Air filters

[dpotter]

Had an interesting problem cone up. My son in law and I both have 2022 2500's. Replaced both truck's air filter elements 03/18/25 with Wix filters. I have approx 4k miles on mine, he has . His CEL come on yesterday and the local dealer said it was the MAF sensor, which they covered under warranty. They said the Wix filter had 2 glue strips that the Mopar does not. We are at 5400 ft elevation and the dealer said the glue strips impeed air flow at altitude and caused the MAF to fail. There is even a TSB about it. I haven't seen anything in the TDR about this. Has anyone else?

 

[Grumpy8811]

I've heard people complain the latest generation Ram may throw codes if you don't use a Mopar filter.
Hard to believe it could be that sensitive, seeing as a dirty air filter would probably be more restrictive
than a glue strip could ever be but who really knows for sure.. or if it is simply internet nonsense.

I know it doesn't effect my 2016 because the only air filters I ever bought foe it are Frams
and its never caused an issue.

 

[AH64ID]

Yes, common issue on the 22+ trucks but the issue it creates is with regen frequency. I have not heard of the wrong filter causing the MAF to fail.

Mopar 53034051AB or Fleetguard AF27684 are the approved filters for 19-24 6.7’s.

Mopar 68517554AA works on pre-19 6.7’s, but causes issues on 19-24 6.7’s.

I've heard people complain the latest generation Ram may throw codes if you don't use a Mopar filter.
Hard to believe it could be that sensitive, seeing as a dirty air filter would probably be more restrictive
than a glue strip could ever be but who really knows for sure.. or if it is simply internet nonsense.

I know it doesn't effect my 2016 because the only air filters I ever bought foe it are Frams
and its never caused an issue.

It’s more than just a mopar filter, it’s the correct mopar filter.

 

[Grumpy8811]

It’s more than just a mopar filter, it’s the correct mopar filter.

ok, if that is the claim, care to take a stab at explaining how a different air filter in the air intake increases regen frequency in the exhaust system?
or is that Mopar's claim and it is just being repeated .

it still worth saying the air filter story seems outlandish, which does not mean it is not true, just that it is impressive to think the system is so over engineered and sensitive that a piece of paper would make a difference.

it almost reminds me of the situation where 5W40 is Ok, but 15W40 is not.. it defies my mechanical background to be able to accept Mopars claims with anything but skepticism.

 

[AH64ID]

ok, if that is the claim, care to take a stab at explaining how a different air filter in the air intake increases regen frequency in the exhaust system?
or is that Mopar's claim and it is just being repeated .

it still worth saying the air filter story seems outlandish, which does not mean it is not true, just that it is impressive to think the system is so over engineered and sensitive that a piece of paper would make a difference.

it almost reminds me of the situation where 5W40 is Ok, but 15W40 is not.. it defies my mechanical background to be able to accept Mopars claims with anything but skepticism.

I would think the mechanical background would make it easier to understand why it’s possible, at least that’s how I feel about it (much like the 5w-40 vs 15w-40). There definitely some claims, like this thread about a filter failing MAP sensors, that are BS or difficult to follow.

Excessive regens with the wrong OE air filter, and many aftermarket air filters, is definitely happening. Lots of reports of excessive regens on other sites that are fixed like a light switch with the AB filter part number.

What I don’t know, or haven’t seen, is what the wrong filters are doing inside the engine. Are they causing incomplete combustion? ( I doubt it, the AA filter works just fine on the 07-18 6.7) Are the filters causing issues combined with MAP sensors or other sensors? Probably. We already know how more sensitive the 19-24 trucks are to, well, everything… so this is just inline with that. Last plausible theory I’m aware of is that the active shutters are creating turbulent airflow into the airbox which the AA filter (and its aftermarket equivalents) doesn’t deal well with that flow and the engine gets fed less air and thus generates less efficient combustion. I’ve read a couple reports of positive results of regen frequency by removing the top two shutter slats. Does the 25 still use the active shutters?

