Hello. I'm not a car guy. I need to clean the (blue) air filter and I would appreciate any information. I bought a used charger with a mopar cold air intake already installed. its 3.6L 2013 v6. I have the manual/instructions and I will clean the filter this weekend. Also per the instructions, it says "Add a mild household detergent". What do you guys use? Any instructions or pictures would be really helpful for me. Thank you.
You can probably use dish soap but I always go to a car parts store and buy an air filter cleaning/oiling kit.
I usually get the K&N one but the oil is red so you may not want to use that particular brand on your blue Mopar CAI.
Check youtube for vids on the topic, but it's not really that hard.
Remove it, rinse it with water, spray the cleaner on it then let sit and rinse again, let dry, then oil it (if the filter is designed to be oiled of course).
I cleaned the K&N a few years ago on the Daytona with some water and soap. I let it sit for the whole day and dry out, checked it, and let it sit some more. Once it was dry, I used their recharge oil and placed it lightly on the filter. Let that sit for a bit, and reinstalled it. Most important part is to wait for it to be 150% dry.
I have the same CAI, and it is a dry filter--no oil required unless you want to ruin it.
Fill up a bucket with warm soapy water (Dawn dish detergent) and swish the filter around for a while to get rid of any loose grit. Dump the water and do it again another two times to get it clean. Then fill the bucket with plain water and swish the filter around to get rid of the soap...you'll have to do this step 2-3 times too. Set it out in the sun to dry, then re install. Notice that the instructions do not say to run water through it from the tap, which could damage it, hence the dunk n' swish method.
I have two filters, that way when one is dirty, I swap them around and clean the dirty one and store it until the other one gets dirty...(or every 6 months because I need to do something on the car to keep boredom away).
The Mopar CAI is not designed to be oiled. I'd follow the instructions as they're the ones who made it... if I remember correctly, it said to fill the bucket with water to the point where it does not cover the entire filter - just up to the gasket where it connects to the pipe. Use a twisting motion to help dislodge dirt, debris, etc. I'd then use another bucket with soapy water, then another clean water bucket, then dry.
Stick with the dunk and swish method. This is intentional so that you don't get any large particles trapped on the outside of the filter inside the filter basket, and then into your engine. Take your time and it works out fine. I do mine every 20k as instructed and that seems fine for normal usage. If it is really dusty or dirty you might want to do it a little sooner. Dawn detergent works just fine. Do not oil it. It is meant to be a dry filter. You can shake off the excess water and leave it in the sun to dry. You can windmill it if you are impatient!
You should see a metal clamp that can be loosened with a screwdriver. Also, you will see a small tube that passes through the housing and into the filter. You should be able to pull that out and then remove the filter from the metal tube and lift it out of the housing. If you need pictures let me no. No problem taking a few and posting.