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Sand in Airbox w/Pipercross


slowbird

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So every spring before the first ride I check the airbox to make sure nothing has moved in 🐁

 

When I checked it yesterday I noticed a light dusting of sand in the airbox. 

 

IMG_9047.thumb.jpg.6b453da0805431443e1e6ab60070fea7.jpgIMG_9048.thumb.jpg.95b18ce13926ca135b98501bc9908c05.jpg

 

 Definitely the first time I have seen this. Never noticed this with the old K&N air filter. 

 

The filter itself looks fine: 

IMG_9045.thumb.jpg.e216ff88090ae617723ceb806ccaeb2b.jpgIMG_9046.thumb.jpg.ff5832a77c2266cdc2984f3a7d57bc41.jpg

 

 It only has about 6,000kms on it. My airbox is unmodified. It still has the snorkle and it seals well.

The only thing I can think of is they have been doing construction near my place the past couple years and I have to drive by it when I'm coming and going. I'm almost always driving on paved roads too. 

Anyone else see this with a Pipercross before?

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I'm really not that familiar with Pipercross filters, but foam type filters need some type of oil to trap particulates.  Is that treated?  Or treated properly?

 

If I literally found "sand" in my lower airbox and the filter was serviced properly, it would be going directly in the bin.

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Well the filter was brand new and made to be installed without doing anything first. You just pop it in.

Since I installed it about 6,000kms ago I haven't done anything to it. 🤷‍♂️ I haven't cleaned it or treated it.
When I checked it last spring there wasn't any sand in the airbox. 

I guess I'll start looking for my old K&N filter to put back in.

 

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Or service that one.  Even though they say "ready to install", they should be verified they are oil properly.  Mistakes at manufacturing and packaging do happen.  Did your fingers get oily at all handling it? 

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2 hours ago, slowbird said:

 

The filter itself looks fine: 

IMG_9045.thumb.jpg.e216ff88090ae617723ceb806ccaeb2b.jpg

 

That, is the smoking gun . . . it should be the other way around.   My $.02 about reusable filters is that they are just that - reusable.  The OEM filter are expensive, for sure.  I have yet however to see any verified dyno results that any reusable filter results in measurable performance gains.  I'd love to see it if so.  True, the reusable filters do keep waste out of landfills and can be cleaned frequently where the OEM just builds up debris until replacement.  For mine I've gone back to OEM.  In normal service they seem to be good for quite a long while - maybe only needing a change 2 or 3 times in the bike's likely service life for the average rider.  To each their own.  YMMV

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Cogswell said:

 

That, is the smoking gun . . . it should be the other way around.   My $.02 about reusable filters is that they are just that - reusable.  The OEM filter are expensive, for sure.  I have yet however to see any verified dyno results that any reusable filter results in measurable performance gains.  I'd love to see it if so.  True, the reusable filters do keep waste out of landfills and can be cleaned frequently where the OEM just builds up debris until replacement.  For mine I've gone back to OEM.  In normal service they seem to be good for quite a long while - maybe only needing a change 2 or 3 times in the bike's likely service life for the average rider.  To each their own.  YMMV

 

 

 

Well it is definitely true that these filters let in more dirt as that's a byproduct of letting in more air. However, this one example excluded, I have never had any issues running K&N filters in the past. Not for any of my extended road trips or on my previous bikes. I even sent oil samples to Blackstone Labs for analysis and there was nothing showing my air filters were letting through a lot of dirt. 

This Pipercross is different from what I've seen others use as it was apparently jointly developed by Pipercross and N-Project so I was wondering if that might be it? 
Or maybe others have had similar issues with their Pipercross filters?

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I do use K&N in quite a few of my bikes (I have double-digits V-Fours alone), but not for any advertised "performance gains".  I use them strictly because I can buy them once (often used and cheap, or find them in parts bikes I bought), service them and not throw anything away.  I have never experienced anything that gave me a reason to stop using them either (as in shit in my lower air box or carbs).  But I also don't live down a 2 mile dirt road with traffic or ride around a strip mine.

