Pics of air filter change interval based on gage..

[gaijinnv]

Originally Posted By: pbm
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Originally Posted By: pbm
Could somebody explain how a filter minder works and how it is installed? Thank You.

You drill a hole somewhere after the filter, often in the part of the filter housing that leads to the engine. Insert the provided grommet and the filter minder pushes in to the grommet.

Then you drive. I usually like to floor it at least once at let the engine wrap out once so it sees maximum air demand.
The Filter minder will 'ratchet' up and then show you how much restriction the air filter is causing in inches of water. As the filter gets more loaded it will ratchet up more and more until it reads that a change is due.
In his case, he has one that reads to 30" of water, which is too much for a N/A engine so he is stopping part way into its range. That size is suited more for a turbo charged diesel engine (The turbo makes up for the restriction by sucking harder, so there is no loss of power from the engine. Same way they dont lose but a few % going up into the high mountains.)



Thanks Colton: Are you saying that the hole should be drilled in the (smooth part) of the intake (as opposed to the accordion like section) downstream of the air filter housing?

PS: I ask because this intrigues me....I've always been a stickler for maintaining my vehicles but I'll admit that the A/F got little attention....I would change them out approx. every 30K (sometimes I would shake them out and reinstall every 10 or 15K but I stopped doing that because I was worried about proper sealing of the filter box after disturbing it...)


Pictures always help. Here's how I mounted mine:

Air filter box on Toyota 5.7L V8 before installation:

Top of filter box removed shows position of air filter:

Mark desired location for filter gauge:

Drill hole, insert grommet and press in filter gauge:

After installation:

I chose the K&N gauge which goes into the red at 10" H2O:

HTH

 

[Colt45ws]

Yup! Thats exactly it. I don't currently have a vehicle with one in it. One just got a newer OE box that performs better and the other is waiting for the same upgrade before I put one on.

 

[FlyNavyP3]

Thanks for posting the pictures of your installed restriction gauge. I had a post of my install but, well, I was just too lazy to pull up the pictures.

 

[FlyNavyP3]

Also worth mentioning, the brand new air filter still has a 8" H2O restriction as measured by the peak reading on the gauge after a WOT blast today, I guess I could've gotten quite a bit more life out of the old gross one since it never even made it to 11".

 

[pbm]

Thank You gaijinnv....those pictures explained it perfectly.

 

[rrounds]

Originally Posted By: FlyNavyP3
Also worth mentioning, the brand new air filter still has a 8" H2O restriction as measured by the peak reading on the gauge after a WOT blast today, I guess I could've gotten quite a bit more life out of the old gross one since it never even made it to 11".

My Honda S2000 also had 8" with a new filter but I can take off the air filter lid to see if it was caused by the size of the stock opening or the filter. I found that the stock opening was causing the restriction so I modded the air box so I get no restriction with the lid put on and a new filter(still no restriction with a little over 40k miles).

ROD
p.s. the S2000 has a cone filter

 

[JustinH]

The point of these various doo-dads, and the cost versus just replacing a filter once a year?

I can see this being used on a heavy duty truck or something with a $$$ filter that runs a lot of miles, but most passenger cars take a $10 filter.

 

[FlyNavyP3]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
The point of these various doo-dads, and the cost versus just replacing a filter once a year?

I can see this being used on a heavy duty truck or something with a $$$ filter that runs a lot of miles, but most passenger cars take a $10 filter.


The cost of the gauge I installed was less than the cost of one filter. I extended my normal filter change interval which was based on visual appearance by double with the restriction gauge reading 8" which was also what the new filter read upon replacement. I can probably triple the interval I was previously using. But after doubling the previous filters use the gauge has already paid for itself. My filter is $18, gauge was $12, took 15 minutes to install. I'm already money ahead after not replacing one filter too early.

 

[CR94]

Originally Posted By: FlyNavyP3
... I can probably triple the interval I was previously using. But after doubling the previous filters use the gauge has already paid for itself. My filter is $18, gauge was $12, took 15 minutes to install. I'm already money ahead after not replacing one filter too early.
More importantly, your engine has ingested less grit than it would've if you had changed air filters too frequently.

 

[Kira]

A personal note: I HATE toys in cars but this one seems to have merit.

One thing I am missing is the calibration step.

I install one in my air cleaner's upper housing (got that) then go drive at WOT and then what happens?

Does the minder ratchet up (or down?) to some point for an extreme reference? ...then I push something to reset it to "a zero"?

OR should I go blasting up some very steep hill (I have one near me) and do my WOT run there?

NOTE: When we were kids we'd advance the timing in our cars then go blasting up Chilson Hill (Ticonderoga, NY) and got the engine to ping just a little.
That setting made it PERFECT for normal driving.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Yes, the minder is held in position it's pulled to. There is a button on top that resets it.

 

[bulwnkl]

The struggle I have with automotive filter restriction gauges stems from a couple fire trucks (late-model Fords) which collapsed their intake tracts when the filter restriction gauges said everything was still hunky-dory. Bad gauges? Perhaps. Something else entirely? _Maybe_? I just know that makes it tough to trust the filter minders. Still have one on my current personal vehicle, though I pay no attention to it since it's never moved at any time, even after driving through a haboob (sand storm).

 

[DoubleWasp]

Bad gauges 100%. It takes a lot less to pull them down that it does to collapse an air intake.

I test mine when I do an oil change.

 

[bulwnkl]

The point is: That's FAR too high a failure rate to trust restriction gauges.

 

[circuitsmith]

Perhaps the fire truck gauges were of the wrong range for the application.
Did they come from the factory?
Or perhaps chosen and installed by someone who doesn't understand the difference between inches of water and inches of mercury.

 

[Kira]

The difference between inches of mercury vs. inches of water shouldn't be involved.

The thing reacts against a spring. When could its calibration nomenclature be involved?

...or am I taking the previous post too seriously?