DIY: Secondary Air Filter Removal

Somebody posted they have the Toyota Cold Air Intake kit. Where does this kit get it's air from? It looks like my stock 4X4 TRD V6 gets it's air from the right front fenderwell.

 

Someone had a good idea on how to remove that filter while leaving the posts intact so you could reapply it later....but I can't find it!! Too many tacoma forums to visit, cant' keep tract of them all!!

Ok..found it on ToyotaNation: Post # 233 http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89620&page=16&highlight=secondary+air+filter
Haven't done this myself....

 

I did it this weekend. I used a sharp narrow chisel to pare off the buttons on the ends of the studs. It was so much easier than taking the whole thing off would have been. Also note that there are 6 buttons. Initially I only noticed the 4 corners, but there are ones in top and bottom center too.

 

Any considerations if also installing a CAI Kit, as well as removal of the secondary filter? Or would it even be a consideration? I imagine it depends on where the CAI will be getting it's air from.

 

If you install a CAI then you remove the factory airbox to do it, so the two projects are mutually exclusive.

 

Just removed the filter... used a sharp chisel and hammer to pluck the top buttons off. I still had to do a little prying to pop it off -but all is good.
Even if I put it back in - a trained technical eye could tell its been removed.

You can easily plop the thing back in there if needed. If your posts are gone - and you put the filter back in, I'm not sure how structural the filter would be if you stomped on the gas. Would it get sucked in and bend in half or something crazy like that? (sorry, wild imagination)

 

The link didn't help, but I spent an hour searching in Photobucket for Mark's V6 secondary filter removal photos without success.

Today was a nice fall day with the temp in the lower 50's so I went out behind the house and looked the project over. It was easy to find and expose the secondary filter in the air box assembly, but it looked like removing the air box from the engine before drilling out the studs would get you nowhere as getting to the back of the secondary filter through the other end of the air box would require a mechanically trained hamster.

I thought about leaving the air box on the engine, drilling the heads off the plastic studs, letting things fall where they may and just pulling the secondary filter out of the air box - then I had a pang of caution (unusual for me) and thought I better check back with you guys at the Forum.

What's the best approach for the V6?

Mortsman (Chuck)

 

I may be a day late and a dollar short on this one, but I just got back into town, and am catching up on mail and threads and such.

I would caution against drilling out the heads while the airbox is still attached to the engine. After you remove the two 10mm bolts that hold the engine cover on, there are two more 10mm bolts that hold the airboc to the top of the engine. Remove them, and un-do the hose clamp that holds the airbox to the throttle body. There is also the plug to the MAF sensor that will need to be disconnected, two push clip type things that hold wireing harnesses to the airbox, and if memory serves, there is also a vacume hose on the back of the air box. That should be all there is to takeing the airbox off the v6. Then you can procede to drill out the tabs, and remove the secondary filter.

Or you could go with Sawdust's theory and just shave the tabs off with a small sharp chisel. Either way, make sure that you clean any plastic shavings or debris out of the airbox before re-installing it on the truck so as to keep any of that crap from entering the engine.

This is only if you want to still be able to re-insert the secondary filter for the sake of warranty issues or anything. If you don't care about that, then Jhodge83's slice and rip method is by far the fastest wat to get it out.

 

I have no idea why you can't see those pictures, but the good news is - those are just for the 2.7L 4 cylinder (I don't have a V6 Tacoma ).

maverick491 has some great pictures, but read what he says to do...

The reason that I drilled mine out was that I wanted no loose underpinnings in the airbox. I wanted to have a clean looking inside, and if I wanted to put it back to stock I would buy another airbox.

Like, maverick491 said, it really depends on "how" you want it done, but the most important thing is to keep debris out of your engine. 1 piece of debris, can sit in a cylinder and eat away at a ring or piston wall for years.

 

Thank's to everyone for the advice and cautions.

Sunday was probably the last day we will get here (until the spring breakup) when you could comfortably go out into the alley and work under the hood. So, I tackled the filter removal without taking the airbox off the engine. Using a cordless Dremel tool and a small drill, I cut the heads away from the studs and pried the filter out. All studs except one remain with the airbox (the low middle one broke off with the filter. Only minimal dust-like debris remained at the lip of the airbox and I carefullly wiped it out with an oiled cloth. The secondary filter is still in good shape and I could put it back in if I wanted to. BTW, my warm engine idle speed dropped from 600 to 500 rpm after the filter was removed.

In the meanwhile, I received my Magnaflow exhaust system and ECO fuel enhancer. Faced with a $90 flat rate, I decided to forego testing the systems separately and to have both installed at the same time. Total time for installing both was 40 minutes and they only charged me $45. The Taco runs great and I will let you know the mpg results at the end of this month.

 

I guess I'll give this mod a try. Seems like everyone is getting positives from it, and you know they dont care about emissions down here in Texas. I'm looking at ditching the paper filter and putting in a drop in filter. I'm partial to K&N but i've heard that the oil can mess up the MAF if you don't do it properly. It seems like you guys are partial to AFE drop in's. Let me know what you guys think.

 

Be aware that AFE makes two types. One is oiled like the K&N. The other is dry. Maverick has a dry one, but is waiting for the ECO VPE trail to finish before adding another variable to the equation. The factory paper filter is good for 15K miles. I figure when it comes time to replace it I'll upgrade.

 

HEY! Long time no see! How are things going, and where have you been?

As for the primary air filter, the AFE oiled and the K&N oiled are both very similar, but I have seen somewhere (sorry, no reference) that the AFE is better at filtering smaller particles. An oiled filter isn't that big of a deal. What is a big deal - keeping the oil off your MAF sensor. I don't regret buying my AFE filter, but if I did it all over again I would have gotten the Dry Foam type.

 

I removed my secondary air filter this afternoon. I found is was a lot easier to take a razor blade and slice a hold close to the edge and pulling it out. It popped right now. I just had to make sure that no plastic pieces were still in the intake housing.

 

Does a '96 2.7L have the secondary air filter?

 

Nope.

 

ok thanks

 

Hmmm...I'm guessing the 08's don't have this secondary air filter because I do not see anything after the first air filter?