what you guys think about blowing air in air filters to clean

And you have vortex spin pre-cleaners? Thats crazy. Do they have to shut down the excavators and loaders twice a day to clean air filters on that job?

 

Many companies did the washing air filters, Cat in our area had a huge machine that did it, after they had a few failures and got sued they shut it all down. washable air filter let in dirt, KNN in smaller diesels there is a study, they were the worst by far. Whenever you remove an air filter, you have to be sure you wash out the can not just wipe it WASH it., check the seal, I tap it on the floor, about 2 inches, rotating it, do it about 4 rotations, also look for the glue broken loose from the pleats to the screen, if it is broken loose, replace the filter.
Just a thought!

 

Question...with 160,000 miles on the Fleetair...could it have been worn out and not filtering your air good enough any more? Performance loose would point to clogged filter, but fuel dilution and back fireing doesn't sound like a filter issue. it sounds to me like something got in your engine that shouldn't have. You say you had higher dirt (silicon). That says to me your filter got worn out and was letting poo in your engine. Now since others say i talk about stuff I know nothing about....I will put my disclaimer.....I only know about my successful filter use and don't know enough about how they work to really make a diagnosis, but it seems to me the filter stopped filtering if dirt got into the engine and then changing the filter reduced it. I'm just using simple logic here. Maybe these filters are reusable, but only for 150,000 miles. Now my fleet air is pretty new and only cleaned once so far, but my oil samples come back with none of the issues your's are. If your sure its filter related, I would guess its THAT filter and not fleet air in general. Could just be worn out. My silicon is 4 and iron at 28 after 40,000 miles with bypass filter. I'm not sure what you consider "high" but horizon thinks those numbers are nothing to worry about. I'll check again in 20,000 miles. Obviously I have no idea what motor you have or oil type you use, but clearly i have not seen any issues with a NEW fleet air. I clean mine every 20,000ish miles weather it needs it or not. Never had a problem yet and am about to clean it again since i just hit 42k with it on. (didn't clean it right when it hit the 40k mark since i was on the road)


And wow, I looked at the link you posted. Thats not at all true in my experience. MPG barley changed with a clogged filter accourding to that link. I know on my diesel VW golf I have gone from 25-40mpg average just by changing the air filter. (my sister will drive that car until it dies without thinking it might need maintenance lol.) i guess it depends on application. I did not notice a big jump in mpg with the fleetair, but .1 or .2 would be hard to monitor and would make a difference in a year. I did however notice a better oil sample with it compared to the previous owners sample, but that could be do to the bypass filter too and not air related. (hard to bench mark when you change everything at once)

In any case, on trucks I have not seen any real performance difference based on filters, but it might help a little. i have on cars and that where im basing my knowledge. if not better performance, in 100k miles the fleet air is cheaper, although not by much. I started useing fleet air and a bypass oil filter because I'm Green and don't want to dispose of a filter or oil i can just clean. But if environmentally friendly isn't a big deal to you, the Donaldson aren't much more and performance isn't much difference.

 

I just finished a demolition job a few weeks ago "Seaside heights/Seaside park boardwalk fire, and while in the buildings and areas at the buildings i would change my filter at lunch time or every 5 hours, the inner filter never had to be replaced due to this practice.

 

Buy fleet air filter. Washable. lifetime. Better air flow.

 

I am not talking about the washable type "K&N" i wash the original filter.
I went on a equipment tour in 2000 at a John Deere plant in Moline, Ill and brought this practice up at a meeting/tour with the VP and asked why they didn't still offer the non sudsing soap, he said they do and gave me a box at the end of the night, but still til today i cannot get it at a dealer.

 

SOmewhere in the back of my memory I think I remember an old Mack with an oil bath air cleaner.

Couldn't you dusty dudes get an oil bath or water bath air cleaner?

The only filters I blow out are the HVAC in the house, the upright Hoover and the Shop Vac.



My duallies last many years. I trash them when restriction is up. Someone else's truck, sure blow 'em out, but not mine.

And if you don't have a real-time restriction gauge how the heck do you know they are clogged? Looks don't count for nothing. And those button fittings under the hood, I don't trust.

 

I still use oil bath air filters on all my farm tractors except my 150 Massey which has a paper filter, I'm sure most here would not know an oil bath filter if it was throwed at them but if you ever get the opportunity to pull the cup off of a up draft style or a bowl style filter on a down draft setup I highly recommend you take a moment and look at it. It is mind boggling what you will find, I myself as mentioned in an earlier post lightly bump the filter on a Clean surface while rotating it and moving just a few inches each time to see what comes out, although air used to clean a filter will work I myself would not want an employee doing it on my truck, some people just don't know when to say when and end up destroying more than they fix.