What are the Signs of a Bad Air Filter in a Car?

Driving your car with a bad air filter can be detrimental to its performance and cause a variety of issues. Most automotive companies recommend changing the air filter every 10,000 to 15,000 miles or every 12 months. However, if you normally drive in dusty or rural areas such as Scottsdale, Arizona or San Antonio, Texas, it's a good idea to have your mechanic check and change it more often, for example, every 6,000 miles. Driving in busy areas where there is a lot of traffic, including Los Angeles and Washington DC, can also require you to replace the air cleaner more often.

Most vehicles also have a cabin air filter that is used to clean the air entering the interior of the car, but it has a different maintenance program than an engine air filter. Don't underestimate the power of a new air filter. The vitality of your car depends on it. Most owner's manuals recommend changing the air filter every 12,000 to 15,000 miles. You can have your Sugar House tire shop technician do the job while they rotate their tires and keep their care running at its best. No car is exempt from potential damage caused by a dirty air filter.

Do yourself (and your car) a favor and make sure to replace this key component of the air intake system regularly. An internal combustion engine needs to mix approximately 10,000 liters of air with each liter of fuel to run. Air enters the engine through the air filter. Without a proper air intake, the fuel mixture will be too rich in fuel, so it will not burn properly and the engine will be deprived of the oxygen it needs. Most manufacturers recommend replacing the air filter every 12,000 miles (approximately 19,000 km) or every 12 months, whichever comes first.

However, you should consider replacing your air cleaner more often if you live in an agricultural area or in any area with a lot of dust or impurities in the air. Inadequate air supply can cause carbon deposits to build up on the engine, which will eventually activate the engine check light. If the light comes on, check the air filter to see if it needs to be replaced before performing other diagnostics. For this reason, most car manufacturers recommend changing the air filter every 12,000 miles (approximately 19,000 km) or every 12 months, whichever comes first, regardless of how dirty the air filter appears to be. Inadequate air supply can cause carbon deposits, the by-product of combustion, to build up in the engine and turn off the engine check light. You can always do a visual inspection if you know where your air filter is (or refer to your owner's manual).A dirty engine air cleaner limits the amount of air supply supplied to the engine combustion chamber.

Some features of your vehicle don't make sense when you think about them; you've heard that extra air is better. Over time, the engine air filter can become dirty and lose its ability to filter air entering the engine. Newer fuel-injected vehicles use the on-board computer to achieve the optimal air-fuel mixture and automatically adjust fuel flow. A clogged air filter on an older model vehicle will essentially cause the engine to work well, since the system has no mechanism to quantify the amount of air flowing, resulting in a cascade of events starting from a rich condition that reduces mileage, causes failures of ignition and even causes possible damage to some components. Once you've identified a dirty filter, you can choose to clean it if it's relatively new, but somehow you've trapped a larger piece of debris in one of its folds. So what are you waiting for? Read on to learn more about dirty air filters and how to deal with them. When stepping on the accelerator, the engine is required to draw in more air to burn the fuel that is injected for power.

This air reaches the engine through an air filter that works to keep out road debris, dirt, insects and other contaminants that can damage the engine. However, very often, the inner layers of filter paper within the air cleaner can have dust and debris that is not visible even in bright light. Each time the filter becomes dirty and clogged, the engine is forced to operate harder and becomes less efficient, resulting in decreased power and acceleration, increased fuel consumption, poor engine performance, and increased engine voltage. But when the air filter doesn't allow enough or constant air to enter, it can cause the engine to have problems accelerating. Dirty-looking air cleaner: It's always a good idea to visually inspect the actual air filter, especially if you experience some of these worrying signs.