The joys of air filters and the desert.

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I mentioned before that I live on a dusty dirt road. Get a couple of cars on it and you have to stop till the dust and silt settle or blow away.

I put this Microgauard air filter in our Toyota last November. Roughly 9000 miles ago.

I drove it last weekend ( wife's car) and it felt sluggish to me. The 4.0 v6 is normally pretty peppy. I pulled the air filter and lightly taped it on a piece of wood. This is what I got. I also noticed that when I held it up to the sun I could not see light through it.

It got a Fram this round.

IMG_20190914_163206.jpg


IMG_20190914_163229.jpg
 
Wow, that's an impressive amount of sand/silt. The dirt bike and off road buggy guys often use a "pre-filter" or "filter wrap" which is just a very fine mesh screen, to keep such stuff out of the filter element itself.

I've used them with great results, as the sand/silt often just falls off the screen and does not build up.

I have no idea if it could be adapted to your situation. I suspect that some creative effort would be required.
 
Uni sells open cell foam that can be cut to fit the dirty side of the air box. You oil the foam to pre clean the air before it hits the filter. The foam can be cleaned and reoiled many times.

The ghetto version is to just smear grease inside the dirty side of the air box. Some dirt will stick to it and not hit the filter.

BSW
 
You could also run a dryflow intake from Injen or AEM. Add a prefilter and wrap two layers of pantyhose on top of that. This is my current setup that hasnt been cleaned or changed in over 200,000 miles.
 
Originally Posted by bsmithwins
Uni sells open cell foam that can be cut to fit the dirty side of the air box. You oil the foam to pre clean the air before it hits the filter. The foam can be cleaned and reoiled many times.

The ghetto version is to just smear grease inside the dirty side of the air box. Some dirt will stick to it and not hit the filter.

BSW


Or you could ask a cleaning service for their old buffer pads and cut to size as well.
 
Originally Posted by Marco620
Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog
Fram makes an Ultra for this application
smile.gif




He needs more than a FramUltra,needs rain and humidity to ease the dirt and dust.

Even when it rains it dries out in a day or 2.
 
Or you could ask your wife to do what you do. If there are a couple of cars on the road instead of driving through the silt cloud, wait for it to settle before proceeding.
 
Originally Posted by ArrestMeRedZ
Or you could ask your wife to do what you do. If there are a couple of cars on the road instead of driving through the silt cloud, wait for it to settle before proceeding.

She does. It's just so dusty here regardless. Even inside the house collects dust and nobody drives by my place as I'm the last house on the road.
 
I found this post on another site, https://www.toyota-4runner.org/main...th-gen-engine-air-filter-question-2.html, about Toyota air filters:

I work for the company that makes both filters. The -38051 is made at a plant in Japan and the -YZZ13 is made in the U.S.

They both have the same design - the only difference is the pre-filter. The -38051 will hold more dust. The pre-filter is primarily for vehicles used in the mid-east (Saudi Arabia, etc.). So Toyota ships all vehicles with the -YZZ13. The pre-filter is not needed in the U.S. unless you do a lot of desert driving. And, you would have to do a lot of desert driving to actually need it.

Some dealers apparently choose to only carry the -YZZ13 version, but it is available online. I can't speak for why some dealers don't carry both versions. The -YZZ13 usually has a smaller price tag since it's missing the pre-filter.

The pre-filter is white when it ships in a new vehicle and turns dark after use. There is no charcoal in the pre-filter.
 
That's more dust than my filter would catch in 500k miles of driving mainly on paved roads in the East---despite occasionally having to drive through dusty construction zones.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog
Fram makes an Ultra for this application
smile.gif


That's what I put in it. I'm sure it too will be plugged in 8 or so months.


I also picked up the Fram Ultra air filter (XGA9683) for my Toyota 4.0L V6. How was the fit on yours? I haven't put mine in yet.
 
I have a AFE ProDry in my Tacoma 4.0L. I usually blow it out every 30K. My wife's Pilot has a AEM Dryflow. That filter has 2K on it.
 
Think I'd go on RockAuto, find the cheapest OEM type paper replacement, buy in bulk and change as needed. They have a Ultra-Power for $4.84 and a Champ Labs for $7.27.
 
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