Five Hazards of Poor Quality Air Filter

The air filter is a critical component that ensures the proper functioning of the engine. It is responsible for filtering out the air that enters the engine, preventing dust and debris from entering and causing damage. Due to the nature of its work, it is a consumable item that needs to be replaced frequently, sometimes even several times a year. However, with the wide variety of air filters available on the market, it can be difficult to choose the right one. Low-quality products are also abundant and can easily damage the engine, which can be very expensive to repair, as engine components are costly.

Hazard of poor quality air filter #1: High intake resistance.

Some people believe that as long as an air filter can filter out dust effectively, nothing else matters. However, this is incorrect because a good air filter not only has high filtration accuracy but also has low intake resistance, which is an important indicator. Some poor quality air filters use filtering materials with very poor air permeability to achieve high filtration accuracy, resulting in very high engine intake resistance.

Once the intake resistance becomes high, the engine's intake volume will be insufficient, leading to incomplete combustion, much like a person being held by the nose while running, resulting in very high fuel consumption. Often, the extra fuel consumed during a single trip due to this issue is enough to buy several high-quality air filters. 

Hazard of poor quality air filter #2: Insufficient filtration accuracy.

In addition to poor quality air filters with high intake resistance, there are also air filters with poor ability to filter out dust and impurities. This type of air filter is even more harmful than the former because it has insufficient air filtration capacity, allowing dust to easily enter the engine (the main component of dust is quartz particles, which are very hard). Moreover, the adhesive used in the upper and lower terminal covers is prone to falling off, which could cause several serious engine malfunctions.

1： Insufficient dust filtration could cause severe wear and tear on engine parts.

Once dust particles enter the engine, they can cause severe wear and tear on engine components such as valve sealing surfaces, cylinder liners, pistons, piston rings, etc., leading to a decrease in cylinder sealing performance and directly resulting in insufficient compression ratio and gas leakage. At this point, our car may exhibit symptoms such as reduced power, high fuel consumption, and even difficulty starting.

2：Dust cannot be filtered out completely, causing blockages in the intercooler.

Dust and debris from the leakage of poor-quality air can easily cause blockages in the intercooler, resulting in reduced air flow and insufficient heat dissipation performance. Intercooler blockage is often difficult to detect and can lead to users seeking unnecessary remedies, resulting in avoidable losses.

3：Adhesive detachment can damage the turbocharger

The adhesive on the upper and lower terminal covers of the poor-quality air filter can become clumped and fall off, causing the high-speed rotating impeller of the turbocharger compressor (which can reach over 100,000 revolutions per minute) to be directly destroyed by the fallen adhesive, and the resulting fragments can be sucked into the cylinder, causing damage to components such as valves, pistons, cylinder liners, and injectors.

Although an air filter may seem insignificant, it is actually very important. When purchasing, it is important to choose high-quality products and not be tempted by cheap, poor-quality filters. Otherwise, the small amount of money saved will definitely result in greater losses. If you are unable to distinguish between good and bad quality air filters, please visit the Truck Home Mall, where various models of Fleetguard air filters are sold with guaranteed quality.