it allowed more air through.

When new the filters are very red but with real use they soon go grey and it doesn't matter so when really required a light red on re-oiling I'd guess would be find.

K&N cleaning instructions below. -



Nigel Atkins

Hi Nick,

My method (with over twenty years of use).

I use "liquid" dish washing soap (just a few drops) mixed with water in a small spray bottle. I spray each element (inside and out) and wait a few minutes to allow to work. Then spray the elements with the garden hose from the inside out (to push any dirt out). I then shake the excess water out, and allow to dry in the sun. When dry I re-oil each element using K&N (red) oil, and allow that to seep in (wipe off excess) before re-installing. Colour you are looking for should be a light-red. That's it.

Regards,

Lazza
LC

I use the stuff that Nigel posted about. K and N Power Kleen spray and spray filter oil. Not on the car, on the Caterpillar engines on the boat, each of which has 2 filters about the size of a bucket.
The Power Kleen spray is great stuff, but as said by others it's easy to overdo the oiling.
Greybeard

I have never seen a K&N that NEEDED cleaning - the pair on my V8 have been going since 1995 and I can still clearly see the mesh which according to K&N means they are not in need of a clean yet!

See https://www.knfilters.com/cleaning.htm
Chris at Octarine Services

This thread was discussed between 25/07/2018 and 26/07/2018

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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