Okay, car people... answer me this: how often should you change the air filter in your car? This guy says about once a year, but hey, I don't know him any better than anyone else on the intarwebs.
See, here's the thing. Every single time I go to a place to get an oil change, I always, always, always get the moment where they tell me, "oh, and that air filter is filthy... you really ought to think about changing that." Once, I even had them actually bring it to me there in the waiting area, like some roadkill that had gotten lodged up in my undercarriage. And I'm thinking, if changing this all the time was really necessary, wouldn't that just be part of the regular "quick maintenance" routine these places do?
The last time I got an oil change a while back, I went for it, and said, "sure, change that air filter." What the hell do I know? (I didn't say that last part.) Now here I am, most certainly less than one year later, and I'm getting the "you ought to change that air filter" crap again.
Do they get some kind of sweet margin on air filters in particular at car places? Do I live in a climate where it's reasonable to go through them like tissues?
Someone, please enlighten me!
7 comments:
I have NO idea.
But I'd love to know, too...
FKL
I've changed mine only once in four and a half years (after the dealer service department recommended it). Offhand I don't know what the owner's manual recommends, but I would imagine once a year should be plenty unless you drive in a lot of dust or pollution. Anyway, why not change it yourself? It's a lot cheaper, and it's really a no-brainer. I mean, really, if an automotive klutz like me can do it, you can.
Well if you have them do it is a huge mark up. My wife's Neon has about a $7 air filter but the oil change place wanted to charge her about $40 to change it. I changed it in about 2 minutes.
I'm pretty sure you should change it about once a year, give or take.
You should also only change your oil based on your owner's manual not the oil companies recommendation. Most cars recommend a 5000 mile change, oil companies recommend a 3000 mile change.
There's an auto parts store right next to the place I get oil changes. They share the same parking lot. When they say I need a new air filter & its $10-20 I just drive over there & get one. I don't do my own maintenance, but the air filter is about 3 screws & that's it. I think I spent $5 on it. Just watch your oil change people put yours back in & you'll be able to figure it out.
Jared
It's actually painfully simple to change it yourself. You should change it once every two years, except when you live in high urban areas (Cough Denver, Tokyo :s), at which time it should be done once a year. But this is for optimum maintanence, and if you "slip a little" and change it every 2 years, that won't be a problem.
In fact, if you don't change the filter you will experience problems in about 7 or so years. Heck, Kevin never changes his filter that I'm aware of... it isn't great for the car, but it's not like failing to change your oil, which is bad...
I heard every 10,000 miles. When they bring out the air filter or ask and it's not time to change it [change it yourself it's waaaaaay cheaper and is easy to do and i don't mean easy as in "it's easy to change you computer's hard drive"], I tell them to just blow it out for now.
I read an article recently about things to do to save money. One can find it by googling:
"MSN 20 ways you waste money on your car"
Not once since I have bought my first car have I ever been asked about an air filter.
I am pretty sure neither my first car (Renault 4) nor my second car (Renault 5) had one anyway :)
If theres an air filter in a Renault Kangoo, noone has yet bothered to tell me.
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