Air Box Intake Filter Experiment

[ViperTurboPete]

Well, I bought the pre-filter stuff to stop snow from getting into the airbox. It supposedly has less than 1% air restriction. I cut a piece and placed it over the intake at the bottom of the airbox and fastened it with an elastic. Anyway, I didn't make it more than 1km before my sled choked to death. Took the airbox off and the pre-filter was full of snow.

I ripped it out and drove for the rest of the day. I came back to the garage, pulled the airbox cover off and my foam was iced up, snow all over inside the air box and the foam had oil film all over it. I had a loss of power, rpms etc. I can't believe others aren't reporting the same problem.

I guess putting nylons on the vents will be the only option.

 

[Thatspec]

Are you 100% sure the vents are the only place the snow is getting in? I have some other small gaps here and there that should probably be taped, you may have a gap somewhere underneath. Our snow is likely heavier, not so prone to being carried in the air, likely why I'm not having probs. I wonder if you might be better off with a K&N type setup with prefilters?

 

[Rx1M5]

I had a ton of snow getting into the front of my sled the first time I rode it. I taped off the hood vents which helped the snow issue but killed the motor. The next thing I did which actually helped was I installed two more hood tie down straps on the side of the hood right at the center of the curved section right to the belly pans. On mine more snow was actually coming in from the gap between the hood and belly pans than thru the vents. I also put a small strip of weather stripping all the way around the belly pans which also helped. The two parts (hood and belly pan) flex apart when you are riding leaving a gap for snow to enter. This seems to have helped me a lot. I've since built a mesh hood which works better than the stocker in most instances.

 

[tundra]

yesterday , with ECP filter and deep snow and real cold weather,-25 to -30°c and really strong wind...70 km/h and more, was the worst day of my sled life. Filter on vent, snow was getting in in every other hole, i block all other vent with duct tape, snow was getting inside as well, motor run iced or choked, i dont know, but something on trail motor wont rev over 7000 rpm, every small hill let me down to 6000 rpm and sled almost running forward. Unplugged all vent, same thing. Motor was iced, and running very poorly. With vent clear, on when facing the wind, sled was revving down, in off-trail sled was running ok, for the first minute then, she eating snow in every "$?"$?" hole, then slowly the motor died.......................................................I'm gonna remove filter and run airbox for the next month......... then i will put the filter on when temp will be hotter.

 

[ViperTurboPete]

Well, I will start with covering the vents first. I am sure snow will get in other gaps too, but it may not be as bad. The snow here floats in the air and is fine so it gets in everywhere. I have never had this problem with my MM700 work sled. The RXM just doesn't like powder.

 

[Sterling]

Hey guys, I feel your pain, as I live in the far north and our snow here is very fine and dry. What I did was removed the two screws at the very front of the belly pan just below the front bumper, then I cut up one of my kids crazy carpets (its just a sheet of plastic used for sliding) and I built a cover for the area behind the bumper. Next I made vent covers out of furnace filter material. I saw that idea here on TY. I also noticed some snow getting in thru the headlight opening on the bottom. I just stuffed a small piece of foam from under the hood into the opening. Now I can submarine this thing and end up with very little to no snow under the hood and especially in the airbox. The biggest culprit is the opening behind the front bumper. Hope this helps!!

 

[ViperTurboPete]

The kids have a couple of crazy carpets laying around the yard here...I hope they won't notice a few inches trimmed off the back. I will look into this. Thanks Sterling.

 

[Sterling]

No worries mate, glad to help!!

 

[Warden]

RX1MPete,

It sounds as though your weekend sucked It’s good to hear you weren’t in the middle of nowhere at least. I can’t believe the pre-filter didn’t work.

I’ve only had the air box ice up once and ruined my day I'm probably going to try the nylons over the hood vents and go from there.

 

[ViperTurboPete]

My weekend ride was awesome...except for the snow sucking in.

I installed my wife's sexy nylons on my vents last night. She looks hot (the sled I mean).

I guess I should say my Yamaho wife looks hot too! (in case she reads this).

 

[ViperTurboPete]

I went hydrolining tonight in the dark to play in some powder and test out the nylons. I duck taped the hole in behind the bumper for a quick fix.

No more bog this time. I put the sled through a real good test. I also noticed the tunnel extension was covered with "white" snow. Usually it was covered with real sooty snow indicating the sled was running really rich because it was slowly being choked by snow.

On the weekend when coming to a stop the sled wouldn't idle...then after running it again it would clear up. It didn't happen this time.

I got back to the garage, opened the cab and the tool box was completey covered with snow. I opened up the airbox and everything was bone dry. Snow is still coming in from the front somewhere, but at least it wasn't choking the sled. First time it was dry ever! I am sure my gas mileage will be better too. I still have to figure out where the rest of the snow is coming from. It will eventually catch up with me by the looks of it.

 

[madman]

k - i had the same problem and tried a million things - including all the same ones you just have - to fix it....dealers had no clue - surprise...

here's what i had to do...when you flip your hood up you'll notice at the very front there is a peice that is 90 degress to the rest of the hood (gotta look close cause it dips into the belly by the tool box)...now close your hood and see if this peice is sealing correctly...chances are its not...just bend it back so that it seals...carefull it's really flimsy...i also got some stick on weather stripping for an even better seal...

i'll attach some pics, easier to see than to explain...
(and you can still see the duct tape that i couldn't get off from covering the air vents - which as you know doesn't work)

fixed my problem 100%...couldn't beleive the difference

 

[ViperTurboPete]

Madman, awesome idea! Great pics too!

 

[SIMMER]

Guys, I ride a shorty....actually ride quite a bit up around you Pete....anyhow we were up in Noranda a few weeks back and they had about a foot and a half of snow on the trails. I must have stopped and cleaned out my airbox 10 times. What a PITA!

Glad to see there's a fix. What a great forum!

 

[madman]

after you give the weather stripping a try let me know it fixes your problem too...i'm curious because i have found alot of guys complaining of the exact same thing in various posts and it would save them alot of headaches if it is in fact the fix for the problem with all (or at least hopefully most)...then we can get the word out!!!