 

[Jim W]

I have to ask people all of the time when doing maintenance on a Ram Cummins truck and not buying the recommend Mopar/Cummins filters, WHY?
You are willing to spend at least $60,000 + for a new truck at the time of purchase but not willing to pay a couple of $$ for a factory recommend air/fuel/oil filter.

I just checked at Geno's Garage for a MOPAR air filter, the cost as of today (16-MAy-25) was $29.95 +shipping, part number AF53034051AB. Is this (Mopar filter) that much more expensive than a cheaply made air filter from CHINE? I don't think so.

Just my $0.02

 

[AH64ID]

I have to ask people all of the time when doing maintenance on a Ram Cummins truck and not buying the recommend Mopar/Cummins filters, WHY?
You are willing to spend at least $60,000 + for a new truck at the time of purchase but not willing to pay a couple of $$ for a factory recommend air/fuel/oil filter.

I just checked at Geno's Garage for a MOPAR air filter, the cost as of today (16-MAy-25) was $29.95 +shipping, part number AF53034051AB. Is this (Mopar filter) that much more expensive than a cheaply made air filter from CHINE? I don't think so.

Just my $0.02

I agree for the most part. Sometimes there are better options, like fuel filters for the 5.9, or oil filters for all years prior to 25. OEM isn't always the best option, but sometimes it is. There were also some supply chain issues with OEM filters for awhile.

 

[Grumpy8811]

I would think the mechanical background would make it easier to understand why it’s possible, at least that’s how I feel about it (much like the 5w-40 vs 15w-40). There definitely some claims, like this thread about a filter failing MAP sensors, that are BS or difficult to follow.

Excessive regens with the wrong OE air filter, and many aftermarket air filters, is definitely happening. Lots of reports of excessive regens on other sites that are fixed like a light switch with the AB filter part number.

What I don’t know, or haven’t seen, is what the wrong filters are doing inside the engine. Are they causing incomplete combustion? ( I doubt it, the AA filter works just fine on the 07-18 6.7) Are the filters causing issues combined with MAP sensors or other sensors? Probably. We already know how more sensitive the 19-24 trucks are to, well, everything… so this is just inline with that. Last plausible theory I’m aware of is that the active shutters are creating turbulent airflow into the airbox which the AA filter (and its aftermarket equivalents) doesn’t deal well with that flow and the engine gets fed less air and thus generates less efficient combustion. I’ve read a couple reports of positive results of regen frequency by removing the top two shutter slats. Does the 25 still use the active shutters?

if these new trucks have became Germanic in their sensitivity, it is going to not bode well for Dodge Sales.. thing people liked about the Cummins was the same sort of thing people like about harleys.. take away that inherent crudeness and it is just another over engineered pile of crap..

I've seen diesel engines run with the air filter so fouled it was deformed.. they just smoke black... which would plug a DPF quicker, but we are talking about one clean paper filter versus another, that is why I am a skeptical of that theory..

even the flow thing into the air box sounds like it wouldn't amount to much as it seems to be an either or thing on the Ram air box. either thru the front grille or thru the fender, I dont believe there is any in between..

anyway, it doesn't affect me, I'm never buying another one of these trucks unless I hit the jackpot.. .

 

[Signal73]

Speculation was focused on the air filters with the glue strips early on in the investigation into the frequent regen issues on the 22s, there was tsb’s about making sure the proper filter was installed. There was a drive re-learn for lack of better terms for the map/maf and air filters when replaced.
Ultimately the fix for the frequent regen trucks was a new dpf, which a TSB came out after the trucks would pop a code for the frequency of regen. I think they still want the no glue strips filters to still be used. There was a time when the AA filter was ok’ed because the AB’s weren’t available due to china flu. I ran a AA for about 16k with no issue.

 

[AH64ID]

Speculation was focused on the air filters with the glue strips early on in the investigation into the frequent regen issues on the 22s, there was tsb’s about making sure the proper filter was installed. There was a drive re-learn for lack of better terms for the map/maf and air filters when replaced.
Ultimately the fix for the frequent regen trucks was a new dpf, which a TSB came out after the trucks would pop a code for the frequency of regen. I think they still want the no glue strips filters to still be used. There was a time when the AA filter was ok’ed because the AB’s weren’t available due to china flu. I ran a AA for about 16k with no issue.

