Pollen & Air Filters

[RavenTai]

my FZJ80 has a centrifugal pre-cleaner, after our pollen season I checked the catch pan and pulled out at least half a cup of pollen

I don't know if it warrants replacement but maybe blow it out with compressed air in the reverse direction

 

[Palut]

Is pollen hard enough to be abrasive inside an engine, like dirt particles?

 

[TC]

Not sure if we're talkin' about the engine air filter or the cabin/ventilation air filter..??!!

Most pollen is from 10-100 microns in diameter (link below). Typical car/truck paper air filters are designed to remove stuff down to about 20 microns, about the same as most oil filters. Engineering to filter out stuff much smaller than that tends to make for an overall restrictive air filter, and they don't worry too much about stuff smaller than that getting into the engine. (Which is somewhat strange actually, considering the landmark AC Filter/Detroit Diesel study determined that 2-22 micron particles cause most engine wear.) Anything much "softer" than steel -- and I'm sure this includes pollen -- probably isn't of great concern when down near the single digit range. I assume Detroit takes "typical" loads of all contaminants (dust, earth, sand, pollen, etc.) into account when determining change-out schedules. I would think that driving in dusty environments and dirt roads would greatly outweigh any impact pollen may have, in my opinion -- I'd suggest that the frequency and severity of "clouds" driven through would anecdotally answer this "pollen vs dirt load" question, and nothing beats the dirt storm kicked up on a dirt road or during desert storms. www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/ midewin/palynology02.html

[ May 23, 2004, 10:55 PM: Message edited by: TC ]

 

[buster]

It seems most of the pollen is up my nose, but does anyone think it's a good idea to change the air filter a bit early with all the pollen in the air? I've never had allergies in my life but this year I do and they are bad. Pollen count is extremely high this year.

 

[1maniac]

FWIW I notice a huge difference when I change the cabin filter in the BMW. I am amazed at how dirty that sucker gets

 

[seotaji]

quote:

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FWIW I notice a huge difference when I change the cabin filter in the BMW. I am amazed at how dirty that sucker gets

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I agree. I neglected mine, going about 15K over it's reccomended interval of 30K (check every 15K) and it was black and filled with nasty dirt and what looked like mold. Changed it and all was well, except that the filters are rather expensive and the way they are implemented is shoddy.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I change my cabin filter once a year. It doesn't get terribly dirty by then, but it's dirty enough to be changed.

Plus, it gives me the opportunity to spray some antifungal treatment into the fresh air intake to kill off any mold/mildue that can smell bad if left untreated for too long.