There is a serious problem in the filter to airbox sealing. I removed the filter assy and there seemed to be dust passing over the top of the filter seal, looked in the box and there is no flange at the top for the filter to press on to so leaves a gap for dirty air to go in. I love the engine and the handling is OK but this thing is going, too many slack build items for me to live with as a long term adv touring mount. Hooroo.
That would be annoying. Being a diesel mechanic, dust killing engines is a common occurrence. Thanks for the heads up. Any ideas on a replacement bike; perhaps a 650GS Sertao?
The paper filter is certainly less than ideal, though, as far as I can make out, the paper filter gets pressed up against the left hand side opening which is smaller than the filter. True, the bulk of the filter sits in an open space but the air should only be able to get to that area after passing through the small plastic opening and through the filter that covers it. I've used tacky waterproof grease around the mating surfaces for extra protection, just in case. If your mind's made up - hooroo!
You may want to use an old motocross trick. We used to put waterproof grease on the intake boot behind he air filter. A light coating will catch dust that filter missed. Cheers
Yes this is all relevant but looking at the filter as it came out a clean seal on 3 sides and dust on the top side and with a torch you can see the mating surface the seal presses against only has 3 sides, the top is missing so air just shoots over the top of the filter and in. I can fix this but should not have to, Mega Grumbles, maybe I need a Mars bar.
I got around to looking at this and agree that there was definitely a design flaw in the air box. As Navelgazer stated, the sealing surface of the air filter that runs along the top has nothing to press against in the air box. This creates an unsealed, thin slit along the top of the filter. Pre-filter idea from another thread seems good. The real fix seems like a really easy revision on the air box to add the fourth flange. Bummer that'll never happen.
This is exactly what I did, cut a bit out of that huge number plate plastic they give with the bike, 63mm long and 16mm deep on the long side and silicone, away you go. Prep all glueing surfaces with wax and grease remover then acetone just before doing it, will stick like a blowie on a turd.
I've got some NoToil air filter grease on the way to take care of this. All of my off-road riding is very dusty, so I don't want to mess around with it.
I took my air filter out to have a look in the airbox yesterday. As expected it was pretty clean in there. Winter here so there's not much dust about, and I usually leading if I'm not riding solo, so not much dust to get sucked up. What I did notice though, was that the air filter wasn't sitting snug in the holder. The top side didn't sit flush against the holder leaving a gap between the rubber seal and the holder. When I took it out and turned it around, it went back in and sat snug. Not sure if that was just a quirk of my filter...
I think I'll try getting some of the window weather striping and applying it across the top of the inside of the airbox. I just want to make sure it does not hold the filter out in some other place making the problem worse.
Ok never mind... It might work but the last time I checked the air filter I greased it around the edge before putting it back in. I just pulled it and it looked good, air box looked clean.. Re-greased, reinstalled and now to ride....
I pulled my filter yesterday and was amazed at the crap design. Today I picked up some foam, and going to make my own filter, one that seals, one that is washable, one that is easy to change and one that has better airflow.I had some dust get past, and that is not a good thing. There is plenty of room to make a good fit. My debate now is to remove the airbox to work on it, or see if it can be accomplished without removing. Isn't this the beauty of getting a first year production run bike? No second year model to work out the bugs.
Note that in order to remove the airbox, you must tilt the subframe. See the valve clearance procedure thread.
The fly? I brought him in as a contracted expert witness to assess and advise. Unfortunately on the first test he went straight into the headlight, yielding no results on the filter.
I find that if the filter and the filter holder isn't inserted carefully into place, the design of the airbox entry can catch the paper side of the filter and if this doesn't release while you keep pushing it in, it can actually cause the filter to bend and flex inside the holder, allowing unfiltered air into the airbox, and there is no way to tell whether it is seated correctly or not once the holder is back in place. I discovered this after I took the filter out to change it. Fortunately mine had only been in such position for a few km on that occasion. I'm still not entirely sure how to insert the new filter in place while ensuring that it does not catch, but if you take your filter out and one corner of the paper is dogeared, it's catching on something on the way in.
Bingo, and because of the design, 3 screws hold the filter in place (90º to the mating surface) and that is supposed to compress the front face of the filter to the airbox opening, and with our 120º weather here, and intake temps in excess of 125º, not hard to imaging what is going to happen to that airbox and mating of the filter. There really should be a recall or warranty fix for this from the factory.
