Too frequent air filter replacement or increased engine wear

Too frequent air filter replacement or increased engine wear

As we all know, the air filter can purify the air entering the engine, so most truckers are willing to change the air filter in a timely manner, but the air filter does not need to be replaced too often.

What problems will the engine have if the air filter is changed frequently? Is it possible to use the air filter until it is scrapped and then replace it?

The air filter is composed of two parts: the filter element and the housing. The filter element is the main accessory, which assumes the role of gas filtration, and the housing is the shell that provides protection to the filter element. The main role of the air filter is to filter the air entering the engine and purify the air quality.

The air contains a lot of impurities, such as dust, sand, etc., if it is not purified and directly enters the engine chamber, it will accelerate the wear of the engine. The air that enters the engine after being filtered by the air filter is relatively clean, which can delay the occurrence of these problems.

As a filter device, the air filter is inconspicuous compared to the engine, gearbox and other accessories, but it also has an important position. Without being filtered by the air filter, the natural air directly enters the engine room, which will cause the engine to wear out. If the air filter is not maintained for a long time, the filter element will be covered with dust, which will hinder the air circulation and make the engine work abnormally.

The air filter is seriously blocked, which will increase the air intake resistance and cause the power of the engine to decrease. At the same time, due to the increase of air resistance, the fuel consumption of the engine will also increase, which will deteriorate the running state of the engine and increase the fuel consumption. The filter element of the air filter needs to be maintained.

Since the role of the air filter is so important, and if it is not maintained in time, it will also cause problems such as increased engine fuel consumption and reduced engine power, so can the filter element be replaced frequently? So that the engine can always be in the best working state? The answer is no.

In addition to filtering the air, the air filter is also responsible for the intake air volume required for the engine to work. Inferior filter elements, in order to reduce the cost, the quality of the materials used will be relatively poor, which will cause the air intake to be too large or too small, and even fail to achieve the filtering effect, which will directly lead to abnormal wear and tear of the engine.

So what about frequent replacement of standard air filters? In order to play a good filtering role in the air filter element, there will be a lot of irregular gaps on the surface of the filter paper, but it is impossible for dust, sand and other substances to become completely pure air after being filtered by the filter element, and it will still contain some impurities.

In order to distinguish the filtration degree of the filter element, the concept of "initial interception efficiency" is introduced, which is usually expressed as a percentage (%). If the initial interception efficiency is 99.95%, it means that the filter element can filter out 99.95% of the impurities in the air during the initial operation, while 0.05% of the impurities cannot be filtered out, which will enter the engine with the filtered air.

Corresponding to the initial interception efficiency, there is also a "full life efficiency", which is also expressed by a percentage (%). As the filter grows in use, the dust accumulated on the surface of the filter paper will gradually increase, thus blocking part of the gap between the filter paper fibers, which means that the pore space between the fibers becomes smaller, and the interception efficiency of the filter cartridge increases compared with the initial state.

That is to say, if the air entering the engine with a new air filter will contain more impurities than the air entering the engine with the old air filter. We have learned before that the increase in air impurities entering the engine will cause harm to the engine, so this is why the air filter element cannot be replaced frequently.

For the air filter, neither frequent replacement, nor always not replaced, so when is the best time to replace the air filter?

Under normal circumstances, the effective use cycle of the air filter is about 20-30,000 km, but the actual use of the vehicle and the engine, there will be some differences in the service life of the air filter, which will be mentioned in the maintenance manual that comes with the vehicle. You can choose to maintain or replace the air filter at the right mileage according to your own situation.