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Hi gang,

Have read quite a lot about the smoking KQ's. Mine does it very little, and only on startup...so far! It doesnt seem to be burning any oil yet. I took the Air Cleaner off today to clean it and was AMAZED at what i saw.
The air filters that Suzuki is putting on our Quads are JUNK !!
I am unsure if the dust/dirt went through the paper, but i defnitely saw a line of dust being pulled into the intake on the BOTTOM of the filter foam.......where it seats against the plastic.

MY '05 KQ has 414 miles on it, and the filter was changed about 170 miles ago (brand new).

We need to do something about this for sure!

Just take a look at these pics and you will see what i mean.

CHEAP SUZUKI FILTER killing our Quads [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

Wow that's the most dirt I've seen out of all the pictures so far. It's rediculus that Suzuki doesn't know how to make an air filter for a $7000 ATV, you would think they'd know a thing or two about how important an air filter is. What I don't understand is how could my intake and butterfly valve be so clean after 850 miles with the stock filter..it was very dusty this past summer, hardly had any rain at all! You should definitely save those pictures incase your's needs a rebuild later on to proove to Suzuki that their filter's are JUNK and they're at fault for ALL these smoking King Quads!!! Suzuki better make a recall fast or they're going to be losing a lot of money from rebuilding engines and a lot of customers.
Also take a picture of the bottom of your air filter to show how the dirt was getting through.

 

OH yea.......you can bet that i will be keeping these pics!!

I plan on getting the twin air since that is the filter of choice from what i hear.
What i am pissed about, like everyone else, is the fact that we paid big money for this and its slowly dying from a piece of paper.

I think Suzuki should be held fully liable and replace EVERYONES filter with one that works as well as repair the bikes that have been damaged. Just my .02

 

I agree with everything you guys are saying.

 

When I looked at mine with only 250 mi. on it, it looked exactly like your pictures. It,s got a major flaw in the design some where.

 

Wow! Those pictures of the dirt getting in are a wake-up call for sure. I am wondering if there was a hole or leak in the filter element itself or perhaps where the foam gaskets are located on the filter or if the wingnut that holds the filter on was loose.

Mine has remained perfectly clean inside with no sign of leakage. And one more thing...except for the stupid plastic clips holding the air cleaner access panel on, the design seems pretty good to me. Perhaps it is a manufacturing defect in the element assembly itself ie: maybe the bottom foam gasket is too thin, etc.

I read somewhere else to put some grease on the foam portion of the filter. I think that seems like a decent idea just to be on the safe side.

I guess monitoring the performance of the air cleaner is even more important than usual at least until we learn the true cause(s) of the problems we are seeing here.

 

For those who have had the dirt get through. Would you mind measuring the filter from the bottom of the lid to the bottom of the filter (including foam) Mine is 4 3/4". Just wondering if they could have had a bad batch of filters (short) or if the factory just didnt tighten them down enough in some cases.

 

I highly doubt it is the paper element itself. The King Quad is not the only machine out there with one. It is more likely, as mentioned above, the seal at the bottom. Definitely not a good situation. All of that dirt has to trash the liner and rings.

 

I think that the filter is to blame. Mine was as tight as it would go. I think it is the foam on the bottom and top. After I cleaned everything out I greased both top and bottom before re-installing the filter. I'll have to keep an eye on it though.

 

I had a bad filter. The seal was dirty on the inside but CLEAN on the bottom, where it seals. Also, if you look at your filter from the bottom, you will see plastic pillars running from the top plastic cover down to the ring where the foam is attached to. Now, on my filter, the inside of the top plastic cover was very dirty except for where the pillars are. It made the inside of the cover look like a pizza or a pie that has been sliced into quarters. Hard to explain but if you look at your filter it will help. I think that if the seal was bad, it would have been dirty on the bottom where it seals. Also, the way the dirt was patterned on the top cover, it suggests poor filtration. I think they have a bad filter. Just like the filter in your furnace, they are not all made the same. By comparing the KQ filter to any other paper fitler on any other piece of equipment is ludicrous. Just because your duramax has a paper filter, and its good, dosent make the KQ filter good.