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While K&N doesn't filter as finely as factory filter, it does job fine when properly cleaned and oiled.  It appears that Pipercross is not up to task. Perhaps needs cleaning & oiling. Check again in couple weeks. If still letting in dust, toss it and install K&N, properly oiled of course.

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1 hour ago, Captain 80s said:

...but I also don't live down a 2 mile dirt road with traffic or ride around a strip mine.

 

 lol that made me laugh. 

 It true though. I've been scratching my head over my this year there's all this sand past the air filter and last year there wasn't and all I can think of is that there's been a lot of construction going on. Now that I think about it, not just in my neighborhood, but also down the highway I take to get to the twisties. 

 

But regardless the filter should be blocking the dirt. I've ridden through worse with K&N air filters installed and never had such a dirty airbox before. 🤔

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I truly just think that this is a case of a filter not being oiled enough from the factory, and maybe not serviced again soon enough.  They might be a little stingy, for cost and for packaging mess.   I usually apply a little oil to a brand new K&N too as needed, for the same reason.

 

Ever popped a dust seal off of that brand new sealed bearing?  I've had some with less grease than a hummingbird's beak can hold.  Now I pack every new "sealed" bearing I get.

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54 minutes ago, Captain 80s said:

I truly just think that this is a case of a filter not being oiled enough from the factory, and maybe not serviced again soon enough.  They might be a little stingy, for cost and for packaging mess.   I usually apply a little oil to a brand new K&N too as needed, for the same reason.

 

Ever popped a dust seal off of that brand new sealed bearing?  I've had some with less grease than a hummingbird's beak can hold.  Now I pack every new "sealed" bearing I get.

 

 You're right. That could very well be the issue. 

If it was oiled properly from factory and it needs to be oiled again already, after only 6,000 kms then to be honest I don't want it. 😅
However, as you said, maybe it just wasn't oiled enough from the factory. 🤷‍♂️ 

I'm pretty sure I already have an oil and cleaning kit for my K&N laying around, and I have the "good" K&N filter with the larger surface area. 

If I do have the filter and the kit I'll just clean and re-oil it and swap it. That's cheaper and faster than having to find an oiling kit for the Pipercross and I'm not even sure if this specific Pipercross/N-Project filter uses the same oil or even uses oil as everything in the box is Japanese.

I'll try some google translate.

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5 hours ago, slowbird said:

 

 You're right. That could very well be the issue. 

If it was oiled properly from factory and it needs to be oiled again already, after only 6,000 kms then to be honest I don't want it. 😅
However, as you said, maybe it just wasn't oiled enough from the factory. 🤷‍♂️ 

I'm pretty sure I already have an oil and cleaning kit for my K&N laying around, and I have the "good" K&N filter with the larger surface area. 

If I do have the filter and the kit I'll just clean and re-oil it and swap it. That's cheaper and faster than having to find an oiling kit for the Pipercross and I'm not even sure if this specific Pipercross/N-Project filter uses the same oil or even uses oil as everything in the box is Japanese.

I'll try some google translate.

With the foam filters, such as this Pipercross, they do need specific cleaner and oil.

Also, they need to be cleaned and oiled more regularly than K&N. IIRC 5000klms unless you ride in a sandpit 👀 and then more.

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I've got a pipercross in my 5th gen, no issues with sand etc getting past it... my only complaint is the rubber seal being just slightly larger than it should be... maybe one of the corners of the rubber got pinched and didnt seal properly?

I push my filter into the airbox lid making sure the rubber is all the way in the groove and then lower them together onto the lower airbox, making sure theres no pinching, and cross-tighten the screws just in case.. so far so good and I've removed and reinstalled it several times messing with injectors etc. But the rubber seal on the pipercross drives me nuts being 1 or 2mm too large

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