P500 Air intake location issue?

[PNWGuy]

Was talking to a guy at work the other day who said he finally got rid of his P500 and got a Can Am and was infinitely happier.

He said the biggest reason to get rid of it was because of the factory location of the air intake was horrible and it sucked in massive amounts of dust, causing engine damage. Apparently he has had to have the motor rebuilt once due to excessive oil burning.

He said I had better install a snorkel kit to get my air intake raised or else I would be facing the same issues. But he did admit that he had a rear cab shield that tended to pool the dust near the intake location behind the seat.

I've never heard of this issue before. Is this a thing, or just a rare issue to this guy's particular machine due to his set up?

 

[Admin]

 

[lee]

It's funny, i have read about people complaining the p500, p700 and Talon have the intake in the back and they suck dust.
And I have seen complaints about the p1k sucking water (and the result is instant and catastrophic).
Untill we are forced to switch to electric off road vehicles the intake debate will continue (don't worry, I'm sure Biden will get right on that).

All of the real players talk about snorkles for front or rear intake.
But I have to wonder how many of the plumbing science fair projects cause more harm than good.
It's not like any of the home built snorkles have computer CFD design analisis backed up with flow bench and dust ingestion testing to confirm the effectivness.

But, I bet adding a cab or back pannel could have a huge impact on dust around the intake.
Seams like good maintnace is important.
Having a properly oiled filter instaled with no air leaks probably is the most important factor.

Personally I don't have a fix it all answer.
I keep checking the air intake tube between the filter and the engine, wipe it with a finger looking for grit (I know, real scientific).
And, I have my eye on an over size jug if I ever need to rebuild.

 

[HUCK]

4k miles , so far so good and I have had a back window for almost the entire time .

 

[MarlinWalker]

I have a solid rear panel, along with doors, roof, and windshield. I ran the stock air intake for about 300 miles. Granted a lot of it was in the late summer and fall when dust was really heavy. At 300 miles I decided to check my air filter. It was the dirtiest oil soaked air filter I have ever seen. Literally I could peel the oil/mud off of it with my fingernails. I'm sure if you don't add the back panel and doors the stock air filter location is ok. But adding everything I did blocks the air flow and the stock air intake sucks dust right off the rear tire. I read somewhere that Honda recommends checking the air filter every ride if adding the doors or back panel. I can now see why.

So I added a snorkel modeled after another forum user.

P500 - A Simple Snorkel

Hey All, Seen a lot of great posts about custom snorkel setups. The one I made is super simple and requires very little PVC. It just extends the stock intake all the way to the roll cage and the follows the roll cage line. All you need (excluding whatever tip you choose to put on the riser)...

hondasxs.com

Here is the post with my set up.

P500 - Air filter maintenance

Has the K&N been a good filter? It's worked out fine and I've only cleaned it once in over 500 miles.

hondasxs.com

It was simple and cheap and has greatly improved the air filter cleaning interval. No problems going 600 miles with this set up. The only initial problem I had was now I'm grabbing air up high I was vacuuming pine needles into my air box on really tight trails. I added black pantyhose to the top of the snorkel and it has been flawless since then.

I hope this helps.

 

[Splorin]

I snorkeled because of dust. The rear curtain makes it a lot dirtier. It buys you some extra time between cleanings but still monitor the filter....