Help Your Car Breathe

We play the odds with practically everything we do in life, whether it’s something as mundane as turning on the tap for hot water or driving through a nasty thunderstorm at night. For example, the chance of dying from contact with hot tap water is 1 in approximately 5 million, and the chance of being killed by lightning is about 1 in 2.3 million! On the more positive side, the odds of finding out that your child is a genius are much higher — 1 in 250. Thinking along the same lines, what would you say then are the odds of damaging your engine if your engine air filter fails?

Consider this: Your engine ingests about 10,000 gallons of air for every gallon of fuel it consumes. If your gas tank holds 18 gallons of fuel, your engine will ingest 180,000 gallons of air for every tank full of gas it uses. Say you’ve decided to take a road trip to your vacation destination 500 miles away – a 1,000-mile round trip.  If your car consumes 50 gallons of fuel at 20 miles per gallon, it means your engine will handle about 500,000 gallons of air on this trip alone.  What, then, would the odds be of damaging your engine if your engine air filter fails? Much higher than you realize, one should think. When it comes to changing your car’s engine air filter, stacking the odds in your favor and minimizing the ones that are against you is definitely the safer and cheaper alternative.

While most drivers have been trained to get their vehicle’s oil changed every three months or 3,000 miles, not everyone remembers to check the air filter, and by not doing so you could be setting yourself up for engine disaster. The easiest route for particulates to enter a vehicle’s engine is through the air induction system and, therefore, through your engine’s air filter. Abrasive dust, dirt and other pollutants that enter through the air intake ducts while you are driving can damage a car’s internal engine components, increase wear and tear and ultimately compromise the engine’s power, performance and life.

Lucky for you, checking the air filter is part of the regular service regiment at most dealerships when you take your car in for an oil change. They’ll inspect it and let you know if it’s time for a new one, and you can be certain that the replacement filter they’ll install meets your vehicle’s specific requirements. So protect your car’s engine: have the air filter inspected with each oil change and replace it as often as needed, especially if you drive in dusty, dirty conditions—you’ll breath easier and so will your engine.