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How Often Should You Change the Car Air Filter?

ByTsukasa Azuma-December 25, 2020

An automobile is a great collection of several world-class technologies blended with powerful minds. A vehicle engine comprises numerous small components that offer the required amount of acceleration and sound for a better driving experience. One of the main elements in an engine is Air Filter that averts dust and dirt from entering inside.

The chief principle of the air filter is to keep the engine away from dust or any type of pollution. The dirt particles can damage the insides of the engine surface and reduce the lifespan as well. Here, the question is “how often to change car air filter?” arises.So, let us find the answer to that question here!

What Is Car Air Filter

Before going to know how often to change car air filter, let’s learn what is car air filter, air filter car purpose and why you should change it.

Car air filter is a must have part in your car which plays a very important role to help your car run like a champion. Car air filter is one of four main filters in your car, which are cabin filter, oil filter, fuel filter and air filter. The function of all these filters is to enable the flows and catch the impurities such as dust, and contaminants in the air, oil… Therefore you need air filter maintenance frequently to make sure your car is running on track. 

Car air filter is a must have part in your car which plays a very important role to help your car run like a champion

How Often To Change Car Air Filter?

Replacing the dirty air filters with the fresher ones would be the best choice. This is because the particles damage the engine cylinder walls and piston rings. The effects can injure the engine and reduce the compression of the cylinder. Cleaner air is imperative for the fuels to provide sufficient force and power to the engine. It blocks the entrance of impurities inside the engine and gives a steady flow.

When the air filter is worn out, it needs to be changed. Some car manufacturing companies offer the time interval of 15,000 to 30,000 miles to change the engine air filter. So in general, every 1 or 2 year, drivers should change the car air filter. You can look in your car’s manual, you will find the right answer for you. Someone even changed the engine air filter earlier than what the car’s manual recommended due to the damage or other reasons. So check the car’s manual, check the car air filter condition, you will know when to change air filter.

In general, every 1 or 2 year, drivers should change the car air filter.

For example, for Chevrolet,  the recommended change interval is every 45,000 miles, but Ford says it should be done every 30,000 miles on many of its engines. Hyundai also says every 30,000 miles, but shortens it to 15,000 for “severe” driving conditions, which includes heavy traffic in hot weather and frequent driving on unpaved roads or dusty conditions.

Since the rule is different for each car type, again, checking with the car manual is the best thing you should do. Besides, you might be able to tell when a filter needs replacing just by looking at it. If you find black areas on the section through which outside air enters, then it may be time for a swap.

Let us gain some more knowledge about the replacement of the air filter

1. Time Interval

Changing the air filter is not as sturdy as it may sound. One can finish this simple task in no time. However, replacing the polluted air filter after a certain time interval will provide adequate power and force required by the engine. One can replace the air filter after 10,000-15,000 miles or once a year.

This is because a polluted air filter will allow the dust particles to pass through it and this process can cause a lot of dilemmas later on. So, do you have the answer for how often to change car air filter yet? If not, let us find more on it.

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2. Lack Of Acceleration & Power

Whenever you experience the deficiency of force and power while accelerating, it is the right time to get your loving car a service. Going through expert’s maintenance tips might assist to replace the air filter by self.

3. Smoke From The Engine

A polluted air filter may result in black and thick smoke coming from the engine. If you come across smoke coming from the tailpipe, then air filter change is perhaps the best solution.

4. Over Consumption Of Fuel

An engine with a dirty air filter might consume more fuel than before. If the fuel level drops in no time then this is the appropriate signal to replace the polluted air filter with the newer one.

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Benefit Of Changing The Car Air Filter?

The cabin filter cleans the air that comes into the interior of your car through the heating and air conditioning. It is more important when you have any allergies or respiratory problems. There are few benefits below which for sure can convince you to often change the car air filter.

1: For better car performance

When the air flowing into the engine is clean, the mixture of the fuel and air supports maximum power. By that the car performance is assured stable work. For sure no one wants to drive a car with bad performance so changing the car air filter will help you to avoid the bad experience of driving a car.

When the air flowing into the engine is clean, the mixture of the fuel and air supports maximum power, so that car performs better.

2: Increase the fuel efficiency

By replacing a clogged air filter can increase fuel efficiency and improve acceleration, depending on your car make and model. 

In fact, the dirty or damaged air filter limits the amount of air flowing into the car engine. Therefore the car has to work harder therefore, it costs a lot of fuel. It is also important to remember that your car engine needs more than 10.000 liters of oxygen to burn every liter of fuel, so it needs to restrict the airflow.

Check with the car manual will help you better understand your car air filter by that no how often to change car air filter.

3: To avoid black smoke

As you know, when the air filter is clogged, the fuel combustion is incomplete and leads to dirty exhausted smoke. The next thing that happens is the black smoke is emitted from the car and the car’s exhaust emissions, contributing to the pollution of your surrounding environment.

Also dirty or damaged air filter reduce the air flow to the engine, changing the car air fuel balance. This imbalance can pollute spark plugs, causing the engine to miss or rough idle; increase engine depositions.

Changing car air filter can help to avoid the black smoke.

4: Inexpensive but quick fix

It is one more benefit of changing car air filter. The car air filter is the less expensive component to replace and can be done by yourself. It is important to make certain the replacement air filter is designed for your exact make and model of car. Moreover, the car air filter is easy to track.

As we mentioned above on how often to change car air filter, you can check easily when you should change it. It is suggested about 15.000 to 30.000 mile, it may vary upon the car’s manual manufacturer. 

The car air filter is the less expensive component to replace and can be done by yourself

Common Question About Car Air Filter

Besides the question of how often to change the engine air filter, we receive another question from a lot of people, which is “should I replace the air filter or clean it’?

Should I replace the air filter or clean it

The answer is it depends on the air filter condition. If the air filter is slightly dirty, but not quite ready for a replacement, it can be cleaned before replacing the new one. However, if you are not sure your air filter looks like when it’s new or not, we recommend you to send your car to the truthful garage for a proper diagnosis.

The price of an engine air filter is kind of cheap compared to other parts of the car, so we suggest you to replace it if it is questionable. Changing a bad air filter today could end up saving you thousands in the future. 

Do not know ow to replace the car air filter at home? Check the video below!

The Final Words

That is all you should know about how often to change car air filter. What you should remember is there is no exact time for replacing a new air filter rather than checking the manual also with the air filter condition.

It is recommended to change the new air filter every 15.000 to 30.000 miles. Replacing a new air filler is also suggested rather than cleaning an old filter. 

For better knowledge about your car and how to fix it when something happens, follow our car maintenance tips!

Tsukasa Azuma is an awesome car blogger of Car From Japan. He owns a car repair shop at downtown Osaka, and he put all that experience to good use in his sharing posts. Tsukasa’s blog is one of the best resources for information about keeping your favorite imported car running smoothly. Moreover, because of being passionate to learn about the recent happenings in auto industry, he doesn’t only provide great car maintenance tips, he also always updates latest trends in among car brands and share them in his own interesting viewpoint.

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