When to change your air filter? (1 Viewer)

[devo]

My 1997 has the Toyota "forever" air filter. ( part# 17801-61030)
It's made to be washed out and reinstalled and not thrown out.

But after 20 years, 250,000 miles and a million washings should it be replaced, eventually?

Yes it filters and air passes through it, but do these filters degrade over time and do they loose their efficiency?

Any thoughts?





devo

 

[flintknapper]

"When to change your air filter?"

Answer:

When your wife decides she can't be late for work and drives around the 'road crew' (right through 3" of dry powdered cement they just put down for road-base!)

Then......realizing her 'mistake', goes through an automatic car wash (activating the cement).

I could have killed her! Cement in the air filter, every nook and cranny of the vehicle. The cement film left behind is 'death' on the paint finish.

 

[decoco]

"When to change your air filter?"

Answer:

When your wife decides she can't be late for work and drives around the 'road crew' (right through 3" of dry powdered cement they just put down for road-base!)

Then......realizing her 'mistake', goes through an automatic car wash (activating the cement).

I could have killed her! Cement in the air filter, every nook and cranny of the vehicle. The cement film left behind is 'death' on the paint finish.

file for divorce

 

[bicycleagent003]

Holy sh!t! That cement to car wash story is horrifying. I could see my wife doing the same, to be honest. And I'd love and forgive her. And leverage it into a lot of new Cruiser stuff.

 

[Heckraiser]

short answer: when it's dirty.

I occasionally pull mine out and whack it on the work bench to knock out the loose stuff. I have also given it a shot of compressed air at a distance of a foot or two.

 

[retrofive]

Oh god @flintknapper , that is a good one.

 

[ZackR]

Time for a new one. It sounds like its served you well so I'd get the same thing to replace it with.

 

[DirtScaresMe]

The label on the in-engine housing says (I think) replace every 30,000 and knock clean or air gun clean every 5,000 miles.

I replace mine every year or so. They're $12, I spend more on a good IPA tall boy.

 

[surfpig]

I usually change mine right before a smog test (if I remember).

 

[ZackR]

@flintknapper all i have to say is wow! I told my wife a handful of horror stories about expensive failures and such from neglecting the oil light, coolant light, etc... so now if anything comes up I get a phone call right away. The most recent was her creeping into the driveway at 5mph due to a horrible screeching noise in our BMW - turns out it was a small rock stuck between the brake disc and the dust shield.

Like many on the forum I'm an overkill guy when it comes to checking things out, I probably check the fluids and air pressures more often than necessary but it can't hurt anything.

 

[UltraFJ40]

250,000 miles...why not just replace it? I could see if it's that cost prohibitive but I'm thinking it's not. You got a pretty good run out of it and I'd be more than happy to step up to the plate for another 250K.

 

[Proven]

Aren't the Toyota filters washable?

OEM washable filter part number is 17801-61030?

 

[thatcabledude]

Yes, but not supposed to be infinite usage.

 

[BILT4ME]

If the filter media surface has degraded, it's time for a new one. Typically, you can tell it needs refreshed because after a wash/dry it becomes "fuzzy". That is the surface degrading and starting to come apart. That also means that larger particle size material can get through it.

Depending on you vehicle usage, it may or may not be a big deal. I live in the city and rarely go offroad. I MAY change my air filter every 5 years.

When I lived on the farm, it was almost every oil change. (All gravel/dirt roads)

 

[devo]

Yea I wanted to see what y'all had to say

My plan was to replace it.

Thanks


devo

 

[surfpig]

Yea I wanted to see what y'all had to say

My plan was to replace it.

Thanks


devo

Cheap insurance.

 

[retrofive]

Just be sure you change it on a Tuesday. Trust me.

 

[flintknapper]

Holy sh!t! That cement to car wash story is horrifying. I could see my wife doing the same, to be honest. And I'd love and forgive her. And leverage it into a lot of new Cruiser stuff.

It was BAD!

She said she knew something was wrong when the 'dirt' (she thought it was dirt) billowed up all around the Cruiser. Even before she was able to drive out of it, she had to run the windshield wipers in order to see. It's a 20 mile commute to town, so some of it blew off. She went directly to an automatic car wash...not realizing it was CEMENT that was on the truck.

She made a quick trip through the car wash then went on to work. Well.....the roof (most of it) got cleaned and most of the sides of the vehicle, but the cement dust got into:

The engine compartment.
The air filter.
The vents at the windshield and hood.
All the gaps in the body work (doors, rear hatch, hood).
The frame, axles, shocks, springs, brake calipers, wheels, etc.....ALL coated.

On the body, even places where the cement had been washed off, there was a 'haze' of hardened cement on the paint.

At noon when we she went to go to lunch...she saw that and called me. When she got home it was evident what is was.... and what had happened. There was hardened cement around the bases of the roof rack, on all the door seals, door jambs, etc...

I started hand washing it, worked on it until dark. Next day....most of day. But it was plain, the paint (clear coat) had been damaged/dulled by it.

I don't know what is in cement, but I do know it isn't good for paint.

 

[TossYoda]

highly alkaline, pH of 12.5, and sometimes has sodium hydroxide (what you clean your engine with) in it to increase it's water uptake (to make it hydrate, react and harden)
nasty stuff, it will burn your skin and lungs
I'm guessing a weak acid (acetic, white vinegar?) would of been good to initially wash with.

 

[flintknapper]

highly alkaline, pH of 12.5, and sometimes has sodium hydroxide (what you clean your engine with) in it to increase it's water uptake (to make it hydrate, react and harden)
nasty stuff, it will burn your skin and lungs
I'm guessing a weak acid (acetic, white vinegar?) would of been good to initially wash with.

Good to know.

Hopefully never happens again.

They were widening the Farm to Market road we live on (doing 1/2 mile sections at a time). The cement had already been put down, but there was no 'flag man' yet in place to stop traffic. So my wife decides to drive around the road crew and equipment in her lane. When she met traffic approaching from the other direction she was forced to go back into her 'lane' which at that point was no longer pavement but base material and the freshly laid out dry cement.

They put down the cement then come back later, water it down, run a big wheeled machine with pegs over the surface then use a compactor.

Naturally, they don't want traffic traveling on it. I can imagine the look on their faces when they saw the Land Cruiser plowing through it and creating a big dust storm of cement.