Air Filter @ 67K..warning, GRAPHIC PICS!

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Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Where in the He** do you drive in the PNW?


I live in Seattle, but I rarely do any short trips. So, its all I-5 and I-90, with a couple of trips to the Central Coast thrown in there, along with a few trips over to eastern OR. For the mileage, the filter looks about as I'd expect. I visually inspected the filter a few times without removing it or opening the air box(I posted a pic @ 40K or so), and at least visually the appearance of dirt is a bit non-linear, i.e. it got looked a lot more dirty after the last 20K miles.

That said, keep in mind that this filter was showing no more restriction than went it was new. So, regardless of looks it really wasn't that dirty.
 
Originally Posted By: JOD
Originally Posted By: KenO
I always wonder whats going on when I see pics like this. My BMW's air filter with ~35k on it looks like new. You've got a [censored] of a PCV problem if your filter is getting that oily.


umm...huh?

Could you explain how the PCV would have anything to do with the dirty side of an air filter, because I'm completely lost. I realize it's the BITOG trend to blame everything on the PCV valve, but that just makes zero sense. The only thing hitting the filter is fresh air?

BTW, while I realize it's tough to tell from the pics, the filter wasn't oily, it was just dirty. This filter does come with a fine layer of oil, OEM, but it was very dry upon removal. Still, if combustion products are getting to the dirty side of an air filter, I'd think a PCV valve would be the least of your problems--time to start looking for giant holes in your engine block or something...


Some cars will run crankcase breather hoses to the airbox. Other times you could have oil in the intake tubes from blowbye pushing oil thru other parts of the intake tract, either from reversion (intake pulses that make their way out past the throttle body - by design - hence the purpose of a helmholtz resonator) or from an intake/idle control/crankcase vent hose somewhere. Not all vehicles use pcv checkvalves either you know.


I had an '88 Lincoln Towncar that would do just that. Would get the filter oily from blowbye. A friends '74 Mercedes 240D had an air filter compartment that was full of oil. Also, check where your airbox is getting it's air from. Do you have all of the OEM plastic underpanels in place? Perhaps you're getting dirty air washing off something in the engine bay directing dirt into the airbox. Aero is funny stuff like that.....
 
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Hello, I can't believe I read this entire post. I say that because I'm impatient.
Anyway, the OP's filter looked real dirty. Those oiled filters seem to work well.
It's too bad there isn't a lab for filters.
Is resistance to airflow the ONLY measure of an air filter's age? Could it be that wee tears develop thus showing an easy flowing filter? Kira
 
Originally Posted By: KenO
Originally Posted By: JOD
Originally Posted By: KenO
I always wonder whats going on when I see pics like this. My BMW's air filter with ~35k on it looks like new. You've got a [censored] of a PCV problem if your filter is getting that oily.


umm...huh?

Could you explain how the PCV would have anything to do with the dirty side of an air filter, because I'm completely lost. I realize it's the BITOG trend to blame everything on the PCV valve, but that just makes zero sense. The only thing hitting the filter is fresh air?


BTW, while I realize it's tough to tell from the pics, the filter wasn't oily, it was just dirty. This filter does come with a fine layer of oil, OEM, but it was very dry upon removal. Still, if combustion products are getting to the dirty side of an air filter, I'd think a PCV valve would be the least of your problems--time to start looking for giant holes in your engine block or something...


Some cars will run crankcase breather hoses to the airbox. Other times you could have oil in the intake tubes from blowbye pushing oil thru other parts of the intake tract, either from reversion (intake pulses that make their way out past the throttle body - by design - hence the purpose of a helmholtz resonator) or from an intake/idle control/crankcase vent hose somewhere. Not all vehicles use pcv checkvalves either you know.


I had an '88 Lincoln Towncar that would do just that. Would get the filter oily from blowbye. A friends '74 Mercedes 240D had an air filter compartment that was full of oil. Also, check where your airbox is getting it's air from. Do you have all of the OEM plastic underpanels in place? Perhaps you're getting dirty air washing off something in the engine bay directing dirt into the airbox. Aero is funny stuff like that.....



