Rick's Free Auto Repair Advice

When to replace the engine air filter?

All filters look grey after a while, so here’s when to replace the engine air filter

Most carmakers recommend replacing your engine air filter every 12,000 to 15,000 miles. This is a good general guideline to follow. However, if you drive in dusty conditions or areas with high levels of air pollution, you may need to replace it more frequently. In other words, how often you should replace the engine air filter depends on where you drive and how dusty and dirty the air is.

Your owner’s maintenance guide gives you a mileage or time recommendation. But it also lists caveats like: “change more often if you live or drive in dusty conditions.” So let’s say you drive on gravel and dirt roads. How often should you change it, because time really isn’t appropriate in this case? The correct answer is that you have to perform a visual inspection. Here’s how to check an air filter

There’s no hard and fast rule about what a dirty engine air filter looks like

Let’s take a look at these two air filters. The one on the left is new and the one on the right would be called dirty” by every shop on the planet. But is it really dirty?

The filter on the right is fine. I opened the pleats and there’s no dirt buildup at the bottom. All you’re seeing on this “dirty filter” is a light dusting on the top of the pleats. That’s not enough reason to change it. In fact, it has a LOT of air filtering capacity left. This filter will flow all the air your engine needs. So don’t get talked into a filter change just because it’s slightly grey.

engine air filter claen versus dirty

Here’s how to do a visual check on your engine air filter

Look for oil soaked patches

oil soaked air filter
These filters have large areas of oil that comprise 25%-40% of the filter, so they’re not allowing airflow through those areas. Technically speaking, these filter can probably flow enough air through the non-soaked areas, but those areas will now clog up much faster. I’d replace each of these filter.

Replace when dirt/debris fills the pleats halfway

It’s what’s in the pleats that counts and how much is in the pleats. Spread the pleats open and check on how much debris is buried deep in the pleat. If the dirt fills have the height of the pleat, replace the engine air filter, regardless of how the rest of it looks.
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