I have a 96 fj80. I have been checking the air cleaner with every oil change (3K) but it never seems to get dirty at all. I do not spend time off road and the climate is not dry but after several years now the element seems as clean as the day I put it in. Is it possible that I am not getting air in? I see no change in performance or gas mileage but am a little mystified.
Air filter never gets dirty
- Thread starter JELA
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X2, can't seem to get my dirty either.
Is it still in the box?
Just kidding, I have a snorkel and it does seem to help out with keeping the filter clean.
Just kidding, I have a snorkel and it does seem to help out with keeping the filter clean.
Just cleaned mine after about 9000 miles, the dirt gets trapped deep into the pleats, hard to see unless you pry open a couple of the pleats; I used one of those red plastic tubes that comes on most spray cans to gently push them apart. Reason I did that was after washing the filter the pleats seemed to get stuck together in groups of three's and also got wavy?/ It took a long time to dry so hung it over a radiator overnight which finally dried it out however the instructions don't say anything about drying it before you reinstall it. IDK.
Really? If air is going through it, it should eventually get dirty unless there's a path of less resistance that is bypassing the filter.
I love the fact that you can empty the "Tuna Can" and it catches/separates out most of the dirt/debris. What a great system. My air filter stays very clean also, I have blown it out from the inside out though.
Jack
Jack
Reasons why your filter doesn't get dirty:
1) Tuna can.
2) Huge filter (lots of surface area).
3) On pavement too much.
1) Tuna can.
2) Huge filter (lots of surface area).
3) On pavement too much.
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I agree that the stock filter setup is very well designed and has plenty of capacity even for very dusty conditions. It stays clean for a very long time, mostly due to the cyclonic housing, it also pulls air from the coolest spot under the hood for the best performance.
How the filter looks has little to do with the level of restriction, they can look very dirty and still flow well. Mine has a filter minder on it, the last time it was cleaned was a year (~10K miles) ago, has seen tons of dusty trail miles and just went to 11in/h2o on the last trail. The research that I have seen shows that gas motors can tolerate ~20in/h2o before suffering a detectable loss of HP or gas mileage.
My guess is rigs driven in less dusty conditions could probably go 50K+ miles before needing cleaning. A lot of our trails require long high speed dirt road runs to access them. This shot is from the new years run, ~70 mile day where ~50 miles looked like this. After a day like this the tuna can have ~1/4" of dust in it, if the filter had to remove all of the dust, it would become restricted much faster.
How the filter looks has little to do with the level of restriction, they can look very dirty and still flow well. Mine has a filter minder on it, the last time it was cleaned was a year (~10K miles) ago, has seen tons of dusty trail miles and just went to 11in/h2o on the last trail. The research that I have seen shows that gas motors can tolerate ~20in/h2o before suffering a detectable loss of HP or gas mileage.
My guess is rigs driven in less dusty conditions could probably go 50K+ miles before needing cleaning. A lot of our trails require long high speed dirt road runs to access them. This shot is from the new years run, ~70 mile day where ~50 miles looked like this. After a day like this the tuna can have ~1/4" of dust in it, if the filter had to remove all of the dust, it would become restricted much faster.
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A couple more pix. The filter minder and tuna can after a trail run, I would say there is at least a 1/4 cup of fine dust in it.
mine always looks pretty clean, never crusted up or anything like that, even though I do dusty wheeling a fair amount.
But when I put a blow gun to the inside of that thing, which I do once or 2x a year, watch the dust fly...
love the system
But when I put a blow gun to the inside of that thing, which I do once or 2x a year, watch the dust fly...
love the system
Not to mention the fact that although it costs about as much as a K&N, it is also cleanable with factory instructions, like the K&N, but will not screw up your MAS with oil residue, and will catch more debris than K&N.
How does that filter minder work? What do you think of it?
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It works well. I cleaned the filter often and now know it was too often, even when run in extreme conditions they hold a ton of debris, don't need cleaning that often. Plus it's good to have data!
Mine is one of these, they also private label them for other companies. Filter Minder, Automobile Parts, Air Filter, Fuel Monitor, Car Accessories, Air Restriction Gauge, Engineered Products
I imagine that this just measures a pressure difference somehow against the spring. How does that device indicate something meaningful quantitatively if it's not calibrated for the specific filter and intake system? Or is it?