Staff Writer
Skimp on replacing your air filter and it’ll cost you in the long run.
That’s because your engine’s air filters plays a large role in determining the fuel economy of the vehicle.
Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Air filters — both engine and cabin — should be checked periodically to make sure that they’re clear of debris. A filter will need to be replaced when it develops a black tinge indicative of dirt, pollen, and other particulates that impede air flow.
“An air filter basically tries to remove dirt and debris from the air before it gets run through your car,” said Jeff Robertson, owner of Beaulieu’s Garage and Body Shop in Caribou. Unless that debris is stopped by an air filter, it can be deposited on the mass airflow sensor.
The mass air flow sensor, which is directly in the air stream, determines how much air is flowing though your car and sends a message to your cars computer as to how much fuel needs to be sent to the engine.
“What happens a lot of times is those mass air flow sensors will collect particulates and become dirty, so that the sensor sends erroneous messages to the computer, which causes poor fuel economy.”
Robertson has been in the automotive industry since the early 1980’s and will be the first one to tell you that a dirty air filter is definitely going to cost you a few miles per gallon in a hurry.
“Most cars run at about 12 parts air to 1 part fuel, so when an air filter gets dirty, the car may be running at only 10 parts air to one part fuel and there goes our fuel economy because we don’t have enough air pressure in the engine,” Robertson explained.
If the fold of your air filter are filled with debris but the paper is still light, you don’t necessarily need to replace it.
“When you see a blackish discoloration on your air filter, that means that you’ve got a lot of that trapped dirt and pollen inside the filter and you’re not going to get it out,” Robertson said, “but if you take the filter out and it’s still pretty white, you can clean out the large debris and put it back in until your next oil change.”
Not all air filters are created equally though, original equipment specifications or otherwise.
According to Robertson, the more folds on a filter, the more paper available to catch particulates and therefore, the better the filter.
“The difference between cheap air filters and a good air filter is the amount of filter inside it,” he said. How often an air filter needs to be replaced really depends on the environment the vehicle is being driven; a car that racks up the miles, for example, will probably need to have it’s air filter changed less frequently than a vehicle being used in or around a potato field.
Of course, the air filter connected to your engine isn’t necessarily the only filter that needs to be checked and occasionally replaced.
Many newer vehicles have cabin air filters that can become just as easily clogged and severely inhibit air flow in the cabin, which can make for a very uncomfortable drive if you’re trying to use the air conditioning or heater.
Robertson suggests that the cabin filters be checked about twice a year to ensure proper air circulation throughout the cabin.
Some cabin filters even have hypoallergenic specifications to reduce the amount of allergens blowing through your vents, which could save a lot of tissues come ragweed season.
Beaulieu’s Garage and Body Shop is located at 490 West Main Street and can be reached at 492-2471.
