Cleaning my air filter for the first time....

You'll probably get many different ways of doing it, here's mine:

I first brush off the big chunks of dirt, or whatever may be on your filter. Then put the filter in a 4L ice cream bucket (dirty side down), and pour kerosine (cheap and works well) or camp fuel all over it, so there's about 2cm in the bucket. Degreasing soap does not work (getting it wet will only make it harder to clean)! Pouring the kerosine from the inside, pushes dirt to the outside.

With the filter in the bucket, dip the dirty parts of the filter in and out of the kerosine until the filter is clean. Replace the kerosine if it gets too dirty. If the dirt is deep in the pores, use compressed air and try to blow it out, then dip in the bucket to get it off.

With the filter as clean as you'll get it, you have to get the kerosine out of the filter. Squeeze out as much as you can, then wash the filter with dish detergent until the kerosine's gone, then rinse until the soap is gone.

Here's the time consuming part, trying to get it dry. Squeeze the water out then use a towel to absorb as much as you can. In the summer it will take about half an hour in the sun, being cold out now, 2 days in my garage. To get it done right away, 20 minutes with the hair dryer on med. heat. You could try putting it in the dryer with a couple dry towels on med heat.

For oiling, I use Stihl heavy duty bar oil (red, thick, and it's $10 for 4L), and have a seperate ice cream bucket with a lid (to keep dirt out when storing). I pour a little bit of oil into the bucket, then roll the filter in it, so all the outside of the filter has oil on it, then work it in with your hands. You can see where oil is and isn't easily with red oil. You know you have enough on when the oil just starts pooling around your fingers when you squeeze it hard with your fingers (hard to describe). If you put to much on, no worry's, the excess will go to the bottom, drip into the airbox, make a mess, drip out the drain onto whatevers below, attract dirt and make another goopy mess. Also, the engine will bog until this happens. I guess it's better then having too little or no oil on it.

Tamean

Papa is spot on with the use of No-Toil, but I like using the washing machine option. Just don't let the SO catch you doing it!LOL

I use no toil as well but I have found that arm & hammer laundry detergent gets the filter just as clean. Since we are on a septic my wife always has a couple of boxes of the stuff. I use the utility sink (still afraid of what she would do to me if I used the washing machine) with a few inches of the hottest water I can comfortable stand and wash away. Let dry and apply the oil. I have been using the pour oil, but think I would like to try the no toil spray on next time??
Lew

I've had good luck using Go-Jo hand cleaner to break down the old oil and dirt, then washing completely with soap and water. Let it dry completely. Then I re-oil it with whatever pre-mix I'm using (Belray HR1) and squeeze out all excess. Finally, I blot it with a paper towel.

Don't use Go-Jo with pumice!!!