Breathe easy

After two lessons on how to repair damage to your car I thought I would pass on some information about enhancing your car’s performance.  This is the easiest enhancement you will ever do although the benefits of it may vary from one vehicle to the next. 

Air filters are one of those things that we all know are vital to protecting your engine from the dusty conditions of the Australian outback, however most of us just believe that the cars standard paper filter does the job adequately so why mess with it.

Approximately 18 months ago I decided to replace the standard air filter in my car and fit a high performance K&N air filter.  There were a couple of reasons for this.  Firstly the old filter was clogged and needed replacing anyway and secondly, after reading the advertising promotional material on the K&N filter there was a claimed increase in the cars economy (and power) by around 5%.  I know this doesn’t sound like much but given that I was planning to keep the car over a long period of time I figured that the cost of the filter would eventually be recuperated in fuel savings.  So how is this increase in power and economy achieved?  K&N claim that their filters allow a more air to pass through the filter than a standard one.  This means that more air can enter the cylinders and consequently the fuel is burnt more efficiently which results in an increases in power and fuel economy.    

On top of this K&N claim that their air filters do a far better job at filtering out the dust sucked up by the engine.  Dust is very abrasive and if it enters the cylinders of the car can cause accelerated wear.  K&N air filter is a foam filter that is washable so even after travelling in dusty conditions it can be washed out (rather than replaced like the paper filters at great expense) and the car will continue to run at its optimum efficiency.

So, after 18 months what do I think of them?  Actually I have mixed feelings on its performance.  Firstly I did not notice any increase in performance or economy.  It was only claimed that a 5% increase would be evident by this upgrade which would be quite difficult to notice in terms of increased power, but I should have been able to notice it in the economy where I had been taking detailed readings on the cars fuel consumption.  A 5% increase in economy should have meant about an extra 30kms per tank which has never happened.

However I do believe that it is offering superior protection against dust ingestion.  I cleaned the filter just before heading off on a club trip out to the gold fields organised by Rick.  During this adventure we travelled on a number of gravel roads where the dust was quite heavy.  Once back at home I washed the filter out again and collected the dust in a glass jar.  After drying the dust out I was quite shocked to have collected a tea spoon full.  This may not seem like a lot but remember this was only 1 trip.  Usually the filter would not be replaced for at least 12 months (if you were dedicated) so you can imagine how dust would be collected during this time.  For me, now that I have cleaned the filter, I have the satisfaction in knowing that it is no longer clogged up which will affect the cars performance but more importantly that dust did not enter the engine.  Have a look at your paper filter next time you go on a dusty track and see if you can get it to collect a tea spoon full of dust.  I’ll put money on it that it won’t so there is only 1 explanation as to where all the dust ends up, in your engine.  Just fitting a snorkel won’t solve the problem either.  If you are travelling behind another car the snorkel will still collect up a lot of dust which without the right filter will still go into the engine.

So is the filter worth it?  Well it cost me $150 to buy (from Autopro) but I have already resigned myself to the fact that I’ll probably never recover that cost in fuel savings.  However I am very satisfied that I am minimising the amount of wear occurring in the engine, which may postpone an expensive rebuild in future years.  I also have the satisfaction of knowing that (provided I regularly maintain the filter at 10 000 km intervals) the car should always be running at optimum performance and is not being hindered by a blocked filter.  You’ll need to make up your own mind if it is worth it for you.  If you have a habit of replacing your car before it reaches the 180 – 220 000 km mark then it is probably not worth the money because you’ll never have to rebuild the motor anyway but if you’re the sort of person who can’t bear to part with their beloved car (as understandably many Pajero owners are) then you should give this some serious thought.

K&N make filters for a very large variety of cars.  Their web site is

http://www.knfilters.com/

which allows you to look up the part number of the filter to suite your car however last time I used this it wasn’t working very well so it may just be easier to ring Autopro or Super cheap etc.

Don’t be concerned about fitting it.  No job is easier than replacing your air filter, just take the old one out and fit the new one.

So far the only disadvantage I have found with the filter is that after washing it you need to allow a couple of hrs for drying which obviously means the car will be off the road for that time and the chemicals to wash and re oil the filter cost about $4 per wash.  You can just wash it after ever 50 000kms which is the same as the replacement intervals of the paper filter but I like to clean mine at every 10 000 km service.    

I haven’t regretted buying the filter for one second (well maybe just momentarily when Rachel saw the credit card bill) and I would get another one if I was ever to replace this car but I would not buy it with the anticipation of massive power or economy gains.

Till next time, safe driving and happy holidaying.

Trevor