You forgot to put fix in quotations. Many of the frequent regen trucks aren’t fixed by a new DPF, they just take a little longer to show the symptoms again. While there were definitely some faulty DPFs in 2022, fixed by the TSB, the TSB is not an all encompassing fix for many of the frequent regen trucks.

I don’t think I had a bad DPF in my 22, but it sure did some interesting things for soot loading when it shouldn’t.

I’m still squarely in the “software” camp for the majority of the issues.

if these new trucks have became Germanic in their sensitivity, it is going to not bode well for Dodge Sales.. thing people liked about the Cummins was the same sort of thing people like about harleys.. take away that inherent crudeness and it is just another over engineered pile of crap..

I've seen diesel engines run with the air filter so fouled it was deformed.. they just smoke black... which would plug a DPF quicker, but we are talking about one clean paper filter versus another, that is why I am a skeptical of that theory..

even the flow thing into the air box sounds like it wouldn't amount to much as it seems to be an either or thing on the Ram air box. either thru the front grille or thru the fender, I dont believe there is any in between..

anyway, it doesn't affect me, I'm never buying another one of these trucks unless I hit the jackpot.. .

Problem is that these aren’t the diesel engines of yesteryear once you bolt all the emissions crap on them. The heart is the same, and likely even more reliable, but there are too many sensitive components bolted on the outside.

You’ve got a lot of skepticism, but you’re also applying old school diesel theories to modern diesels. It’s apple cores to apple cores, but orange peels to apple skins on the outside.

 

[Grumpy8811]

Problem is that these aren’t the diesel engines of yesteryear once you bolt all the emissions crap on them. The heart is the same, and likely even more reliable, but there are too many sensitive components bolted on the outside.

You’ve got a lot of skepticism, but you’re also applying old school diesel theories to modern diesels. It’s apple cores to apple cores, but orange peels to apple skins on the outside.[/QUOTE]
that still doesn't go very far towards explaining why an item that cleans up exhaust soot using heat energy would be affected by the filtered air going into the engine..
leave it at that..

 

[Signal73]

Maybe it has to do with intake air sensors are so finely calibrated to a fault to supply air/fuel mixture ratio that anything other than the parameters they were calibrated with sends them into a spiral? If fuel/air mixture is off the truck runs sooty and plugs up the dpf causing more regens…Ram can’t figure it out I don’t know how we’re supposed to.

 

[Grumpy8811]

Maybe it has to do with intake air sensors are so finely calibrated to a fault to supply air/fuel mixture ratio that anything other than the parameters they were calibrated with sends them into a spiral? If fuel/air mixture is off the truck runs sooty and plugs up the dpf causing more regens…Ram can’t figure it out I don’t know how we’re supposed to.

only problem with that theory is a diesel engine has very variable air fuel ratio that can vary between 100:1 at unloaded slow idle to maybe as much as 10:1 at full load full throttle.. opposite of how gasoline engines work where they aim for stoichiometric fuel air ratio of around 14.7 to 1..

most of the clean burn in todays diesel engines is accomplished via precise fuel metering, multiple injection events per cycle as well as controlling injection timing.. and other changes in mechanical design.

the air filter thing sounds like Mopar BS to me, when they don't know what to blame a specific problem on they blame it on a non OEM part and expect people to swallow it.

 

[Signal73]

only problem with that theory is a diesel engine has very variable air fuel ratio that can vary between 100:1 at unloaded slow idle to maybe as much as 10:1 at full load full throttle.. opposite of how gasoline engines work where they aim for stoichiometric fuel air ratio of around 14.7 to 1..

most of the clean burn in todays diesel engines is accomplished via precise fuel metering, multiple injection events per cycle as well as controlling injection timing.. and other changes in mechanical design.

the air filter thing sounds like Mopar BS to me, when they don't know what to blame a specific problem on they blame it on a non OEM part and expect people to swallow it.

