AIr Filter, leave till it is RED?

[BigO]

I was told by a filter representative that it is better to leave air filters in for a long period of time. He said to let it stay till the filter indicator shows close to red. The reasoning was, the filter, filters better. I always change mine twice a year, I do not trust that indicator. It is always showing GREEN. I live in Arizona so we are know to have a little dust out here.

Has anybody else heard of this?

[DmaxMaverick]

Hogwash!!

A filter that gets that fouled up will certainly cause problems, not to mention performance/economy losses. The engine is going to get the air it needs to meet your demands for power, even it pulls air from around or after the filter. If the filter element colapses, all that dirt that plugged the element in the first place gets sucked into the engine all at once, and maybe the element as well.

It may be overkill, but I replace filters at the FIRST sign of any restriction.

When my '01 was new and I ran the OEM filter, the gage always sucked in about 1/8" with a new filter. I since changed to a oiled foam filter and the gage never moves from the "reset" mark. I keep a slight film of filter oil inside the intake pipe, so I know it's not passing any dirt. I clean the filter when it looks bad, not because of restriction, and that's about every 20-25K.

[YZF1R]

I think the filter rep. was correct. A filter does generally filter better as it loads because the small passages get tighter as it loads, taking out more and more smaller and smaller particles. However, as DmaxMaverick stated, I also change them before they get very dirty. The filters do an adequate job when new, plus you don't really know how much restriction you have without a good gage on the intake. The little factory indicators are notoriously inaccurate and I really would not trust using it as a guide as to when to change the filter. If I can see it's dirty, I clean/change it.

Steve

[MICKD]

I left my filter in for quite a while and noticed a power decrease in the performance. The gauge on the filter housing was Not in the "danger" zone. I checked the filter visually and it wasn't looking bad. I took the truck to the dealer for power decrease and they found nothing, including checking the air filter. I changed it myself and the truck run much better smile.gif
Now I change it about every 3 months if it needs it or not.

[BigO]

Thanks for your imput!