2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Air Filter: one dirt road and the minder says Now!

[mwilson]

You could put a restriction gauge in the cab, I've driven big rigs with feature and it is far easier to monitor air cleaner element conditions watching it in real time.

 

[mwilson]

A filter minder to me is like a red idiot light for oil
pressure, not quite enough information.

 

[seafish]

You could put a restriction gauge in the cab, I've driven big rigs with feature and it is far easier to monitor air cleaner element conditions watching it in real time.

I have ALWAYS wanted to do that, but then again I AM a gauge geek...LOL.

Here is the one I would use--

https://dynamic.donaldson.com/WebStore/search/item_detail.html?section=10144&item=33624

 

[SAndreasen]

Well I'm no closer to resolving this, but I do have further data. Just finished a 3600 mile tour thru UT, WY, MT ID, NV, & CA with a CarQuest (Wix) filter in place. Very little in the way of dirt roads and the minder is at about 40% now. I would venture that purely in terms of how fast it plugs up that the Wix filter is better than the Fleetguard filter. Due for an oil change, so now I'll look into getting a sample sent out.

My 6,5 will plug the air filter in ten thousand miles and it looks like it came out of tractor wirh 3000 hours on the filter the stock filter just isn't big enough

 

[JR]

For comparison, here is where my minder sits. Filter minder is probably 1-1/2 years old at this point, no clue what the filter has on it as it is what I had in before I tried the BHAF. So when I went back to the OEM box I reused the OEM filter since it still looked good (Fleetguard).

 

[SAndreasen]

For comparison, here is where my minder sits. Filter minder is probably 1-1/2 years old at this point, no clue what the filter has on it as it is what I had in before I tried the BHAF. So when I went back to the OEM box I reused the OEM filter since it still looked good (Fleetguard).

View attachment 96944View attachment 96944

Didn't you like the bhaf and did you use a Donaldson

 

[JR]

Didn't you like the bhaf and did you use a Donaldson

Yes I did use a Donaldson. One thing I will say is the minder gauge hardly ever moved with the BHAF (same filter minder as whats in my OEM box). What concerned me was under hood temps in the summer time. I bought a scan gauge on the cheap recently from a friend and it can monitor intake air temps so once I get a good baseline on ambient temp vs intake air temp with my OEM box I'll go back to the BHAF to see if there is as much a difference as I think.

 

[chazj]

Filter Minder

A couple of questions: 1) Does the filter minder show its self in the "pulled down position" only when the engine is running? Or does it stay that way until pushing the button Release?
2) Is there a general correlation between miles driven vs the filter minder being pulled down?

I've never really seen mine move and have just been changing at no more than 30,000 miles. No off road at all.

Perhaps my frequency is in error as I've read here that the partially dirty filter does a better job "filtering" than a new one

Thanks,

Charlie

 

[Bob4x4]

A couple of questions: 1) Does the filter minder show its self in the "pulled down position" only when the engine is running? Or does it stay that way until pushing the button Release?
2) Is there a general correlation between miles driven vs the filter minder being pulled down?

I've never really seen mine move and have just been changing at no more than 30,000 miles. No off road at all.

Perhaps my frequency is in error as I've read here that the partially dirty filter does a better job "filtering" than a new one

Thanks,

Charlie

Yes the yellow button stays down to where it was pulled untill you reset it(by pressing on it)

 

[petersonj]

A couple of questions: 1) Does the filter minder show its self in the "pulled down position" only when the engine is running? Or does it stay that way until pushing the button Release?
2) Is there a general correlation between miles driven vs the filter minder being pulled down?

Think of the filter minder as living its own world. Its sole purpose is to detect and record the difference in air pressure before and after air passes through the air filter. The recording is then held by the filter minder until someone depresses the reset button. So, to answer your question, you may check and / or reset the filter minder recording whether or not the engine is running.

Air filter restriction gauges (including filter minders) are recording the pressure drop across the air filter in inches of water, so they are very sensitive to minor pressure drops. Typically, entering the red zone on a filter minder represents a pressure drop equal to 20 - 25 inches of water.

In general there is a correlation between miles driven and the filter minder pulling down. But misdiagnoses of an air filter condition is quite common when using the filter minder as a tool.

Here is an imaginary example: " I have 25,000 miles on my air filter. My filter minder has ever moved much, but when I looked at it this morning it was just approaching the red. I reset it and I have since driven the truck for a week and the filter minder is hardly moving again. What happened?"

What the truck owner failed to mention in this imaginary example, is that he used the truck to pull a heavy load up a long grade just before he observed the high filter minder reading. In doing so the engine was run at much higher rpms under heavy throttle resulting in considerably more air passing through the air filter which caused the high filter minder recording. In this case nothing is unusual here - the air filter is nearing the end of its normal life and will need to be replaced soon. When he went back to his day to day driving with an empty truck, the air flow through the air filter was greatly reduced, consequently showing very little movement in the filter minder.

So, regardless of which air filter is used or how much horsepower an engine has, the filter minder can be used to gather reliable information if one understands the variables and performs a test with some variables controlled.

I actually have an air restriction analog gauge inside the cab in my truck now, but in the past I used a filter minder. After replacing an air filter I would find a place where I could safely drive the truck briefly at wide open throttle at 2000 rpm and would then record the filter minder or gauge reading. I used that recording as my benchmark for that particular air filter used on my truck.

Also, remember, as Mwilson noted, a very low restriction recording can mean an unwanted air leak into the intake system between the air filter and the turbocharger which can result in serious engine damage if undetected for a long period of time.

- John

I had forgotten to mention that the filter minder can be tested with a hand vacuum pump and gauge. It must be done very carefully though because the vacuum pump is calibrated in inches of mercury ( 1" HG equals just over 13" H2O), so the filter minder should go into the red just under 2" HG.

- John

 

[KATOOM]

The filter minder simply measures the vacuum between the air filter and the turbo. An aftermarket boost gauge does the same thing but instead measures the pressure after the turbo. The only difference is the boost gauge needle goes back to 0 every time whereas the filter minder stays put to show the maximum amount of vacuum it had measured. So obviously the more restrictive the air filter is or becomes, the more vacuum generated as the turbo has to suck air through it.

 

[GAmes]

I just got the results back from a 24,000 mile oil sample. Silicon is 6 PPM. Iron crept up to 52, so it looks like I'll stay with 25k oil changes. Still waiting on a BHAF sample number.

 

[SAndreasen]

I just got the results back from a 24,000 mile oil sample. Silicon is 6 PPM. Iron crept up to 52, so it looks like I'll stay with 25k oil changes. Still waiting on a BHAF sample number.

Hope to get it sent off soon I live on a farm and spend lots of time in fields haulin hay and straw and on dirt roads so I hope to post it soon been to broke to send the sample in