How do you clean the 496 stock flame arrestor
 

I have a 2003 496 mag and I want to clean the flame arrestor but I am not sure of what to do here can anyone help? My manual says to use "solvent" then dry with compressed air and reinstall, no oil? I have a K&N kit should I use the cleaner in that?

Thanks

On my old boat, I used to simply soak mine in some naptha or denatured alcohol and then rinse it out with the hose. Nothing to it.

Sprayed carb clean on mine and dried with air hose

Simply Green degreaser and scrub brush, spray rinse with waterhose. Shake, blow w/ compressor to get most water out & set in sun to bake remaining water out.

You do not wet with oil after, as this is not really an air filter, but a flame suppressor should you have a backfire.

How dirty are they, I have a set off my old boat with less than a 100 hours on them. They are not dirty at all. Make me an offer.

k n has a spray you can buy spray on hose off:p

If it is just the mesh screen. Brakleen works wonders. If it is a K&N filter then use a recharger kit.

http://www.cpperformance.com/detail.aspx?ID=3566

Which 496 flame arrestor-air cleaner??
 

I'll share this piece of advise again here. If you operate your boat in an extremely dusty or dirty enviroment, which 98% of you DO NOT! Save your money and stay with the stock Mercury wire mesh flame arrestor. It has a bell mouth venturi entrance under the wire and you can't beat if for air flow. We know because we have dyno and boat tested them all. The K&N type do a better job filtering dirt and dust but the throttle body entrance shape "Sucks" and you will not see one ounce of extra power after your purchase. We actually have seen a slight decrease in power above 500HP beacuse of the poor air flow entrance. If you wan't better performance and more power use your hard earned dollars on parts that do more than look "Cool", they really work. If you do boat in a real dusty, dirty enviroment, then by all means use the K&N type with proper pre-charging.

Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

Thanks, Ray. Good info!

Michael

So the flame arrestor is clean but that same crap is in the throttle body so now what do I do with that mess?

Sorry for all the noob questions but I'm on a budget this season and cant pay for my mechanic to deal with all this stuff.