I was doing an oil change on my F150, and I noticed that my FilterMinder showed about 70% on restriction. So I reset it, thinking there was no way.

I changed the oil, and I then took the truck out for a test drive to make sure everything was ok. I popped the hood to check the oil level, and to my astonishment my FilterMinder read 70% again... I was like... clueless.



I've only got 16k on the clock... how could it be so dirty? I haven't opened the airbox... but who cares... I'll wait until it gets into the red.

This truck sure does act like my old one... like a truck vacuum cleaner...

 

what the hell?


We have a filter reminder?

The v8's have this too?

where is it located?

 

He added it

 

Yes I added it. Some on here thought I was nuts... but I knew there was science behind it being true.

I think I popped the hood once to add some washerfluid, and noticed it was like 35% blocked like 2k miles ago... but I figured it was normal. It's been kind of dusty around here, and with me working it so much, I figured it'd be kind of filled up soon...

My engine compartment is always layered with dust... so I can only imagine what the air filter looks like.

I guess I'll have to change the bag on my truck... er ah, filter soon....

 

I think that your Air filter Gizmo is full of crap! I change my air filter once a year bout 15K miles, & it almost looks new!..........

 

The MAF sensor will compensate, give less fuel and loss of power, but your fuel mileage might go up.

 

So wait, instead of taking the air filter out and looking at it with your own eyes, you're trusting some idiot air filter minder to tell you that the filter is restricted?

 

So i'm not going crazy...good......kind of a cool mod.

I just changed mine at 13,500, it was dirty but not really bad. Picked it up for 17.99 at the dealer....cheaper then the auto parts stores...go figure

 

I just changed mine about the same time, it was pretty dirty

 

I just clean the filter on my AF1 every 7-10k miles or every other oil change. Over here in the desert though, it is quite dusty.

 

Not sure about where you live... but I remember on my '99 it used to be black as coal at 30k.

Well... I trust it more than my eyes... my eyes can't see airflow going through a filter. Plus it's not rocket science. It is just using differences in air pressure inside and outside of the airbox. I trust it more than my eyes.

 

How would your mileage go up if you're consuming less fuel?

Yes, with a dirty air filter you will get some loss of power [though the jury's still out on whether this loss is "significant" at all] but the vehicle's diagnostics will compensate for this and adjust the optimum fuel mixture.

As Consumer Reports reported last year: today's engines use on board computers to precisely control the fuel mixture ratio; which is entirely dependent on the amount of air being allowed in through the filter. Reducing airflow - through a dirty/clogged/damaged air filter - causes the engine to automatically reduce the amount of fuel being consumed. Fuel economy will NOT change, contrary to popular belief.

Replacing air filters every 6K or so is a scam.... right along side bottled [tap] water.

To each their own....

I don't know anything about this thingymejigg that Manual has on his ride, but, as an old timer taught me several years back, an air filter's visual appearence is not always a true indication of its capabilities or, even, its life span.

 

I still get 22 mpg... with a 70% restricted air filter.


Yes, replacing an air filter every 6k is a scam. The dirtier a filter gets, the better it is at filtering. So having a dirty filter is doing the engine's internals a favor in one aspect.

The FilterMinder is used on Cat/Volvo/DD/Navistar, PS diesels, Cummins, and even down to the Ford Focus. So yes, you would find one on a semi, dumptruck, and even trains. Most if not all semi drivers use them, and they say there are accurate.

So if a driver of a $80k semi, using it to put food on his table to his family, trusts the same thing I got in my truck, and some here are saying it's wrong... then I know the ones that are saying it's full of crap, is wrong.

Why don't they put them on the F-Series gas engines?! Or all of the vehicles Ford makes?! Not entirely sure.

As far as accuracy, they are tested from the factory within -/+ .5 mm/hg. Which for the purpose they are used for, are accurate enough.

 

The wife's 05 Focus has 86,000 km's on it now, and that filterminder still indicates the filter is fine.

 

I was just giving him Shlt about the increase of fuel mileage. He's doing fine in that area. I wish mine would do the same. Myself, I wouldn't pay a dime to install one on mine. I had a fleet of Mercedes/Freightliner sprinters. We had a batch of bad filters that literally caved in. The so called filter minder indicated all was fine until I opened up the air box and was horrified at what I seen. These vehicles travel hundreds of miles a day on gravel roads. That engine didn't make it another 10,000 miles and had to be replaced assuming so much dirt got into the cylinders. We had to return dozens of air filters that were defective and it took them months to correct the problem. So we had to buy Mercedes filters at about three times the cost.