Yea I can tell you the proper air filter was not the silver bullet ram was looking for. Archoil I think is the only thing short of a new dpf that helped with regen frequency.

 

[Grumpy8811]

Yea I can tell you the proper air filter was not the silver bullet ram was looking for. Archoil I think is the only thing short of a new dpf that helped with regen frequency.

lets face facts , when a company that produces vehicles tells you in the maintenance section of the book they produce to grease the tie rod ends and they deliver that vehicle with maintenance free tie rod ends, you have to wonder what else they don't know about the vehicles they sell..

for instance Mopar was still recommending CJ 4 motor oil CES 20081 motor oil for their diesel 3 years after CK4 CES 20086 became Cummins recommendation.. so I dont put alot of faith in some of the stuff they say..

 

[johnmyster]

Had an interesting problem cone up. My son in law and I both have 2022 2500's. Replaced both truck's air filter elements 03/18/25 with Wix filters. I have approx 4k miles on mine, he has . His CEL come on yesterday and the local dealer said it was the MAF sensor, which they covered under warranty. They said the Wix filter had 2 glue strips that the Mopar does not. We are at 5400 ft elevation and the dealer said the glue strips impeed air flow at altitude and caused the MAF to fail. There is even a TSB about it. I haven't seen anything in the TDR about this. Has anyone else?
[/ATTACH]

The glue strips don't cause the problem just like lack of glue strips doesn't make for a superior filter.

The glue strips were simply a handy way to differentiate the two MOPAR filters that came through the Mopar supply chain, one of which has inferior airflow and thus does not work well for 2019+. Covid era supplier shortages and supplier changes are attributed to why mopar has maintained two semi-interchangeable filters in the catalogue.

Why does this matter? Any aftermarket Wix/Docs/FramSupertech/etc is not necessarily a correct or sufficient filter just because it doesn't have the reinforcing glue strips. The glue strip qualifier ONLY works when looking at the two mopar supplied filters.

Here are your choices:

Seeing as this is the superior filter, it's also the filter that's the better choice for my 2014, even if my 2014 is less picky and could do just fine on the inferior Mopar 68517554AA or aftermarket model(s).

 

[Grumpy8811]

Seeing as this is the superior filter, it's also the filter that's the better choice for my 2014, even if my 2014 is less picky and could do just fine on the inferior Mopar 68517554AA or aftermarket model(s).

what is your definition of "superior"?

 

[johnmyster]

what is your definition of "superior"?

Particle removal, particle loading capacity, and a sufficiently robust construction to not get sucked down the intake tube aside...the answer relative to this discussion is pressure drop.

Any filter that has lower pressure drop (relative to mass flow rate) means the turbo will be driven less hard to achieve commanded manifold density.

The issue with the AA filter on the 2019+ trucks is due to restriction. It's a silly argument to say a less restrictive AB air filter is beneficial on some applications but not on others.

The skeptic would ask why mopar would maintain the inferior AA filter rather than simply superseding all applications with the AB. The answer there is supply chain and/or cost.

only problem with that theory is a diesel engine has very variable air fuel ratio that can vary between 100:1 at unloaded slow idle to maybe as much as 10:1 at full load full throttle.. opposite of how gasoline engines work where they aim for stoichiometric fuel air ratio of around 14.7 to 1..

most of the clean burn in todays diesel engines is accomplished via precise fuel metering, multiple injection events per cycle as well as controlling injection timing.. and other changes in mechanical design.

On one hand you say air fuel is widely variable, and on the other hand you acknowledge it needs to be it's precisely controlled. I also seriously doubt anything below 17:1 appears in the calibration of any factory emissions calibration. The reason modern diesels are criticized for lacking throttle response is because they are setup to wait for airflow before adding fuel - maintaining sufficient air to prevent excessive particulate output. It's the opposite of tip-in fuel trim.

