K&N type oil-less engine air filter

Great pictures! Your air filter does look pretty good. I'm probably changing mine too often. And yeah, the cabin filter does get a lot dirtier, a lot faster. Mine was full of sand, and sand in the glove box. It's still a mystery how that happened.

 

Well that isn't too wise.
You can't always tell the condition of an air filter by LOOKING at it.
I think you are overdue.

 

Not "vital" maybe but the air filter usually lives where it gets REAL HOT and sometimes real damp......and those things can age a paper based material too. Having one fail structurally is MUCH worse than letting it get a bit overly dirty. Think chunks of paper sucked into the engine.

But no I am not saying that is a common occurrence but it is possible.

 

AAA has an interesting write up.

 

Who’s gonna do a search and post it on here? No one even uses the search feature here

 

You can check the condition accurately only by measuring the pressure drop across it. That's the most often over-maintained part of consumer vehicles. Needlessly frequent air filter changes are a sure-fire way to shorten the life of your engine, assuming no other disaster kills it first.

 

Why would you NOT want air flowing thru a CLEAN filter?

Why would you want your engine's air flow to be restricted by a DIRTY filter?

Makes no sense.

 

Q1. Because new air filters do not block abrasive air-borne dirt from entering the the engine as nearly well as moderately used ones do. That's been proven repeatedly by engineering studies.

Q2. Obviously you would not want your engine's air intake to be excessively restricted by a clogged filter. Replace it before that happens, but not prematurely, while it's still in its prime. Why is that so hard to understand?

 

WHAT ??
Total BS.

Next you will be telling us that changing your oil too often is bad too.

Where do you GET this crap ??

 

Ok, roger that. I will extend the time to 24 months. Or maybe even 30 months, and then decide if I want to buy a new filter... or go get a dozen donuts & coffee.

 

I guess this depends on location .. ours get dirty. I typically switch them all out every year on the cabins and 20k on the engines. Mine are always dirty .. and it gives me a chance to clean it all out.

Modern filters work as designed out of the box .... It's crazy how these old theories don't die. You want full flow -- also old filters start to flake ... especially the cheap ones. I can get Denso filters so cheap I don't even think about the cost. It's easier to just log all Prius filters changes on "x" day

 

Agree on the cabin filter, especially after I found sand in the glove box. The filter was filthy. But that was a weird event. Regardless, it gets changed every 12 months. Toyota OEM.

What else can we argue about... Tire pressure again? Oil change intervals? Driving modes? Killing bugs in the cabin, or catching them and making them your pet?

 

Where do you get your crap???

@CR94 is right, air filters get more efficient at trapping dirt the more they're loaded. Unless the air filter is completely plugged, fuel economy will not be affected due to fuel injection and O2 sensors.

If you want to save a ton of money on air filters and extend the engine life get a filter minder and pre-filter. A filter minder will tell you when your air filter is constricted enough to be worth changing. The pre-filter can catch all the large stuff like leaves, sand and pebbles.

A filter minder is in the top right of this photo:

IMG_20170717_122331_mod by mjoo posted Jul 18, 2017 at 1:16 PM

 

Which one is the new one?

My Gen4 Prius takes the same small filters as the Prius C. .And when brand new, they are that yellow color. How come yours is so white?

 

It's not crap.
The original claim was that changing your filter too often can somehow "damage" your engine......and that is pure fantasy.

Nobody was claiming that one needs to change it every 30 days.......and in most circumstances, the "increase in efficiency" (which really isn't efficiency at all) occurs in the first couple of operating weeks.

Then.....it is possible to collect enough fine, light colored "particles" to mostly plug the media without it looking "dirty" at all.

And finally......how exactly do you think that the engine control computer can compensate if the air flow drops below design limits ??
Hint: It can't. The AFR is already about as lean as it can get.

 

Would you believe just four or five months ago I put in a brand new engine air filter? And just recently I had to remove it and install another new one. All depends on where you live, and how you drive, and how dusty & dirty your area is.

It's still a mystery, but I had sand all over the engine bay, not to mention cat poop, and the sand also got into the air filter box. And the glove box. This is a terribly dry awful dusty area I'm in. I pull out both filters at least twice a year, and take a look at them.

 

It is good to be aware of one's surroundings.......for a LOT of reasons.
It is also good not to make generalizations about stuff and claim it is absolute fact.
YMMV.