Now don't get me wrong, I love my dealership, But at 10,000 miles I was in for
service and I mentioned air cleaner replacement. Tech. said it was good for 65,000
miles. I rolled my eyes and bit my lip.
Having worked in the Auto/trucking industry for 25 years and spending a good
many of these years as mechanic, I knew that was impossible. Every vehicle I've
ever owned went through two air cleaners anually.
At 18,500 miles my gas mileage plummeted,the engine began to whine at high
rpm's, and I constantly had my foot into the pedal. She even wanted to stall when taking off from a light unless extra fuel was applied.

I had enough and opened the air cleaner box to find the element so dirty that it
had now collapsed and the motor was sucking its air from the gasket/edging completly bypassing the filtering element. There was enough sand, dirt,paper and
other debris in the housing that I had to use a shop vac to suck the box clean.
Picked up a couple of filters so I would have a spare and results were awesome.
Fuel mileage is back to normal, whining noises are gone and power has returned.
Do your cooper a favor and change your air filter often. I reccomend 10,000 miles

 

Thank you for sharing your story; 10k-15k miles certainly is typical for air-filter replacement (or cleaning if you have aftermarket). Once again, the dealerships have it wrong; 65k? What were they smoking, you can only do this if you run you MINI in a clean-room!

 

Thanks for the write up. Well done. A clean air filter does make all the difference.
65k miles for an air filter?

 

anyone have the part number for K&N's drop-in air filter?
those are good for about 30k miles and you can obviously
clean (recharge) them over and over. :smile:

 

I have the K&N filter. According to them, you don't touch it until 100,000 miles. Uh, riiiight. I've had it a year and I think it's time for the cleaning now.

 

>>I have the K&N filter. According to them, you don't touch it until 100,000 miles. Uh, riiiight. I've had it a year and I think it's time for the cleaning now.
You better read the instructions again. Can't believe K&N would tell you not to clean the filter until 100K miles. I've used K&N's for years on various kinds of vehicles and never saw that claim on box or instructions. I usually cleaned mine every 15K miles but, here in Northeast we get a bunch of road dust from salt and ashes.

 

When I got a K&N for my Jeep, they said it actually works better dirty and not to clean it very often. True,

emerika

_________________
MCS -- (On a ship -- The Bujin heading for Calif.) BRG/B, MFSW, sunroof, leatherette, heated seats, DSC, front and rear fog lamps, 16" v spoke

 

At 10k miles my aircleaner was very dirty, I took it out and replaced it with a moss intake

 

>>anyone have the part number for K&N's drop-in air filter?
>>those are good for about 30k miles and you can obviously
>>clean (recharge) them over and over. :smile:

K&N Air filter for the MC: 33-2239 $39.30
K&N Air filter for the MCS: 33-2270 $39.30
Clean those filters about once a year is good.

K&N Filters are popular but there are also other good choices for air filters-
Alta makes foam filters for the MC and MCS
Webb motorsports has Unifilters for the MC and MCS
Green performance filters are available for the MC and MCS

 

Thanks, minihune!

 

>>anyone have the part number for K&N's drop-in air filter?
>>those are good for about 30k miles and you can obviously
>>clean (recharge) them over and over. :smile:
_______________
The K&N air filter can be got at Moss MINI (http://www.mossmini.com. Part #100-500 for Standard Cooper) and at http://www.northernautoparts.com. Part #33-2239).

And don't forget to purchase the cleaning kit to go along with it.

_________________
<P><img src="https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t;</img>
Don't hassle me. I'm driving as fast as I possibly can</P>

 

My MCS filter looked like a block of charcoal at 22k miles. Buy the torx bits and change it yourself at 10-15k. My gas mileage suuuuuuucked and now it is great.

 

Thanks for the warning, yellocooper! It's a good reminder for us to check the air filter more frequently

 

1. I was looking at the air box yesterday (after checking if my steering hoses
were rubbing the heat sheild or not) and was wondering how the heck
do you open that airbox? I didn't take a close look at it, but saw some faux
bolt heads, etc up front. Are there clips on the other side like normal boxes?


2. Also, this is little off topic, but when you want to charge the battery,
do you use the + terminal next to the airbox and just plug the ground alligator
somewhere on the chassis? (or do you take out the trunk floor and tap
the alligators directly onto the battery?)

thanks. :smile:

 

Is it possible to actually hear a difference after changing the OE filter with another OE filter? I've been noticing a slightly different sound/pitch when over 3000 RPM.

 

hey KENCHAN: As far as replacing stock air cleaner in Cooper.
1) open hood
2) remove 2 screws on right side of air cleaner box.
3) slide top of box 2 inches to the LEFT.
this will release left side of box from clip/tabs.
4) slide out old filter to the RIGHT.
5) vacumn box clean of any debris
6) slide in new air filter from the RIGHT.
7) align clip/tabs on left side of cover and slide
cover 2 inches to the RIGHT.
:smile:

 

thanks, yellowcooper!

 

btw, has anyone had any problems with the supercharger sucking too much
air through the K&N filter damaging their MAFs with the oil from the K&N?
(im not even sure where the MAF is on this car yet...need to take a closer
look.)

_________________
03MCS IB/Blk: 123, Aerokit, R90 17x7, Anthrasite Int, TK5 16x7, 6CDMP3, etc.




<a href="http://hometown.aol.com/teined/index.html">more info</a>

 

You should never have filter oil entering your intake system. The directions for cleaning and oiling are very specific and you should ensure that the filter is dry after oiling before installation. More oil doesn't mean more performance.

 

Popped open my MCS airbox... flipped over the filter, and what do I see...


it actually looks much dirtier than in the photo. 33k miles.

Are air filters warranty items? Like fluids are... if someone's dealer said the filter should last 65k, but is already this dirty at 30k, no way its going to make it to 65k without all the filter elements clogged

 

At 19,000 miles my intake looked fairly clean



That is UNTIL I removed it and saw this

 

I clean and reoil my Maddness intake filter (K&N cone) twice yearly.

A good practice for those with drop in filters is to have one filter used for daily street driving and one spare clean filter to use for autocross, driving events or track days.

The stock filter is fine for street use.
Try a drop in foam filter (Unifilter or Alta) or drop in green filter for the performance days.

 

True... the oiled filters do require some dirt to help filter the finer particles. Not good to clean too often..

 

Maybe they were confusing the schedule for the in-cabin air filter? 65k is rediculous!

 

I think you got it right. I thought exactly the same thing when I heard that "service interval".

Any tech that would recommend waiting 65K for an air filter replacement on a conventional paper filter... Please step away from the car