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Page 1 of 2  During a year, your car may pull in 7,000 to 10,000 gallons of air to be mixed with gasoline as the engine’s fuel. You certainly don’t want dust and bugs inside your engine where they can cause problems. So your car has an air filter. Early cars didn’t have air filters and later ones were relatively crude. However, today’s major-brand air filters are efficient and require no maintenance other than periodic replacement.
I’m covering replacing the air filter under the “annual maintenance” list, but if you live in a dusty location or drive where the air has lots of particulates—including pollen--, change the air filter more frequently. They’re not that expensive and the job is easy.
On old cars the air filter was located above the carburetor. Today’s cars are shorter so the air filter typically is located near the front of the engine compartment where it can pull air in from the outside as the car moves down the road. Look for a rectangular plastic box. Once found, here’s how to change the filter.
Tech Tip
I’m covering replacing the air filter under the “annual maintenance” list, but if you live in a dusty location or drive where the air has lots of particulates (including pollen), you should change your car’s air filter more frequently – two or even three times a year. Air filters are relatively inexpensive and the job is easy. A clean air filter can quickly pay for itself in fuel savings. By the way, don’t think you can just blow out the debris on the old filter and replace it. Blowing out debris requires compressed air, which will damage the paper filter inside.
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