Air filter fail.

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This 2000 Astro van belongs to our local homeless shelter. They brought the van in to have the AC recharged. While it was in the shop I spied a leaking radiator hose. So to replace it I had to take the air filter box out.

This is what I found.

They declined a new air filter. We even offered to sell it to them at our price which was $9.79.

I guess as long as the homeless have cold air then everything is ok. Don't want the homeless sweating.

0701091306.jpg
 
It amazes me the way people don't seem to care about AF's. My Brother who is very good about maintenance had a fiilter that looked like that in his 06 Super Duty. I was helping him change the oil and while he was crawling under to pull the filter I asked if he wanted to check the AF. he said naw it is fine. Turns out it was the original filter that came with the truck over 50K ago.

I checked it anyway and could not believe how bad it was. We went and got a new one. He picked up 1.5 MPG as a benefit. Mine are checked every OC( 5K )and replaced every 15K max or sooner if needed.
 
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Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Any chance you could have just replaced it for free?


Thats up to my boss. If a customer does not give us a hard time, whining about prices and doesn't beat us down then they would get prefered treatment.

The people that bring their own used parts then expect us to change them untill they get a good one don't get free stuff.

Guess which one this van belongs too?
 
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It would have been nice to dontate an air filter to them. no big hassle in dontating a $10 part that requires no wrench work
 
Wow. They're willing to spend $100+ on an AC recharge, but not $10 on a new air filter? Let me guess, they thought it was just another way to pull more money out of them...as if the shop will really benefit from $10.
crazy2.gif


I change my air filter every 3,000 miles. Call it overkill, but we have dust storms every single day.
 
Originally Posted By: MrCritical
If they're like our local homeless shelter, their money may indeed be that tight.


Indeed, but a filter THAT plugged up would pay for itself quickly in better fuel economy.
 
Originally Posted By: MrCritical
If they're like our local homeless shelter, their money may indeed be that tight.


Obviously not since they shelled out money for A/C.
 
I'm curious about the colour of the dust on that filter. It looks like some kind of plant based fluff has been building. Air filters here get nearly black over time, from all the soot in the air. It would be neat to cut out a section of that dust, and do a cross section, to see if there are layers of different colours that correspond to pollens and other airborne matter that changes with the season. You could propbably count the layers and figure out how old it was. You could even do DNA testing, and find out where the van had been driven (if you had a database of all the local trees, of course).
 
Ridiculous bureaucracy at work. Not haviong AC would be considered 'cruel' to the homeless people who ride in the van, so they are given the budget to fix JUST that. No money to take care of the rest of the van.

When the van [censored] out from lack of maintenance, they will whine to media about not having money to replace the vehicle, and some local dealer will feel guilty, want community brownie points, and donate a new van for the publicity. New van will face the same fate....its all politics and publicity, not logical decisions....
 
I just think of it as a restrictor plate that will keep the volunteers (employees?) from stoplight racing down skid row...
 
wow lame.. when i worked at sears there were a few cars where the people were too poor to pay for little stuff so i just did it for free. but as a general rule i dont give money to people. kinda like the same mentality where you give a homeless guy with a "im hungy" sign food and he gets upset cause he wanted money for alcohol. also my aunt worked with the homeless and said that most of the ones at least here wanted to be homeless.
 
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