Factory Air Filter Feedback

[Turbo1Ton]

I was speaking with the design engineer of our factory air filters this morning(I am doing some work at their lab) and he was looking for feedback on the air filters.



I haven't had any problems with mine other than the filter minder sucked down about 3/4 of the way a couple of days after I changed it. I know I have read about several others who can suck down the filter minder pretty good too.



I would like to ask for feedback from those of you still using the factory filter. Is your engine stock/modified(any boxes or anything at all), have you modified the filter housing in any way? What problems have you experienced? If you have had issues with the filter what were the conditions when you noticed the failure/problem, i. e. was it wet, extremely dirty, had you removed the pre-filter?



The guy is looking for honest feedback. He doesn't care if you are modified or not, he wants to know what issues are out there. I'm sure he is mostly concerned with the guys who are still stock as those who are modified most likely will have problems and he already recognizes that.



This is your chance to give the filter manufacturer direct, real world feedback. They very seldom get GOOD information when dealing with stuff like this.



Thanks,



Jeff

 

[rbattelle]

My engine is stock (at least in terms of performance boxes or air intake mods). I've always bought the Mopar brand air filters.



I've not had any trouble with the Mopar filters. So far I've replaced the filter 3 times (I'm running a 15k replacement interval).



Oddly, my filter minder has never moved at all in 60k miles. Never. I even let the filter go 25k miles once and it never moved the minder. Maybe I have a leak and I don't know it.



-Ryan

 

[TFucili]

Still on the factory element at 13,000 miles. Engine is stock. I could pull the filter minder down quite a ways when trailering, until I installed the PSM cold air kit. Now it hasn't budged since. I would say we need more intake area for the box, and they could stand to improve the seal at the interface of the air box and the fender.

 

[GWBourne]

stock engine 99. 9% of the time. very rare do i turn the Van Aaken on as it gets too hot too fast. ill be ditching te factory air box or moding it soon.



i think the box could be redesigned to provide a cooler charge and the filter could be about an inch larger each side. other than that for stock i think its an alright setup. gets dirty FAST though... .

 

[Turbo1Ton]

i think the box could be redesigned to provide a cooler charge and the filter could be about an inch larger each side. other than that for stock i think its an alright setup. gets dirty FAST though... .

GWBourne. Can you elaborate on your getting dirty fast comment? How fast? How dirty? How many miles did you put on it and do you drive in extremly dusty conditions?



Yeah, he knows it needs to be bigger. He also mentioned the intake being in the fender as being somewhat of an issue. I think he told me that the Dodge spec was 650cfm through the filter and that they were wanting to get up to 800cfm. The capacity of the filter is 1lb of dirt. I doubt anyone is running these to their capacity.



The problem that the air filter design guys have is that they are the last ones to get real estate under the hood.



Keep the comments coming guys.



Jeff

 

[steved]

My truck had 2200 miles on it (all highway) and I could pull the filterminder in completely with a single WOT pass... the truck was completely stock.



I changed to a "1998 Ram" airfilter from Napa (Napa Gold)... it solved the problem... about 6 months ago I changed to a Amsoil Oiled-Foam filter... best move I made IMO (along with swiss cheesing the airbox). The reason I went to a "1998 Ram" filter is because the DC filters only actually have about a 4 inch square "opening" in the center since the pleats are glued together to prevent dirt from getting by the "prefilter" gauze. The Napa Gold filter is just a pleated flat panel filter without the prefilter. My mileage INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY just getting rid of the OEM (17mpg best) and changing to the Napa (19mpg... 2mpg increase with the filter change only) and even more after changing to the Amsoil filter (20+mpg). I also noticed a decrease in overall operating temps changing the OEM filter to a Napa.



I talked with a guy in OK (he towed 5th wheels for a living... already had 147k on his truck that was a year old) who had went through 4 renditions on the air box because he kept sucking the filter in... he finally went to a BHAF to prevent damaging the engine because there was no solution from DC.



steved

 

[Turbo1Ton]

steved, good info. I am assuming that you mean an air filter for a '98 CTD Dodge Ram correct?



Did you swiss cheese the airbox when you changed to the Napa filter or did you do that later?



Jeff

 

[steved]

steved, good info. I am assuming that you mean an air filter for a '98 CTD Dodge Ram correct?



Did you swiss cheese the airbox when you changed to the Napa filter or did you do that later?



Jeff

Yes, used a filter for a 1998 Ram CTD... the 99+ versions have a gauze prefilter on them...



I didn't swiss cheese the airbox until I got the Amsoil filter... I will agree, before this, the filter would get dirty really quick. Almost like the air in the fender was getting taken right from the wheelwell and getting all the dust/dirt stirred up by the tire.



steved

 

[Turbo1Ton]

I'm willing to bet that the Dodge spec for capacity increased to 1lb in 1999. The reason for the pre-filter being to get the filter to hold the capacity that Dodge wanted.



I'm not sure if they were the original OE supplier for the 1998 filters. I'll let him know about your experience though.



