BY BLAIR LAMPE / ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 10, 2019 / NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE PARTS ASSOCIATION / Anyone familiar with cars knows changing an engine air filter is&hellip;{"id":11277,"date":"2019-07-15T12:17:18","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T19:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/?p=11277"},"modified":"2019-07-15T12:17:50","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T19:17:50","slug":"11277","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/15\/11277\/","title":{"rendered":"Is An Air Filter That Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\">BY BLAIR LAMPE \/ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 10, 2019 \/<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.napaonline.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE PARTS ASSOCIATION<\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">\/<\/span><\/h5>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Anyone familiar with cars knows changing an engine air filter is an important part of routine maintenance, but why do engines need an air filter to begin with? Just why are they so important and how do they affect performance?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>No Filter<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The first engines were built without<\/span>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.napaonline.com\/en\/search?text=air%2Bfilter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">air filters<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, and it wasn\u2019t great for them. Both gas and diesel engines require large volumes of air for combustion to take place, so it\u2019s important to force the right amount of air into the chambers, but not indiscriminately. There are a lot of tight clearances once inside, and if the system is picking up even small particles, their introduction to the system can have long-time cumulative or immediate catastrophic effects. Air filters were introduced early on as a way to<\/span>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/knowhow.napaonline.com\/engine-air-filters-vs-cabin-filters-whats-the-difference\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">get the engine the air it needs<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">while keeping harmful debris out.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Filter Needed<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The first air filters were water and oil \u201cbath\u201d types. These worked by inducting air through a deep U-shaped passageway with a pool of water or oil (oil proving the more effective design) at the bottom. The force of the air flow coupled with the shape of the route worked to trap particles in the baths, but as you can imagine, it wasn\u2019t very pretty to service. It also had performance limitations. Next was the introduction of paper filters which were placed directly on top of the carburetor. Their filtering substrate was pleated to increase the surface area through which air can travel. As better fuel injection technologies emerged, the air filter was moved further from the engine and underwent many design iterations in terms of shape and material. Ultimately, the \u201cperfect\u201d air filter design is still a matter of discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Clean Air Action<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">All filters are expected to get dirty, it\u2019s kind of their job. Filters made of paper, cotton and other fibers (the most common types) will<\/span>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/knowhow.napaonline.com\/car-maintenance-really-need-annual-checkups\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">need to be replaced<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">every 10,000 to 50,000 miles, depending on driving conditions. With such variance, it\u2019s important to check for dirty filters during routine maintenance, as regularly driving down dusty roads will shorten their life considerably. And driving with a clogged filter can drastically lower performance, fuel economy and even cause an engine to die completely. Luckily, dirty filters are pretty easy to spot once removed from their housing and even easier to change. The latest technologies include washable filters designed to last the life of the vehicle, but these are not generally standard and require specific cleaning chemicals and treatments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Always take care to prevent anything from entering the engine while a filter is out, or contaminating the inside of the filter itself. Your engine will thank you for the breath of fresh air.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Check out all the<\/span>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.napaonline.com\/en\/c\/filters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">air filters<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">available on<\/span>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.napaonline.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NAPA Online<\/a><\/strong> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">or trust one of their 17,000<\/span> <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.napaautocare.com\/store-finder.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NAPA AutoCare locations<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">for routine maintenance and repairs. For more information on whether an engine air filter is necessary, chat with a knowledgeable expert at your<\/span>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.napaonline.com\/en\/store-locator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">local NAPA AUTO PARTS store<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Photo credit: Blair Lampe<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This article has been reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder, National Automotive Parts Association. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Click here for more<\/span>\u00a0<\/em><strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/knowhow.napaonline.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">automotive tips and stories<\/a><\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">from NAPA, or here for more information on\u00a0<\/span><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/event-info\/car-show-hours-dates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the next Pomona Swap Meet &amp; Classic Car Show<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":11279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cos_headline_score":0,"cos_seo_score":0,"cos_headline_text":"","cos_headline_has_been_analyzed":false,"cos_last_analyzed_headline":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[805],"tags":[7124,4649,3056,4152,6118,7122,5195,7125,6793,7127,3491,3037,3026,7123,7128,5197,7126],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/air-filter1-closeup.jpg?fit=1177%2C615&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s9nnZN-11277","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11280,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11277\/revisions\/11280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}