DIY Air Filter Cleaning - Maruti Ritz DDiS

[fusion_defusion]

Hello Everybody,
This is my first post on the automotive india forum and what a way to start! I am posting my first thread with a DIY I did today.

How to clean the air filter of a Ritz ddis( This may apply to swift ddis too but i am not aware of the location of the air filter in a swift)

Pictorial Presentation (Sorry for some grainy picture quality shot it with my phone camera!)

1. Locating the Filter (sandwiched between the head cover the big black one, and the battery pic 1 & 2)
2. The tools (A philips head screwdriver, Pic 3)
3. Pull the the filter cover up(it will come easily) and you will see the filter inside (Mine is orange color, Pic 4)
4. Take out the filter and give a nice spanking on the wall you will see dust flying every where. I was amazed to find out that so much of dust is actually there inside the filter.Pic 5 shows the filter after a nice spanking! and wallah the filter is now clean

I am planning to clean my ride's air filter every fortnight as from the last service date there was lots of dust I could see today (nearly 2 months after the service).

 

[ilango[speed thirst]]

That is not the right method , hmm but followed in many garage.
One must use vaccum for airfilter , brake , clutch dusts!

after spanking on wall it u have compressor blow air from opposite end. that is air must be blown from engine side to the suction side.
In this above picture case , from the top of airfilter.

If vaccum , just the opposite.!

 

[Mr.Boss]

That is not the right method , hmm but followed in many garage.
One must use vaccum for airfilter , brake , clutch dusts!

after spanking on wall it u have compressor blow air from opposite end. that is air must be blown from engine side to the suction side.
In this above picture case , from the top of airfilter.

If vaccum , just the opposite.!

+1
It is not recommended to clean to filters very often. This in turn will result in increased pore size which lets the dust particles pass through the filter.
Technically a filter with little dust is more efficient than a brand new filter / a cleaned filter.

 

[fusion_defusion]

That is not the right method , hmm but followed in many garage.
One must use vaccum for airfilter , brake , clutch dusts!

after spanking on wall it u have compressor blow air from opposite end. that is air must be blown from engine side to the suction side.
In this above picture case , from the top of airfilter.

If vaccum , just the opposite.!

Thanks, ilango for the correct method. Unfortunately i don't have tools to vacuum clean the filter or a method to blow compressed air into it. This method is very primitive but gets rids of most of the dust particles.

 

[fusion_defusion]

+1
It is not recommended to clean to filters very often. This in turn will result in increased pore size which lets the dust particles pass through the filter.
Technically a filter with little dust is more efficient than a brand new filter / a cleaned filter.

I should have multi quoted while replying to this (Sorry mods!). Well thanks for that info Mr. Boss, but the road to my work place is full of dust. There is some inefficient road work going on since ages and is not complete yet and all i can see on the road is dust and loose gravel. I was shocked to see so much of dust coming out of the filter, thats why i thought of cleaning it every fortnight. But lets see if I don't see much of it coming out in the next 15 days, I will stop this practice.

 

[cooldhaya]

I think its a good practice cleaning the air filter maybe once in 2 months but the correct procedure is important ,anyways good DIY fusion_defusion.


I am not very good at these DIY'S so i never mess with anything in the car , leave it to the A.S.S!

 

[fusion_defusion]

I think its a good practice cleaning the air filter maybe once in 2 months but the correct procedure is important ,anyways good DIY fusion_defusion.


I am not very good at these DIY'S so i never mess with anything in the car , leave it to the A.S.S!

Fully agree with you, one is better off doing things at an A.S.S

 

[Mr.Boss]

I think its a good practice cleaning the air filter maybe once in 2 months...

OT: This should have been discussed in the Technical Stuff

Neither the time period (say 2 months 4 months) nor the mileage (1000km, 2k km) should be considered for Air Filter cleaning. The facts are
1) It depends on environment that the vehicle is being used
2) Depends on the RPM, vehicle driven in lower gears (in hilly areas) always covers more engine strokes & intakes more air. In such cases the amount of dust accumulated in the filter will be more compared to a vehicle running in plains at lower RPM.
3) High revving engines have shorter cleaning intervals (if the driver revs the engine in every gear, the volume of air passing through the filter increases and the life decreases)

In case of Heavy vehicles, a dedicated 'Vacuum Indicator' is provided on the duct between Air Filter & Intake Manifold which indicates the need of filter cleaning / replacement. I don't find such arrangement in any cars.

 

[fusion_defusion]

Exactly, if you are running your vehicle in a dusty environment you should clean or get it cleaned quite often.

 

[dodge_v1per]

Nice DIY dude. But I will never touch all this stuff myself. How much time did it take to clean the filter and screw it back?

 

[Mr.Boss]

..... How much time did it take to clean the filter and screw it back?

I have done Vacuum cleaning of Alto and Wagon-R air filters. It took me not more than 10 minutes for the process.

 

[fusion_defusion]

Nice DIY dude. But I will never touch all this stuff myself. How much time did it take to clean the filter and screw it back?

I could say less than 10 mins. I used to have esteem before ritz and it used to take full 10 mins to take out the filter itself.

 

[Mr.Boss]

I could say less than 10 mins.

Thats great. But in future try to use either vacuum cleaner or air compressor (control the output <2 bar pressure)
If you don't have either, a cycle tyre inflator pump can also be used.

 

[fusion_defusion]

I will have to first start with buying a vacuum cleaner. I used to have a car vacuum cleaner but lost somewhere during my move from mumbai to pune.

 

[dodge_v1per]

Hmmm...thanks. Your screwdrivers also look kinda different.