It isn't that far fetched to believe that an air intake restriction (or boost leak) that ideally would be compensated for by closed-loop MAF and speed-density inputs, could negatively impact exhausted soot levels into the DPF if the mapping and calibration for those inputs weren't able to compensate for off-normal conditions. The truck might run fine at the majority of speed/load/temperature conditions, but be smokey enough in particular scenarios to overwhelm active regen capacity and decrease time between regens.

So you're right, the filter isn't the problem. But a restrictive filter combined with the particulars of the factory calibration creates the problem. Easier to push out a TSB and an improved filter than to go before the EPA with a fleetwide calibration recertification.

In any case, if I've got $30 to spend on an air filter for my 2014, I'll choose the one that doesn't cause symptoms of airflow restriction on a 2019+ rather than the one that does.

 

[Grumpy8811]

Particle removal, particle loading capacity, and mechanical ability to not get sucked down the intake tube aside...the answer relative to this discussion is pressure drop.

Any filter that has lower pressure drop (relative to mass flow rate) means the turbo will be driven less hard to achieve commanded manifold density.

The issue with the AA filter on the 2019+ trucks is due to restriction. It's a silly argument to say a less restrictive AB air filter is beneficial on some applications but not on others.

The skeptic would ask why mopar would maintain the inferior AA filter rather than simply superseding all applications with the AB. The answer there is supply chain and/or cost.

FWIW the turbo charger works off of the heat energy in the exhaust system. since the volumtric efficency of a turbo charged diesel engine is above 100% so the air filter makes pretty much zero difference to operations in the exhaust system.

you can also point out that the more restrictive a filter is the more particles it filters but its a balancing act between flow and capacity..

the realist would note that Mopar makes a good profit on parts and service so it is in their best interest to get customers to buy what amounts to disposable parts at a higher cost..anyway, if a person wants to buy disposable OEM stuff, more power to them but they shouldn't believe just because it says MOPAR on it that it will do a better job than something else.

 

[johnmyster]

FWIW the turbo charger works off of the heat energy in the exhaust system. since the volumtric efficency of a turbo charged diesel engine is above 100% so the air filter makes pretty much zero difference to operations in the exhaust system.

VE is only >100% if all components allow it to be so. Just because you have a turbo doesn't mean you get to run a 2" exhaust, 1" intercooler piping and an air filter from a lawn mower.

The turbo harvests energy from two sources. One, pressure relieved when the exhaust valve opens. This is the "free" energy because the piston is already at BDC and no additional work (expansion) can be extracted by the rotating assembly. Second, the pistons do work on the exhaust stroke, forcing exhaust gasses through the turbine. This is not "free" energy and the rotating assembly actually drives the turbine in this regard.

And no, it doesn't run off heat energy any more than an drill that runs on compressed air runs on heat energy. It runs on pressure*flow rate (mechanical) energy. The drop in temperature across the turbine is merely a function of the ideal gas law; gasses cool when we allow for their expansion.

It isn't that the soot loading due to intake restriction is an operational issue with the exhaust. It's an operational issue with the engine. I am befuddled by this not being exceedingly apparent.

I'm not aware of a DPF equipped truck without a VGT. Said VGT has vanes, controlled by the PCM, to achieve targeted manifold density for commanded load. (Or more precisely, achieve commanded airflow that corresponds to commanded fuel rate that corresponds to the commanded throttle/torque value.) If an intake restriction results in less air, the calibration ideally compensates by either 1) limiting fuel or 2) commanding and waiting for more air to show up (close VGT vanes). If the calibration doesn't effectively do this and continues to deliver commanded fuel (despite insufficient air), even if only at some very specific operational conditions, soot production increases...hence, this discussion.

you can also point out that the more restrictive a filter is the more particles it filters but its a balancing act between flow and capacity.

The correlation may be true but not absolute. A block of wood in the intake would make a pretty good restriction but offer zero additional filtration. Yes, filtration often comes at the expense of restriction for a given media type. The simple solution is to give your filter engineer the budget to increase surface area of the media (bigger filter face, more pleats, or deeper pleats) and/or use better media that is less restrictive for a given filtration efficiency.

The AB filter and the AA filter both meet the flow/filtration specifications given to the supplier by Mopar.