New to us 2013 Dodge Dart, 2.0L engine and manual transmission (yay for manuals!), bought last month with 13,400 km (8375 miles). The car looks like new. The exhaust heat shield was shiny like it came off the assembly line. Cool little car. Got a good deal as it was sitting on a Ford lot and small car sales have slumped due to cheaper gasoline prices.
The owners manual says to change the AF every 48,000 km (30,000 miles) or 3 years. I checked the filter and it's barely dirty in a few spots. So knowing what I know now about AF (thanks BITOG!), it's currently well seasoned and filtering at a high efficiency, meaning I should just leave it in till 48,000 km. But then why did FCA state a time to change in addition to miles? Do they know the AF seal will degrade in 3 years? Is it a liability issue only? Anything specific to this engine series (which I doubt as it's the FCA World Gas Engine platform used by a few other manufacturers)?
What would you gents do?
The owners manual says to change the AF every 48,000 km (30,000 miles) or 3 years. I checked the filter and it's barely dirty in a few spots. So knowing what I know now about AF (thanks BITOG!), it's currently well seasoned and filtering at a high efficiency, meaning I should just leave it in till 48,000 km. But then why did FCA state a time to change in addition to miles? Do they know the AF seal will degrade in 3 years? Is it a liability issue only? Anything specific to this engine series (which I doubt as it's the FCA World Gas Engine platform used by a few other manufacturers)?
What would you gents do?