RedGemini

When I was doing a SeaFoam Spray treatment last week, I noticed a permanent filter inside the lid of the air filter box. I can't find any way to remove it for cleaning. Has anyone removed this? I'd think it would start restricting airflow after thousands of miles and years of crud building up with no way to clean it.

BlackLexRX

Maybe completely disconnect and remove that upper box from the intake, remove MAF and all connections and blow compressed air through it, from screen side and out the side that connects to intake, or vice versa?

RedGemini

I've owned over 40 vehicles so far, and I've never seen anything like this. Does anyone think it's really needed? Would it hurt anything if I just remove it?

EDIT: I just realized it's on the clean air side, so I'm guessing it's there to protect the MAF sensor or as a final filter stage. I still find it odd that it isn't replaceable or cleanable.

edwardh11

maybe they want you to replace the entire box lid?
what does lexus charge for a new box lid, or rock auto, would be interesting.

maybe you spray it with brake cleaner to clean it, or soap and water off the car and a day to dry?

BlackLexRX

LS 4th gen forum has a thread where people are removing it, so check there maybe- I'm on vacation with my cell only, but it comes up under this thread on phone. Just looked for a min, but some remove and see gains. I'm going to leave mine and clean with compressed air next time I change filter. Lexus put it there to keep dirt out of combustion chamber-which can score cylinder walls and damage engine.

BlackLexRX

mylparts has the entire lid for 285$, lol, think that includes maf

mandyfig

A picture will help...

RedGemini

Anyone who has changed their own air filter on one of these should know what I'm referring to.

BlackLexRX

I was surprised to see it there, but mine looked really clean, 75k miles. I think it's part of that upper assembly though, so if you remove it, it may not go back in. Anything on it should be dry so seems like compressed air and maybe some light solvent wiping on surface should be fine. I did find some sand and grit that I removed from bottom of my lower assembly which was more of a concern to me. Next time I change filter, I'll take a closer look at how its constructed.

RedGemini

It appears to have melted rivets, or whatever they're called, holding it in place. That's the only reason I didn't pry it out. I didn't want to chance breaking something that would cost me a nice chunk of money to replace. I did stumble upon a website selling a whole aftermarket box for $95 (including shipping), which is dirt cheap compared to others I've seen. I'm just not sure about the quality or the seller.

https://www.japanesetruckdismantling...0-0a210-es.htm

There are a few on eBay for even less.

I'd love to find something that breathes better to replace it with, since it was mentioned above about others noticing an improvement in performance with it removed.

BlackLexRX

What year is yours? A 350? My 350 pulls hard IMHO and I just drove a 1K road trip with the fam and averaged 24.2mpg and 72mph. Of course that was through dry hot air of land from Colorado to Cali, which is ideal mpg condx, but I'm very impressed with mine.

RedGemini

Mine's an '05 330. It's not that it's bad, I just want to get the most out of it that I can. I'm still trying to optimize fuel economy, but I think we're finally getting out of winter blend gas here. I'm still only getting about 20-21 highway at 70 +/- MPH, which is a slight improvement. The mountains of PA aren't helping matters, but we're planning to move to Florida by the end of this year or early next. The bad part is, there isn't much open road in the Tampa Bay Area, so I won't see much of an improvement there. However, no road salt or mountains means less wear and tear to a degree, so it's a slight tradeoff.

BlackLexRX

I hear you. I live at 10,000ft, literally in Summit County, CO. where I average about 21mpg driving like grandma. I hate dealing with the salt too, especially with a black car. Mine came from Colorado Springs though so not much corrosion underneath...yet, lol. I've worked in the ski industry for over fifteen years so it's just a part of life for me. I've had a few different types of SUV 's but now with wife and kids, she prefers something with awd so she doesn't have to deal with shifting transfer case. Had a CRV before that never failed, ever, but it buzzed around at 5k rpm 's everywhere so once it got to 200k I started looking at Highlanders. Found this RX and we really like its interior and capabilities.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

I can't imagine it getting that dirty or clogged leading to it being restrictive as its on the other side of the air filter. I think rather than removing it, maybe finding a drop in filter may be a better option. Right now when in town we average a little over 19 and close to 23-24 on an AWD 2008 350 on the highway. I noticed a slight increase in gas mileage when i switched to an "Upgr8" filter which is essentially a knock off AEM dry reusable and washable filter (which is why i got it). I wouldn't have contributed an increase in gas mileage in just the filter, but after putting one in my es330 and dads es350, all have gone up ever so slightly. I am sure there are others like K&N, but for $16, I got the one i did

RedGemini

Considering the complete lack of maintenance the previous had done, and not knowing the condition of the air filter when I had it changed, it didn't exactly look clean when I had it open. The woman literally did nothing but oil changes, brakes and front struts in over 100,000 miles. I'm guessing that's why I never heard from her when I sent her a letter asking for information on maintenance done. She was probably embarrassed or ashamed. That, and it seemed some of the service done was at a Dodge dealer... not a place I'd even trust with an FCA product, let alone a Lexus.