MANN Air Filter after 5 Years and 52,000 Miles

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Yeah, sure....thanks to yall line of thinking my AC ducting in my home is filthy. You see, the filter used was probably never changed, and while the AC probably still blows cold, it let alot of dust and dirt get ingested.

I feel bad for yall who thinks a filter is fine til it cannot flow. It some cases, if not all. An air filter will let dirt thru when it is 'full'. Ive seen it on my Aunts Mustang. The intake tract after the filter, aka engine side, had plenty of sand and other grit in it, even thou the dilter was sealed. According to some of you though, the filter would be in its heyday and trapping more dirt than a new filter.

Im about done trying to save some of you who think ingesting dirt is a good idea. Ever wonder why automakers say to change the filter 'more often' when driving down dirt roads. Seems, some of yall would think the filter is getting better while driving down a dirt road....no, it is getting loaded up and when full, it will go into a sort of bypass and allow unfiltered air through, otherwise with your thinking it would just get better and better until one day the car wont run and you just throw in a new one and be on your merry way.


Filters don't go into "bypass". What WILL happen is that they'll either leak at the seal or the media will rupture if they get too loaded. That's why a restriction gauge is beneficial as it will tell you to change it before that happens yet not having you changing it too early.

That's why HD diesel engines come with them from the factory. Every time you open the airbox you let dirt in. Fitting the restriction gauge helps protect the valuable (and more sensitive to particulate than your typical gas engine) parts in the intake tract.

Your aunt's Mustang either had the media rupture or it leaked at the seal. Either way, it was left in way too long.

The idea isn't about leaving it in there until it can't flow. That's some serious creative exaggeration going on. The idea is to leave it in there for an appropriate interval as they do get more efficient as they load. But you don't want it loading to the point of being a restriction as then there's the risk of the things happening I already mentioned.

For most people following the OEM interval is probably the safest bet. For those interested in maximizing filter life and minimizing intake tract contamination, a restriction gauge is needed.

 

[circuitsmith]

Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Oddly my Toyotas have a 'webbing' in the air box which is non replaceable. I thought it interesting with all the pantyhose filter talk.


That mesh contains activated charcoal, to catch any wisps of unburned fuel that go back up the intake when the engine is shut off.

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
So 901Memphis, how bout you just buy my filters when Im done with them in 30k?

Or better yet, with that train of thought, we should ask the filter makers to install, sand, dirt and leaves in our new filters so they will literally be 'better than new'.


How 'bout it, whaddaya say???


It doesn't quite work that way because once you compress the air filter gasket you probably don't want to re compress it unless you want to risk leaks at the seal. It's better to set it and forget it with a restriction gauge.

The amount of reserve capacity in the air filters is much greater than most maintenance conscious people will ever utilize, further backed up by the people who actually run filter restriction gauges with uoas to match the results.

Another thing to consider is that gasoline fuel injection vehicles aren't very dependant on having max flow, they can compensate all the way until the filter restriction is so high that the filter deform and sucks un filtered air, all of that with no real impact on mpg.

On the other hand diesel engines do not play nice with a restricted air filter which is one of the reasons you see filter gauges from the factory on certain diesel applications.


http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/pdfs/Air_Filter_Effects_02_26_2009.pdf

 

[Black_Thunder]

the problem with putting the filters in and then forgetting about them and not checking them is sometimes you get unwanted visitors in your air box that like to chew on things.


before winter started i did an oil change and check over on my 98 ford explorer, i pulled the air filter out and found a mouse nest in it and they chewed on the filter a little bit, not enough that allowed paper to get sucked into the engine but enough that i felt it needed to be changed, if i hadn't popped the cover and found the nest and chewed filter who knows what could have happened eventually.

 

[jk_636]

OP that filter does look good for 52k miles! I change my air filter 7 times in that same number of miles. Perhaps you just have a much cleaner environment in CA then I have in the gulf coast.

 

[DoubleWasp]

I think it's more that the turbochargers don't play nice with plugged filters. A turbocharged engine is going to keep sucking harder and harder at the filter until it gets the air to the engine that it needs.

I've seen imploded air filters on air compressors too.

 

[WobblyElvis]

I ran an air filter 73,000 miles. The engine started to suck more oil out of the fresh air breather down into the throat of the engine. Secondly, I had to open the throttle more to get power, this caused the transmission to downshift more. With a clean filter the engine produced more power with small throttle openings. It was like having more torque.

 

[97tbird]

I have been curious about the panty hose thing.

Can someone explain how the pre-filter / panty hose catching big particles like large bugs, etc, instead of the filter catching them, is a benefit?
(Is the panty hose stretched over the actual AF? EDIT: never mind, seems it's installed at the air box intake? )

Normally the air box opening area(to the outside) is not very big, and what if the pantyhose gets clogged up? Will this cause less air to reach the actual AF?

 

[HTSS_TR]

The intake tube from the grill to the air box of my 2000 E430 is about 4" diameter, plenty big to accommodate any pantyhose size. I remove the tube from the air box to replace or clean the pantyhose once a year when doing oil chance. The pantyhose catches plenty of larger debris in 1 year 10-12k miles.

Since you change/clean pantyhose without disturbing the air filter, especially the clean side, you don't let any dirt getting to the engine and you don't damage the filter seal.

Since discarded pantyhose pretty free, the cost is few minutes a year to change/clean it.

If you have many larger objects on the dirty side of the air filter it reduces the air flow into your engine, i.e. you need to change your air filter more frequent.

The other method is install the restriction gauge, I don't use this because I don't like to drill a hole on my intake tube(after the air box) to install it, because I may screw up and the engine may ingest more dirt than without it.

 

[97tbird]

What if the pantyhose area (per-filter) gets clogged up with big stuff that it catches? Will this cause less air to reach the actual AF?

 

[HTSS_TR]

I use a foot long pantyhose, all big debris are usually at the end of the pantyhose, since there is 1 foot long for air to flow into air box if it is totally clogged then less air will flow pass the pantyhose into the air box. But just imagine the case that a foot long pantyhose clogged with debris, without it the filter itself will be clogged with the same amount of debris. If you change the pantyhose once a year or every other year it will not clogged up.