Nope. That would be a big problem for sure.
Wix re efficiency increasing with use
- Thread starter mojoe
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Did you check the filter seal to the airbox for any signs of leakage? If it was an aftermarket filter, some don't seal well. If you're getting visible dirt in the intake tube after the air filter, something is going on beside it not being efficient and/or shedding debris from normal use. When a mouse is involved, all bets are off, lol.
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Yeah if the air filter had a torn seal or hole in the media yeah then I would just assume that was the culprit. I've found plenty of engines that have really dirty air filters and dirt on the inside of the intake track.
My beater dodge Dakota was one of the more recent ones. The air filter had been in there for way longer than it should have, no holes in the paper I could see and no foam tears that went all the way through the foam. I pulled the intake pipe and wiped out all the dirt. It's still clean after nearly 20,000 miles on the same filter. That filter also gets gently blown off with compressed air and shopvacced every oci.
Could be some kind of leak past the filter was happening to get the downstream side dirty. If it was on "way too long", it could be the media integrity started going south.
If you cleaned it up the intake duct after the filter, installed a new different filter and it's still clean after 20K miles, then something was going on with the first filter that caused the dirt on the clean side.
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Since air filters have come into the "efficiency change with use" discussion, here's some info I posted in another thread showing another air filter study.
Here's an interesting paper. More data that shows used air filters are more efficient than new filters. You can download the whole article PDF in the link below:
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ating_Tests_for_Automotive_Engine_Air_Filters
Snips from the paper in the link.
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ating_Tests_for_Automotive_Engine_Air_Filters
Snips from the paper in the link.
Now add thousands of hours of run time with constant vibration, intake pulsations, variable air speed, ect.Since air filters have come into the "efficiency change with use" discussion, here's some info I posted in another thread showing another air filter study.
Here's an interesting paper. More data that shows used air filters are more efficient than new filters. You can download the whole article PDF in the link below:
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ating_Tests_for_Automotive_Engine_Air_Filters
Snips from the paper in the link.
The lab tests show one thing, real world seems to show something else.
In a perfect world the old 30,000 to 50,000 mile air filter should have stopped virtual everything.
Unless the media and/or seal was degrading and becoming less efficient and letting debris by - that's the only way debris gets by an air filter to that degree - or the filter just wasn't very efficient to start with and the debris got through in the early staged of the filter use. Lab tests and real world tests (like the one in the post above) both show air filter efficiency increases with use.
Like said, if a new filter ran for 20K miles doesn't show the same dirt on the clean side of the filter, then something was going on with the filter that did show dirt down stream.
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