Improving Gas Mileage - Installment 5

Almost to the end of the series of improving your gas mileage! This is the fifth of six installments, and I would love to hear any other ideas that you might be willing to share for those of us looking to save money on gas (or diesel).

Improvement #5 – “Breathe Easier” – Change Your Air Filter Regularly

Potential savings: $26 – 78 (1 – 3% improvement)

Cost: $10-20 (but you should do this anyway!)

Cost of my recommendation: $12.50 per year
($50 for AMSOIL 4-year air filter)

I vividly remember at an AMSOIL continuing education class (remember, these are oil guys) they mentioned that the air filter is by far the most important filter in the vehicle because that is where almost all of the wear particles (i.e. dust) get into the engine.

That just floored me because these are guys that make mostly oil products, not air products. That revelation has really stuck with me – I took out my K&N air filter after I learned how little filtration they actually do. Most automobile makers also now strongly discourage use of oil-wetted filters because of the potential to get oil into the MAF (mass airflow) sensor and cause engine problems.

The AMSOIL air filter filters very well and flows as good as or better than any paper filters out there, but the main advantage is the fact that it does not clog up over time.

Think about your furnace filter – you know how it can get REALLY dirty over time? The dirt particles actually clog the filter and decrease air flow (like tennis balls getting stuck in the holes in chain link fence). AMSOIL’s filter is actually really fine, more like a window screen than a chain link fence. When the “tennis balls” get caught by the AMSOIL filter, it just sits on top, and the air can still go almost completely around it.

Being able to let air flow even as it gets dirty means the fuel economy improvement can actually last longer than just the first few weeks after you change the air filter.

You will accomplish about the same fuel economy improvement (at least initially) by either changing your filter regularly or using the AMSOIL filter and cleaning it off annually. I personally prefer to use the AMSOIL filter (for the one car I have that they make one for) because of the superior engine protection – I want to take to best care of the engine that I can, especially if it doesn’t cost any more!

My Recommendation:

The AMSOIL air filter are convenient, relatively inexpensive, and filter very well. Personally, I find it much easier to do all of the maintenance once a year instead of having to remember to do things at different intervals (like every 10,000 miles – a typical change interval for air and fuel filters).

Again, you don’t have to use AMSOIL to get great results. If you bought a high-quality filter like Wix and changed it according to your manual you would get similar results (though it would cost more of your money and time…).