I bought my car new in 2013. In 2016 at 70.000 km I changed the air filter out for the first time as per the manual. Due to the location of the filter housing behind the right fog light, the filter has to be accessed from below, so I don't inspect it in between changes. Today I changed the filter out again as the car has 140.000 km.
The first filter was soaked in oil and the foam on the base was cracked due to the oil deteriorating. No dirt could get in as there's a lid covering the base. The OE replacement I took out today was totally dry and not cracked.
The oil could only come from the pcv system, if vapors condensed and ran down towards the filter rather than towards the turbo. The first filter was subjected to the factory fill (petronas 5w30) for 15000 km, Castrol edge 5w-40 turbo diesel for 20.000 km and a dealer installed Total 5w-30 product for 15000 km, after which I switched to my current oil and did all changes myself. The second filter has only ever seen the current oil. I can't know which of the oils caused the soaking, but I'm guessing it's not the Quartz 9000 energy.
Besdies some extra km on the engine, nothing but the oils has changed on the car. Quite amazed what a difference an oil can make. I only changed the filter today as I was expecting the cracking, had I know it could have lasted a whole lot longer. With the oil on it I couldn't tell how dirty it was, this one looked really clean except for the area where the air entered the housing.
The first filter was soaked in oil and the foam on the base was cracked due to the oil deteriorating. No dirt could get in as there's a lid covering the base. The OE replacement I took out today was totally dry and not cracked.
The oil could only come from the pcv system, if vapors condensed and ran down towards the filter rather than towards the turbo. The first filter was subjected to the factory fill (petronas 5w30) for 15000 km, Castrol edge 5w-40 turbo diesel for 20.000 km and a dealer installed Total 5w-30 product for 15000 km, after which I switched to my current oil and did all changes myself. The second filter has only ever seen the current oil. I can't know which of the oils caused the soaking, but I'm guessing it's not the Quartz 9000 energy.
Besdies some extra km on the engine, nothing but the oils has changed on the car. Quite amazed what a difference an oil can make. I only changed the filter today as I was expecting the cracking, had I know it could have lasted a whole lot longer. With the oil on it I couldn't tell how dirty it was, this one looked really clean except for the area where the air entered the housing.
