This is the Fram Tough Guard air filter I changed out of the Suburban this afternoon. It had been in for just over 40,000 miles and 3 1/2 years and the filter minder showed that it was still good. I was going to take it out to 50k miles but decided to change it while changing the oil and fuel filter today ahead of my move next weekend. I live in a windy and dusty area and will be moving to another windy and dusty area so I decided to stick with the lightly oiled Tough Guard filter. The junk on the ground in front of the filter in the first pic is some of the foam that helps seal the intake housing inlet, which is starting to fall apart. I also had to vacuum some of it out of the housing. I did not take photos of the area between the pleats but it pretty much looked the same as DriveHard's filter here. It seemed to hold up really well, with no media deformation, the two glue lines were fully intact, and the gasket was plenty pliable. You can see in the second photo that some of the gasket edges are a little sloppy but the integrity of the filter did not seam to be compromised. Overall, I am pleased with the service I got out of it.
I applied a little dielectric grease to the gasket-housing mating surface when installing the new filter to help ensure a good seal. I also cleaned the MAF sensor and throttle body while I was at it.
I applied a little dielectric grease to the gasket-housing mating surface when installing the new filter to help ensure a good seal. I also cleaned the MAF sensor and throttle body while I was at it.
