Please take a look at my air filter.

[RipRocK]

I've been chaning my engine air filter at every 20,000KM/12,500Miles. Even though the manual suggests changing it at every 24,000KM/15,000Miles interval, I figured it's something I can do on my own for a little extra protection.

However, looking at my filter now, I'm not so sure if 20,000KM/12,500Miles interval is even adequate. I didn't pay too much attention at the filter the first time I changed it, but this time around, I decided to pay a close inspection.

Tell me what you guys think. Should I have changed the filter sooner? If so, looking at my filter, at what interval would you recommend I change it at? 15,000KM/9,300Miles or even 12,000KM/7,500Miles? Thanks for your time and courtesy.

P.S. I ended up with quite a few photos showing the dirty filter from different angles. So, I thought I'd post just a few here and provide a this link to the site with the rest of the pics instead of attaching them all in here. I didn't have a chance to produce thumbnails, so those with dial-ups, might take a little while. Altogether, the pics came out to be 3.5MB, each about 150KB.

[RipRocK]

Topview of the dirty side.

[RipRocK]

Comparing the next two pictures, it's interesting to see how the dirt only ended up settling on one side of the gills and barely on the other. Is this normal?

[RipRocK]

the dirty side:

[RipRocK]

This is the pic of the other side and relatively clean. But I did find a few small spots of dirt/grease like this one and made me show this to you guys. Over at the link I provided, you'll find a couple of more pics with those small spots. Again, is this normal or can this be considered poor filtering, or did I just wait too long before changing it?

[RipRocK]

Thanks for taking the time to view these. As well, please have a look over at this link for more pictures. I'm axious to hear your comments. Thanks again!

[Res-Pilot]

Thanks for showing and taking time taking of those pictures. I decided to change mine tomorrow. I already hd 17K plus mile on it have not change it, yet.

[jay]

Originally posted by RipRocK
Comparing the next two pictures, it's interesting to see how the dirt only ended up settling on one side of the gills and barely on the other. Is this normal?

It's normal that the side facing toward the airflow would be dirtier than the side facing the engine. I'm not a mechanic, don't play one on TV, and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I'd say your filter doesn't look too bad. I too usually err on the side of changing the filter earlier.

[colorider]

Originally posted by jay
It's normal that the side facing toward the airflow would be dirtier than the side facing the engine. I'm not a mechanic, don't play one on TV, and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I'd say your filter doesn't look too bad. I too usually err on the side of changing the filter earlier.

I'm with jay on this one. Looks about normal for what I have seen when replacing at the same interval.

Unless you are driving in extremely dusty conditions, I would change the filter yearly/12-15K miles. IMHO

[Qbrozen]

yup. agree with above. if BOTH sides were dirty, then that means you'd be getting dirt in your engine. That would be bad.

Basically, if you can see light through an air filter, its not that bad. What you got there looks just about right for a concientious change. But, realistically, if you were so inclined, you could go much further on that filter.

I have played a mechanic, by the way. Just not on TV.

[booger]

That filter is perfectly fine! There seems to be very little dust on it, and that is what's the worst. You ought to work on a wheat farm where we cleaned our air filters daily on the trucks and tractors while harvesting. Them were some dirty filters!!!

Doing a lot of offroading and service road in the search of a large Brown Trout, I clean the filter on my pickup at the end of every fall.
I only put on about 8k a year on this truck, and it's like 10x that dirty.

The nice thing about dust is that you can bang them on the sidewalk and knock off 90% of the dirt and then used compressed air to finish them off. But most of the time I just buy a new one because it's not worth the cost of the filter to clean up the mess!

[rockman19762001]

Riprock, the filter looks ok for the mileage it has been used. Living in West Texas which is hot, dry and very dusty. I change my air filter every 6 months, cheap insurance for clean air flow and a clean engine. Filters are cheap mechanics are not.

[RipRocK]

Thanks for your answers guys! Qbrozen, jay, when I was referring to the second and the third pictures, those are not pictures of the airflow side and the engine side, but rather two pictures of the side that faces the airflow side. Sorry, I've never been accused of being articulate or particularly good with words.

They're just taken from left and right of the same side, the airflow side. So, what I was curious about is how one side is much dirtier than the other.

But sounds as though the general consensus is that the filter looks normal. But I just might step up the replacement interval at 15,000KM/10,000miles instead.

Probably an overkill, but it does get very dusty around here during the spring and this province has no emission laws for cars, so I often end up stuck behind POS cars that spew absolutely putrid black smoke out of their butts.

[jay]

Originally posted by RipRocK
Thanks for your answers guys! Qbrozen, jay, when I was referring to the second and the third pictures, those are not pictures of the airflow side and the engine side, but rather two pictures of the side that faces the airflow side. Sorry, I've never been accused of being articulate or particularly good with words.

They're just taken from left and right of the same side, the airflow side. So, what I was curious about is how one side is much dirtier than the other.

Oh, I see. I've had other vehicles where the dirt pattern was similarly unevenly distributed. The air filter story I'll never forget was with my '89 Toyota Tercel. The Toyota dealer wanted $7 for the filter. I checked into a Lee filter from an auto parts store. The Lee filter was actually a Toyota OEM filter, complete with the very same Japanese markings, in a Lee box. They only wanted $21 for the same thing.

[TheBerkinator]

Hi RipRock,

The reason that one side of the pleats are dirtier than the other side (on the same side of the filter, facing the airflow) is becuase the airflow hits the filter at an angle, and the dust, smoke, etc. particles mostly hit the pleats on the side that faces the air more directly.

By the way, I too think that filter looks fine.

And Jay, I'm guessing you left out a zero after the $7

Berk