Roughly 60k mile air filter pics!

[KrisZ]

Just changed the air filter in my Mazda 3. It's been in the car for about 4 years and 60k miles. Come to think of it I think the date code on the filter says 08, so I probably put it in early 09. Can anyone verify this from the last picture?

It's a Purolator filter and it held up pretty well. My filter minder showed no restrictions, but given the time and mileage I decided to change it anyway. It was a good decision as the seal started to deteriorate around the corners. Something to watch out for when using a filter minder and long air filter change intervals.



Old vs. new


Seals going bad:




And here was a nice surprise. The old Purolator filter, the one on top, was made in Israel, while the one I got from Mazda dealer was made in USA!

 

[antiqueshell]

Wow that is CRAZY...it must be very expensive to make any manufactured product in Israel, resources are very scarce, labor is not cheap either, and of course the place is always under the threat of a war catastrophe. Glad to see that Bosch brought manufacturing back to the USA.

 

[147_Grain]

Love the engineers for designing a larger than normal air filter for a small 4-cylinder engine. Large filter and small engine = longevity.

Thanks for the pic. Wonder if the Fram air filter would have held up as well as the Purolator.

 

[antiqueshell]

The main reason is that you can indeed go 60k without a clogged filter even in thew worst conditions.

 

[daves87rs]

Looks pretty decent for 60k....

 

[Kool1]

It appears as though you guys up north have really clean air. Here in smoggy California, the air filter looks that dirty in 6,000 miles. According to my unscientific calculations, if your air filter is that dirty in 60,000 miles and mine would get that dirty in 6,000 miles, your air is 10X cleaner than the [censored] I breathe.

 

[chad8]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Wow that is CRAZY...it must be very expensive to make any manufactured product in Israel, resources are very scarce, labor is not cheap either, and of course the place is always under the threat of a war catastrophe. Glad to see that Bosch brought manufacturing back to the USA.


You would be amazed what is manufactured in Israel.
Sodastream
Blanco faucets
Matzo's
aerospace components
weapons of all sorts
Gold jewelry

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: chad8
Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Wow that is CRAZY...it must be very expensive to make any manufactured product in Israel, resources are very scarce, labor is not cheap either, and of course the place is always under the threat of a war catastrophe. Glad to see that Bosch brought manufacturing back to the USA.


You would be amazed what is manufactured in Israel.
Sodastream
Blanco faucets
Matzo's
aerospace components
weapons of all sorts
Gold jewelry



Oh, I'm not surprised that things are manufactured there but many times there are generous Israeli state gov't handouts and a LOT of that money comes from ......you guessed it, US taxpayers.

 

[LeakySeals]

The factory CAI did a super job.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Looks pretty decent for 60k....


my thoughts too, matter of fact i havent purchased a air filter other than a couple K&N's in years and years.. why.. compressed air, atleast once a year i pull the filter and blow it out.. and frankly i dont hold on to cars long enuff to worry about it, 5 years is a very, very long time fo me to keep a car/truck.

OP: Props on a fairly clean filter after all those miles, had it been mine id probably have blown it out and put it back in, the corners cracking a bit wouldnt bother me.

 

[synthetic_crazy]

You might notice a small increase in MPGs now that your engine can breathe a little better.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: Kool1
It appears as though you guys up north have really clean air. Here in smoggy California, the air filter looks that dirty in 6,000 miles. According to my unscientific calculations, if your air filter is that dirty in 60,000 miles and mine would get that dirty in 6,000 miles, your air is 10X cleaner than the [censored] I breathe.


I think it varies quite a bit based on intake design and engine, too. My wife has a Mazda3 and the air filter looked barely used when I replaced it after 25k miles, both times. The filter on my WRX looked much worse (dirtier) when I pulled it at 20k. The WRX has a smaller filter, a straight shot from the intake snorkel to the filter, and a turbo pulling air through, while the Mazda3 has a more tortured path for the air to go through from the intake to the box.

 

[TheBig2003]

Impressive!

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: TheBig2003
Impressive!


Thanks!

That is why I got the filter minder, to get the guess work out. Yes I could've kept the Purolator in there a bit longer, but I had the new air filter sitting around since last year so I just changed it. Once I removed the old filter and found the dry rot on the rubber seal, I felt that the change was definitely due because of that.

The "filtered" side of the intake was perfectly clean, proving that the media was doing its job and that the filter minder works.
Regarding the gas mileage improvement comment, I'm positive that there will be no change. The minder registered no restriction and if it wasn't for the rotting seal, the filter media had a lot more miles left in it.

 

[Jim Allen]

Thanks for the report and the pics. Nice to see the visuals with the restriction report and the mileage. Good call on the seal. A good anecdote/statistic to add to the "how do air filters age?" file. I think you timed it just right!

 

[rrounds]

Did you ever open up the air box to check the condition of the filter or was it left there unmolested for whole time it was on the car?
The reason I ask this is because if you opened up the airbox several times that could have accelerated the deterioration of the air filter seal.

ROD

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: rrounds
Did you ever open up the air box to check the condition of the filter or was it left there unmolested for whole time it was on the car?
The reason I ask this is because if you opened up the airbox several times that could have accelerated the deterioration of the air filter seal.

ROD


During the four years the filter was there I opened it up twice. Once to install the filter minder and second time was last year during summer. It looked ok last year and I decided to just buy a new filter with a plant to change it this year. I never looked at the seals and it was only some recent thread I read about the potential seal issue that made me check it out and post pics. The filter would've been changed regardless.

 

[rrounds]

Thats good to know, thank you. Two times isn't much, I know guys that look every month or so.
On my S2000 I can pop the top of the air filter box and look at 90% of the cone filter that Honda uses and not touch the filter. Makes it nice to be able to see what's inside of the air box and not disturb the air filter.

ROD

 

[CharBaby]

Yeah Kris, I changed out my daughter's '06 Mazda3 OE/Mazda air filter at >50K miles and it looked similar. Not Bad!

She bought the car with 50K on it and I changed it right away. I put in a FRAM(cotton, not paper) like yours. Now at 100K(50K on the Fram filter) it still looks quite good last I looked

 

[daves66nova]

KRIS,is that filterminder off of a diesel engine? IIRC, they only make them for diesels.The vacuum on a gas engine will give an inaccurate reding on the filterminder,i think.