Thanks,



Jeff

 

[EBolgiano]

My truck is absolutely bone stock. The only thing I tow is my boat, motor, and trailer and it weighs in at 1000#. I changed the air filter at 15k miles and it looked fine. I have seen the filter reminder at 1/2 several times and reset it. No obvious problems. Ed B

 

[FJfonda]

Pretty much stock --- I change filters at 10,000 miles and have always pulled the filterminder even on a clean filter. At the 30,000 mile filter change I put a 4" hole in the bottom of the airbox and haven't pulled the filterminder yet.



The filters I have replaced have had no damage --- just dirty.

 

[pwr2tow]

Completely stock, I could suck the air minder down about half way on a new filter. I removed the gauze and have never seen the filter minder move since. I also clean the filter about every 3-4 thousand miles by tapping it litely on my hand and then sucking off the rest with a shop vac.

 

[drewRoberts]

about 2K ago I installed the redneck NAPA2790 air filter. I didnt put on the filter minder, however on my first airfilter I noticed after about 2K the filter minder was pulling to about half dureing normal driveing. at full throttle I would go into the red with no problem and my truck was bone stock. after 12K the filter was looking rather yucky( and was pulling the filter minder near the red during normal driveing) so I changed it with a replacement from geno's. I also installed some 2. 5 inch holes into the bottom of the air box thinking that would help. I had roughly the same result.



I'm not going to any conclusions but I am leaning more tward the filter minder is junk, and the filter did the job it was designed to do. the main reason for me putting in the BHAF was so I could go longer between filter changes. . . and it is a slick conversation starter at the pump

 

[Augie]

Fleetguard or Mopar?

I'm about to purchase Geno's 4/2/1 kit. One has a Fleetguard air filter the other has a Mopar for 4 bucks more. Truck is stock. Which is the better filter and why? Thanks.

 

[BK]

I use Genos kits too.

My truck is bone stock power wise, except for a TSB to increase the power by a reflash.

I have not changed the airbox.

I have not changed the turbo.

I have just went to a new 4" exhaust last year.

Got gauges.

I've owned the truck since new, 1999 with 51K miles



I have had zero problems with the Fleetguard air filters.

To date they have all had the prefilter on them.

I've replaced them ever few years, not wanting them to fall apart due to age.

I've never had the air minder pulled down. I've tested it and it works fine.

My air box and tubes are very clean, so the system isn't leaking past the filter.

The filters are dirty as heck when I replaced them.



I've towed on and off road. I've run it hard on the road and off the road.

I'm not easy on it. But the air minder has never pulled down.



I saved a couple of foam prefilters to use on the fleetguards that didn't come with them. I was going to just wash them out gently. (bad idea? good idea?) Before they started to look to cut corners, they had it, figured there must have been a good reason for the prefilter.



Jeff what company are you working for?

 

[GWBourne]

GWBourne. Can you elaborate on your getting dirty fast comment? How fast? How dirty? How many miles did you put on it and do you drive in extremly dusty conditions?



Yeah, he knows it needs to be bigger. He also mentioned the intake being in the fender as being somewhat of an issue. I think he told me that the Dodge spec was 650cfm through the filter and that they were wanting to get up to 800cfm. The capacity of the filter is 1lb of dirt. I doubt anyone is running these to their capacity.



The problem that the air filter design guys have is that they are the last ones to get real estate under the hood.



Keep the comments coming guys.



Jeff

Jeff, its mostly road grime that gets caught in the gauze. reading down further in the post i see that 1998 year and now share the same size filter... kinda odd since between 1998 and 2006 there has been a vast inprovement of STOCK power... . seems like the planing is a lil late on this one, but better late than never.



my driving is MOSTLY highway. i easily put 100 miles on the truck a day and 250 a day on the weekend. i make a 1100 mile trip to AZ once a month as well. while in AZ i take around 25 miles of gravel roads at about 70mph...

 

[T&Gauto]

I sell a lot of diffrent filters I noticed that stock trucks with no chip do get better mpg by going with aftermarket filters "kn afe airaid" they flow more air but some dont filter as good or better than stock. you should look at air flow and micron filtration. If you put a box on the truck it allows it to build more boost so you need even more air flow but DONT GIVE UP FILTRATION FOR AIR FLOW! the afe stage I and stage II pro guard 7 work well and fiter very well.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Jeff, its mostly road grime that gets caught in the gauze. reading down further in the post i see that 1998 year and now share the same size filter... kinda odd since between 1998 and 2006 there has been a vast inprovement of STOCK power... . seems like the planing is a lil late on this one, but better late than never.

Thanks for the info.



I understand what you are saying about planning being late but to be honest, we can blame good ole DC for that. They should adjust their specs so that the filter manufacturer will improve the filter. Meaning, why should the manufacturer go above and beyond and put more cost into it as long as they are meeting the OE specs?



Also, just because it is the same physical size doesn't mean that they are designed the same.



Jeff

 

[DieselFiend]

Jeff, my OEM filter sucked in the minder every time I checked it. I'm sure it was doing a great job filtrating dirt but I needed more CFM. I switched to a FRAM air hog and could tell an immediate difference. I'm getting pretty good filtration, because my oil samples look good and I never notice any dirt residue on the air intake tubes past the filter. I'm in southern idaho and its very dry and dusty. OEM filter filtered good but not near enough CFM.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I ran back to back dyno tests on the stock filter and a K&N replacement filter (no air box mods).

The K&N made a solid 9 H. P. more on a stock 305.



Scotty