The situations you describe would not make the dirty side of the filter oily. Any connection from the crankcase for whatever reason will take air from the clean side of the filter
 
My Escort had the PVC plugged in before the filter. My mustang and Nissan have it closer to the Throttle body.
 
if best maintenance practices indicate that through UOA's that filtration is more efficient and lowers wear rates over freshly changed air filters.
 
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Originally Posted By: raytseng
The design of a car's air flow can greatly affect how quickly an air filter gets dirty. So it's not good to make generalizations.

I won't speak about really old designs where filters are round, but older designs would have the filters mounted vertically and in a box which the air will hit pretty straight from a duct in the intake.

Newer designs have complex ducting with twists and turns and the air filter is often upside down in it's box now. The performance enthusiasts feel these bends and curves are stealing power and so get a straightpipe aftermarket intake, but in reality the car even stock gets more than enough air then it can use anyway, and even if you have temporary dyno increases, the ECU will just account and adjust for that very shortly. Mainly the car will just sound different

This ducting filters particles as the denser particles can't make the turns and will just drop out of the air stream; and any that make it to the airbox will settle and won't be sucked vertically into the filter anyway. This is similar to how bagless vacuums work

Anyhoo, back to the point, my 98 car has a plain vertical airbox and will look like it needs an air filter after about 30k miles.
My 2009car has this more modern ducting and an upside down filter and will go 60k if not even more before the same amount of dirt accumulates.


As a side note: Most cabin airfilters don't have an airbox or complexities to do filtering and are just a straight shot from the outside intake down to the filter, so will gather leaves and other dust/grime pretty easily.


You are referring to a speed density system. MAF systems can adjust for extra airflow, and will provide more fuel up to the limits of the fuel system. In the sense that they adjust, yes, but they do not function to limit performance gains. Modern intakes and exhausts tend to be pretty well sorted out of the box though.
 
I will say that newer oem systems are tuned, that is to say aftermarket systems give you more power at WOT and high rpm, sometimes actually shifting the powerband up, but driving around normally not so much.
 
[censored] the filter on my mustang would look like that after about 5,000 miles. It had almost no protection and two intake tubes feeding air into it.
 
Hello, An old, long post this is.

About those filter minders (sorry if Filter Minder is a proper/brand name) which come up from time to time:

No one ever mentions calibrating them. Another way of putting it is, Nowhere is a particular engine's air flow mentioned.

A spring loaded plunger with color coded bands? It's a wind sock at best, no? Kira
 
They just measure vacuum Kira, there is nothing to calibrate. Once vacuum (filter restriction) hits a certain level, the little plunger indicates that the filter needs to be changed.
 
The filter doesn't look bad. There are many times I have a vehicle "in the air " to work on something and I'll change the oil and grease it etc. so I don't have to take the time next month to change the oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
Hello, An old, long post this is.

About those filter minders (sorry if Filter Minder is a proper/brand name) which come up from time to time:

No one ever mentions calibrating them. Another way of putting it is, Nowhere is a particular engine's air flow mentioned.

A spring loaded plunger with color coded bands? It's a wind sock at best, no? Kira

I'm sorry you don't understand what or how a restriction gauge works. There is nothing to calibrate, just put it on and read what it tells you. I have over 90k miles on my S2000 air filter and by what my Filter Minder is reading, I'll have to change the air filter out this coming spring.
Every truck(18 wheel truck) I drove or owned had one right on the dash so I didn't even have to open the hood to see what it read. If its good enough for over the road trucks then its great for my cars.

ROD
 
4K miles did that???

I just replaced the air filter in my 1995 Ford Escort, and the filter had 35K miles in it, and it looked way better then the OP's filter.
 
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
So again as with the OCI lets risk in my case a $17000 auto for a $20 air filter. No thanks


Your an idiot. It will in no way risk his vehicle.
 
I had an issue with the fram air filter, the orange foam was "crumbly" . is that a word? when new in the box, if you rolled it with your fingers it came apart in pieces. went to a denso, have to order them, stores don't seem to stock them, seems denso would work on that?

where do you buy denso air filters?
 
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