I've always tried to post learnings even if they're kind of obvious like this one. I hadn't changed the air filter in a couple of years, the other day I opened its case to clean the MAF (think I see a small improvement after the cleaning). I noticed debris in the filter. Took a compressed air hose and blew it all away, fold by fold.

I remember learning that you should be able to see the sun through a good filter. Held it up, well... if I parted the paper pleats, then yes. Otherwise no.

Ordered a new filter. Got it yesterday. Held it up to the sun. Sure enough sunlight comes right through.

I'm writing this as an fyi and a memory jogger for the other folks like me, who forgot about this. If I described the driving improvement, you'd think I was exaggerating, big improvement. This is the kind of thing I expected from the MAF cleaning, hell this is more like what folks describe with the throttle cable adjustment.

John

 

No chance of that happening over here.

Graham

 

From what I remember about my time in the various parts of the U.K.(Manchester, London, Crowley, South Hampton, Dublin, and a few other spots), the sun was piped in on a very limited basis only specified day???
Sorry G., couldn't pass up, drop in here, and I will supply the first rum runner.
Sam

 

Also, remember the air flow meter works by sampling only some of the air flow. The ECU takes in the reading and works out the actual amount of air going in per second. That assumes a clean air filter. A dirty filter does not necessarily restrict the flow as much as it changes the pattern of the flow, which makes the sampling less accurate (hello fuel trims!).

 

Thanks Fmertz. Perhaps that's why I saw such an improvement. This one was so obvious I was reluctant to post it. But after the drivability changes I couldn't resist.

Graham- so can we conclude your all driving around with dirty filters then?:-)

John