I have a 2003 MCS, Has anyone had a problem with the 2 screws that hold down the lid to the airfilter cover becoming stripped? I bought mine w/ around 32,000 miles on it and took it for some warranty work. They did the work and the required maint. including a new air filter. At around 38,000 I took it in for more warranty work and complained about it being sluggish. They said the air filter was dirty and changed it. Now when I went to put in a K&N filter at 40,000, I noticed that the screws would not tighten down and appeared to be stripped. Anyone else had this problem?

 

can you use a slightly larger tapping screw?

 

It's pretty easy to strip the screws in the air filter housing, especially since some people go a bit overboard tightening the screws. Two fixes:

Change out the screws with some larger self tapping screws. The problem with this is the original screws are narrowed and unthreaded in the area below the screw head, and for an amount the length of the holes in the upper housing. Most common self tapping screws are either thick shouldered or threaded in this area. You'd have to enlarge the hole in the housing lid to fit the larger screw.

Quick, simple fix is to insert a small wire or grocery bag twist-tie into the hole in the housing base and screw the original screws in. This will help reduce the hole diameter and give the screws some bite. Just dont overtighten the screws.

 

or just drop some tacky glue in the hole and just screw it gently.

 

Use of glue seems a bit tacky to me.

 

I was actually warned to not over-tighten them by someone that had this happen to them. They said the dealer over-tightened them when they brought it in for service and then the holes were messed up since they are self-tapping. If you tighten them yourself then be very careful and don't apply much torque at all, but if the service department does it and messes up then I would have them order a new lower air box to replace what they messed up.

 

nice lingo.