How To Change Your Car's Filters

Edmunds.com

How To Change Your Car's Filters

How to Change Your Car's Filters article on Edmunds.com

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thecardoc3

One has to love how clearly some articles got right to the heart of the problem. This section spells it out as clear as can be.

The chief purpose of Edmunds.com is to empower the consumer. Don't let them stick it to you. Learn to say no — there's no law against it. Just say "Thanks, I'll look into it," and go home after the oil change and perform this procedure yourself — if, in fact, it really needs to be done.

But lets combine that with at least one other point. This comment from the article.

A clogged air or fuel filter can cause poor performance, poor fuel mileage and reduced engine life.

A clogged air filter has NO EFFECT on fuel economy, now maybe back in the seventies with carbureted cars there was a shred of truth to that comment, but not since we started having computers that measured airflow and from that calculated the required fuel and had a feedback correction just in case the base injector pulse-width failed to deliver the exact amount of fuel that was required. For years articles like this were written solely to create a problem in order that the author could then be recognized as a contributor towards the solution. Meanwhile it was common to find glaring errors that proved the author wasn't really as skilled as they presented themselves to be, but all they had to do was criticize a shop or techs and they were anointed as an authority on the subject.

Oh, and the problem? Trash journalism like that has contributed towards the shortage of skilled technicians that you need the shops to have. Articles like this one tried to make it wrong to advise a customer about their vehicle's needs. The conflicts that arose from it made it wrong for the tech to not advise what a vehicles needs were, and also wrong if he or she did. That amounts to an impossible situation that further eroded what little satisfaction techs could get from really striving to do the job right. The career was tough enough when it came to dealing with the physical and mental demands on top of the wage and benefit issues as well as the average working conditions, but they also had to deal with being treated as if they were liars and thieves. That was a lot to have to bear and the result really is you shouldn't wonder why its hard to find qualified technicians today, you really should wonder why you find any. Techs could be perfect and get everything right, and still be wrong thanks to the attitudes and perceptions caused by articles like the above one.

lawrencetyle

How often should I change my air filters?

thecardoc3

Check your owners manual, the service interval will be in the maintenance section. Now if you run the vehicle in dusty conditions, you "might" need to replace it more often, but that is pretty uncommon.