FE/FC Faulty airbox, sand went through...

Hi to All,

This is my first post in cafehusky. After 45 hours, i started to notice some sand went through the air filter and then reached the valves. Very disappointed, i put another very well oiled air filter and made 100% that it is well placed and enough grease in there. I also put some air filter oil in a cloth and rubbed the area behind the filter to catch any piece of sand that migh went through. Result : lot of sand again passed through the foam wall. I brought my bike to the dealer who said the foam holder was bent. I checked will all my friends (a FC250 2015, a FE501 & FE450 2014). All find some dust going into the engine. Some of them put extra grease, some of them put a washer between the hole of the air filter and the holder to make the filter more pressed into the airbox, some others ignore this and ride. I don't.

Any ideas, does this happened to some of you, any fix...

I love sand, but out of my engine.

Thanks for your feedback.
Husqvarna 450FC 2015

I put some grease around where it seals and fitted a plastic washer on the pin and I never had any dust going in. (and it's very dusty here)
I have seen it on other bikes and in my opinion it's the subframe bending as suggested in a video (can't find it at the moment).
If you push down on the seat you can actually see it and it opens a small gap at the bottom left (looking at the filter) in between the filter and rim.

You have to use grease on these bikes or dirt will get past. I have over 4k miles and have ridden plenty of sand with zero issues. I like the no toil bio rim grease because it washes off easy when I service the filter. I also use the TE 300 air filter cage without the screen in it.

Plus 1 on the "No Toil biodegradeable filter rim grease".
The tube of rim grease though just isn't big enough compared to the container sizes of there filter cleaner which works awesome and there filter oil which is great too and very easy to clean and service. Their rim grease is a must if you ever get into any sand washes. Hell any rim grease on the filter is a must, period.

I have had no issues of any sand, dirt or any debris infiltration on the inlet side of the filter, so far at all. I ride creeks washes and am in plenty of grit and sand and all the dirt roads here are dusty, loose, fluffed up and silty from all the 4 wheel drive traffic on the 2 tracks.

No problems with my 2015 TE125 and I rode in my share of extreme dust, sand and mud, this past season. I use Bel-Ray or Twin Air filter oil and Bel-Ray water proof grease on the rim. As we ride a lot in extremely wet conditions, I prefer extra waterproof protection of the conventional oil and grease, over the ease of clean up with No Toil.

I ride where we go thru a lot of creeks so I also go for Belray or Twinair oil (because its sticky as heck) and I use regular waterproof wheel bearing grease for the seal.... No Toil may be easy to clean but I dont want any accidents.... It gets crazy dusty here in the summer time

I've had the same problem with my 501. I keep finding dust on that little white sensor in the boot and on the valve in the TB. I think bikesparky is right. Here is a picture of my air filter, you can see where the dust has penetrated on the bottom left past the grease. Next I"ll try putting grease on the boot, (not just the filter) and a washer on the holder. Hopefully that will correct the problem. I never considered subframe flex!

I found an air filter comparison that made me raise an eyebrow. Check it out.

http://haroldbawlzangya.com/air-filter-test/

Hi to all, I went riding this week end, following your comments, put some grease on both filter and rim (i smelt the grease smell out of the exaust, is that bad for the engine ?) and also a washer on the holder, less, but still some small particles of sand inside and caught by the belray oil that i spread inside. How many made their way inside the engine ???

I ordered this from amazon, hoping to be safer : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005U808DG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00

Thanks for your replies.

Hello Colo moto, is this twin air part for an increased performance or for air leaking issues ?

Thanks

I bought my '15 FE350 new 2 months ago, the tech at the dealer told me to get of these before my first ride, seems to be working good so far. If you use one of these & the grease you should be good.

https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/...rm=pc racing pro-seal - 2015 husqvarna fe 350

Hi To All,

I have some news, I found out that the issue was coming from the breather hose which came out of the headcover and sucked sand from the airbox...

I plugged it back with a screwed metallic collar and now it is fine.

Thanks to all.

Buy a k&n filter for your bike!I noticed my 15 fe 501s stock air filter did not have Grease of any kind on the seal surface brand new. which I thought was odd since the filter was way over oiled. It was even dripping blue green oil on the floor at the dealership. Fortunately I had noticed this before I had ridden it more than a few miles. My bike never did suck any sand or dust. I applied a thick bead of Grease maybe 5/16" around the filter mating surface. The real remedy that came up with was a K&N air filter. I put one in everything I own that has wheels and a motor! K&N air filters are just awesome. They have a long-standing excellent reputation I've never had a problem with them. I've been using K&Ns on my motorcycle since the 1980s. The seal surface on the K&N air filter for these bikes is far superior to the twin air foam filter and cage assembly that comes stock. If you follow the directions that come with the filter and use the supplied seal grease yes it even came with a tube of Grease you should have no problems. Your bike should not suck in anything but clean air. Be sure to use enough grease and apply a bead at least as large as they specify in the instructions. For peace of mind I did add a common 1/4" machine washer to the air cleaner frame retainer assembly. This put a bit more tension on the retainer and thus a tighter seal between the air box and the filter. Throttle On!

I talked to my dealer about the fact that my stock Fe 501s had no grease on the Air box mating surface new from the factory. They said they would talk to their Husqvarna rep about this and in the meantime advise new Husky owners about this when they purchase the bikes. If you look in your owner's manual page 12 caption 12.5 there is a photo of your air filter and instructions to Greece the airbox mating surface of the filter. It is a black and white photo and it's not the best however if you look close You see they applied at least a 3/8 inch bead of Grease all the way around the filter. That's a lot of Grease. Does this paint a picture? One should always inspect their bike before they ride it. Especially a brand new bike before the first ride. I know this could sound absurd to some. A $12,000 motorcycle coming with an improperly installed air filter but it happens. I highly recommend going to a K&N air filter it has a superior design and should not give you any problems if properly installed. Throttle on.