The car owner went for maintenance and saw that the air filter was always clean.

“It’s not dirty. Why replace it?”
It may not be true at first sight. The air filter is dirty, and sometimes it can’t be distinguished by the naked eye. In fact, the engine has long played games with dust every day.

Beware of car owners. The air filter element seems not dirty, but its service life may have reached the upper limit.

Wrong maintenance of air filter element is harmful

Because it seems not dirty, it is often ignored by the owner during maintenance, resulting in the use of incorrect maintenance methods.

Misleading 1: Continue to use after blowing the air filter with an air gun

Most automobile air filter elements are dry filter elements, which are composed of multi-layer fibers, which are used to filter impurities in the air. However, after a long time of use, the impurities in the air will be firmly embedded in the fiber sheet. Coupled with the increasingly serious environmental pollution, there are more and more impurities in the air, which also leads to the shorter service life of the air filter element.

When replacing the air filter element, I found that only some dust and other impurities are attached to the surface. Many car owners must think that if they can save money, they can save money. They should be able to clean it with a blow of the air gun, but I don’t know that many invisible small impurities have been firmly embedded in the fiber, and after blowing, the air filter can’t be installed again, Because basically, the filter structure of the filter paper has been broken down by the strong air flow, and it can no longer filter fine particles well.

 

Misleading 2: Do not replace the air filter all year round

As mentioned earlier, the function of air filter is to filter impurities and particles, including large and small particles. It is easy to shake out a lot of dirty particles on the surface of the filter paper, because it is not easy to shake out a few small particles on the filter paper.

The serious oil sludge in the engine system is also related to the failure to replace the air filter on time. When the engine intake contains particles, the ash after combustion accelerates the blockage of three-way catalysis, seeps into the engine oil, increases the sludge in the engine oil, and increases the wear of the engine.

When the blockage is obvious, due to poor air intake, the computer cannot provide high-quality combustion adjustment, and there may be phenomena such as weak speed increase and engine running jitter. The above consequences are far from being comparable to the cost of several or even hundreds of air filters.

 

Suggestions on replacement and selection of air filter element

The replacement cycle of air filter element is recommended to be every 10000-15000 km or once a year, and it must be replaced regularly.

At present, there are many brands of air filter elements on the market. When choosing to buy, car owners can learn more about product reputation and quality evaluation. Don’t buy them casually for cheap prices.

The use of unknown, even fake and shoddy air filters, with insufficient air intake, has a lot of impact on many systems of the vehicle, resulting in the continuous maintenance and replacement of other parts. Instead of saving a small amount of money but spending a lot of money, it is better to buy high-quality air filters from genuine large manufacturers, with better filtering effect and longer service life.

Of course, the environment in which vehicles often drive is also an important reference for replacing the air filter. If you often go in and out of dusty places, change the air filter as often as possible.