Hey guys I just had a quick question. I bought a zx14 2008. I haven't ridden a lot but I got it with 8 thousand miles. Now it was running a little hot so I figured it might have something to do with it now getting enough air maybe? So I open the air filter box and I find that there isn't one in there. We'll the box for it is but the fabric with the ripples is gone. Did it dissolve? Is that possible? How long has it been since this guy had it like this? Those where the questions I asked myself. And now I'm worried those parts went into the engine. Should I be worried? Your thoughts?

NEVER heard of this problem. Have heard of the paper getting wet while riding in extremely heavy downpours. I think the previous owner modded the filter. A lot of people take out the steel mesh bottom to allow better flow but this guy must have removed the paper.

In any case, if the steel mesh is still in there, no way any got sucked into the engine. If it did, well, that's only paper. Probably about the least objectionable solid substance to run into the cylinders. Probably no harm from that.

However-

Evidently, the bike was operated for some time with no paper n the filter. If the mesh is still there, seems to me someone was making an effort to keep the larger debris from entering the motor but the fine particles that get blow up off the road were sucked in.

Put a new filter in and do a compression test when you can.

Is there NO steel mesh either? Maybe he did the filter mod and the paper did get sucked through---that would be a first.

1. Remove tank
2. Remove both service covers on top of the frame.
3. Clean and inspect ram cavity for dust, debris, etc.
4. Take a compression reading.
5. Does my bike smoke upon start up or idle? No? I wouldn't worry, sans knowing where the compression is?
6. 8k on a filter and it decomposes is my best guess was he was riding in 'acid rain.'

If there was something strong enough to dissolve the paper, I'm sure there would be at leasrt a remnant of it left maybe around the edges of the cartridge. Also, there would almost definitely be some some other sir=gns like corroded metal on the mesh (perforated plate bottom of the filter).

It's not unusual to find bugs trapped in the four divets in the bottom of the airbox. However, I don't think you would find any paper there even if it did dissolve. If it dissolved, it would have to dissolve small enough to fit through the ~.7 mm perfs in the bottom plate (assuming the plate was in the old filter). If it shreded down that small it would just go in the intake and burn and probably clog up the perfs before much went through.

I'd have a look in the airbox like Hub suggested but this to me looks much more like a case of someone trying to get better flow to the intake by removing most of the filter. I bet if he wasn't running around in dirty conditions, no immediate harm was done. Perhaps some premature wear on the cylinder walls. Compression test. If it comes back low, what will you do anyway? Rehone and rering? You could. But if the bike runs good, I would save that for some time in the future like when you actually feel the bike is lacking power. Heck, you might put the bike on a dyno and find that it still makes good hp even if the compression is a bit low. It was just 8000 miles. Most places, air is not that dirty.

"air isn't that dirty"...;)Tell ya one thing...if they don't get these road construction projects done pronto...I'll be lookin at a new airfilter every 1000 milesLOL!!!SHEESH!

Thank you guys for the Feedback. The metal backing is still on the filter part. And there is remnant parts of the paper along the edges. I was going to post picture but being new to the forum I'll have to figure out how first. I immediately put a new filter on and I found no other debris around the air ducts. I was just worried cause.. well its my baby lol. And it does seem a little sluggish tho. Hmmm... maybe I'm just being paranoid . But I'll have to get a compression test done asap.