90k plus miles on air filter

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10-16-2016, 10:09 AM

#21

rrounds

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Car Analogy

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrounds

If you can get rocks and leaves pass the filter, you don't have a filter.

ROD

I think he means rocks and leaves in the airbox, before the filter. The stock airbox does a decent job at keeping that stuff out of the airbox. But aftermarket filters can be different, and there can be more debris allowed in the filter area, thus the filter might get dirtier, sooner, as compared to stock.

Of course, all that would do is require more frequent filter change. It wouldn't allow more dirt into engine. It would just allow less air as filter clogged.

So his question is a little invalid.

What is valid is a filter that allowed more particles past it than stock, would have what result? Wouldn't those tiny particles 'atomize'? The answer is, no. Not at all. But the worry isn't they will get into the oil, and cause bearing wear. The worry is they will get on the cylinder walls, and cause ring and cylinder wear. Lowering compression over time, more oil blowby, loss of power, early engine demise.

The cylinder walls have a light coat of oil, so any grit that gets to cylinder, will tend to stick to the cylinder walls. Yeah, some of it will shoot out the exhaust not causing damage, but some of it will stick to cylinder walls, and when piston slides back through it on next stroke, it will act like sandpaper, grinding away at walls and rings.

If you change/clean the filter to soon you do let more dirt get into the engine. A new/clean filter doesn't stop as much dirt/dust as one that has 10k miles on it. And a UOA tells you how well your filter and whole intake is going it job, how by testing whats in the oil. Like Chromium and Silicon as both of these can tell you how well or not your filter is going its job. The more of those two elements you have the more wear you will have on your whole engine, not just the rings.

For those who don't know whats in a UOA
https://bobistheoilguy.com/what-is-oil-analysis/

I change my filter at the start of winter because there is less dust in the air(rain does a very good job of cleanning the air) that way my filter gets the larger stuff first and that helps when the fine dust hits the filter.

One more thing, If I had FI this gauge would be one of the first things I'd put on the intake. Don't want to spend all that money for FI and then maybe put a restiction on it to cost me some HP.

ROD

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10-16-2016, 11:46 AM

#22

rrounds

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One more thing, I hope no one on here uses compressed air to blow out the filter before cleaning. Thats a sure fire way to kill your engine.
Here is just one of many sites that will show you how much dirt a filter damaged by compressed air will let in.
http://www.widman.biz/English/Analysis/Cleaning.html

ROD

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10-17-2016, 11:06 AM

#23

freetors

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A dirty filter filters better than a clean one, just with a lot more restriction!

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10-17-2016, 02:41 PM

#24

rrounds

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Quote:

Originally Posted by freetors

A dirty filter filters better than a clean one, just with a lot more restriction!

Thats not true and my 90k mile air filter proves that out. I can say with all certainty that my filter that had 90k miles on it didn't have any measurable restriction as shown by my restriction gauge.

I could have covered some of the filter with plastic wrap to see how much it would take to get a restriction. When I get some time I think I'll experiment a little to see how much one would have to block off to get a restriction from the filter. Thats the nice thing about being retired, having time to play with your toys.

ROD

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01-27-2019, 05:00 AM

#25

rpg51

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This is an interesting thread. I think I'm going to stop changing out my air filters so much. Every time I read intake threads I end up concluding that I'm sticking with OEM. I like that intake noise as much as the next guy, but I'm honestly not trying to attract attention out there.

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01-27-2019, 05:42 AM

#26

zeroptzero

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Quote:

Originally Posted by rpg51

Most aftermarket intakes sound obnoxious to me in the VTEC range, buzzsaw is the best way I can describe it.

My all time favourite intake is the Mugen. While I'm not a fan of cotton gauze filters, I ran a K&N drycharger type fabric cover over the Mugen cotton gauze filter to prescreen sand and dust , it worked great and didn't affect performance at all.