Once In the Truck's Life Air Filter Replacement

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My truck is about halfway through its life, our winter road salt will eventually rot out the chassis. I installed a restriction gauge when I bought the truck. To date there is no observable restriction in the filter since the gauge has not moved at all. I have tested the gauge to ensure it is accurate. Anyway I decided to replace the filter after eight years of service. I dont expect to ever have to replace this second filter.

Here is the restriction gauge


Old filter


Clean intake post filter



The filter could have served for a few more years but I decided to splurge and change the filter. BTW the most recent UOA showed low silicon, so the filter was still doing its job well.

Air filters are changed much too frequently, wasting resources.
 
Originally Posted By: George7941
Air filters are changed much too frequently, wasting resources.


That's some blanket statement. Filter life is very much decided by materials, applications, environment. In your pics I see an easy environment for a filter. Plenty of cars go far longer on a filter than they should.

What would be beneficial would be restriction testing to dictate replacement vs. the usual JL-type "oh, your filter looks terrible" garbage. How the filter looks rarely means anything.
 
Wow. Both the engine and cabin air filters in my Subaru were full of dust, bugs, and various other organic matter when I replaced them at 30,000 miles. I suppose it depends on the vehicle, location, and driving style.
 
I replaced my friends AF on her tundra about 2.5 years ago; a few weeks ago I popped the compartment open to see if it needs a change and there is no sign of any discoloring to the filter media; looks like i put it in there last week. This is about 33K miles ago.
 
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Originally Posted By: B20z
Originally Posted By: George7941
Air filters are changed much too frequently, wasting resources.


That's some blanket statement. Filter life is very much decided by materials, applications, environment. In your pics I see an easy environment for a filter. Plenty of cars go far longer on a filter than they should.

A lot of DIYers believe frequent air filters replacements help gas mileage and engine life, so, considering the low cost of an air filter, they go ahead and replace it.

In a shop environment, an air filter sale is a profit generator, so if the filter looks the least bit dirty, it gets replaced.

So, except in the infrequent cases of cars equipped with restriction gauges and honest and knowledgeable technicians, the filter gets replaced as a "preventative measure"
 
Originally Posted By: George7941
My truck is about halfway through its life, our winter road salt will eventually rot out the chassis. I installed a restriction gauge when I bought the truck. To date there is no observable restriction in the filter since the gauge has not moved at all. I have tested the gauge to ensure it is accurate. Anyway I decided to replace the filter after eight years of service. I dont expect to ever have to replace this second filter.

Here is the restriction gauge

Take off your rose colored glasses, you can see the buildup inbetween the pleats, and you think it will go a few more years???
33.gif

spend a few bucks and change it, your truck and fuel mileage will thank you.

Old filter


Clean intake post filter



The filter could have served for a few more years but I decided to splurge and change the filter. BTW the most recent UOA showed low silicon, so the filter was still doing its job well.

Air filters are changed much too frequently, wasting resources.


Surely you Jest, that filter needs to go, you can see the buildup inbetween the pleats, spend a few bucks and replace it
33.gif
 
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Originally Posted By: QuOk
Check your brake lines, I bet they are heavily rusted!!!


They would have been heavily rusted had I not been spraying them with Krown!

You are right that GM used really poor quality brake lines on the T800 platform. These trucks are notorious for lines rusting through and leaking fluid.
 
Originally Posted By: George7941

A lot of DIYers believe frequent air filters replacements help gas mileage and engine life, so, considering the low cost of an air filter, they go ahead and replace it.

In a shop environment, an air filter sale is a profit generator, so if the filter looks the least bit dirty, it gets replaced.

So, except in the infrequent cases of cars equipped with restriction gauges and honest and knowledgeable technicians, the filter gets replaced as a "preventative measure"


I agree completely, there is nothing wrong with letting the filter get a little dirty - it's just doing it's job. Blow it out with a compressor and toss it back in is always an option too.

That truck looks pretty clean from what I can see in the pic!
 
06 GM truck and the cab mounts,and rear spring hangers/shackles haven't rusted away yet? I guess you are pretty lucky compared to other owners.
 
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
06 GM truck and the cab mounts,and rear spring hangers/shackles haven't rusted away yet? I guess you are pretty lucky compared to other owners.


Did not know rear spring hangers/shackles are rust prone on these trucks. I will keep them and the cab mounts wetted with Krown from now on. I did notice that the cab mounts tend to rust on my truck.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
I agree completely, there is nothing wrong with letting the filter get a little dirty - it's just doing it's job. Blow it out with a compressor and toss it back in is always an option too.


No, no! Do not use compressed air on the filter element! You could create tiny invisible tears that will let in unfiltered air.
 
Originally Posted By: Malo83
Surely you Jest, that filter needs to go, you can see the buildup inbetween the pleats, spend a few bucks and replace it
33.gif



Here is a look in between the pleats


There is a lot of life left in the filter. Looks can be deceiving, the ONLY reliable indicator of filter life is the restriction gauge.
 
What did the filter restriction guage cost, and what does a new filter cost?

This panel filter is 5-10 dollars. I would have replaced it years ago.
 
How hard would it be to add a filter restriction sensor to vehicle computer systems. If a reliable OLM can be contrived , why not? Of course what the Mensa candidate behind the wheel did with the information is, as they say, problematic.
 
Just checked RockAuto, the Wix 42487 for my truck is $17.68 + shipping. Absolutely no point in replacing the existing filter with a poor quality $10 filter.

My point is, if the existing filter is not offering any restriction, it is of no benefit to replace it with a new one, whether it is a $10 filter or a $17 filter.

FWIW, I bought the restriction gauge decades ago and transfer it from vehicle to vehicle. I have a Dwyer Magnehelic gauge that measures inches of water column and I verify the accuracy of the restriction gauge by applying vacuum to it and comparing its reading to that of the Dwyer gauge.
 
OLM systems have contributed greatly to reducing unnecessary oil changes and the resultant waste of resources. If only manufacturers equipped all cars with restriction gauges and educated drivers on their accuracy and trustworthiness, we could easily halve the number of air filter replacements.
 
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