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Month: July 2017

Do I really need to change my car’s air filter?

“How often should you change your air filter?”

“What is a cabin air filter?” “Do I even need to change it?”

These are frequently asked questions when it comes to vehicle maintenance. Let’s start with the “engine air filter” of your vehicle. First off, is it important that I change it? The answer is YES, and here is why: Your engine operates on a mixture of gasoline (or diesel) fuel and air. On a modern car, and by modern, we’re talking late 1990’s and newer, there is a computer which monitors the air/fuel mixture and makes continual adjustments in the fuel delivery system in order to get it just right, as well as continually adjusting the other engine systems to make up for when that mixture misses the mark a bit. The proper operation of your engine is relying on enough air being able to move through the air intake system, through the air filter, and into the fuel delivery system. If your air filter is dirty, it can restrict the free flow of air into the engine, contributing to lower gas mileage, rough running, and can even generate a check engine light if it gets dirty enough. That is a bundle of potential trouble, all in the effort to save a few dollars by stretching the life of a dirty air filter. That just does not make sense, and it ends up costing you more money, time and trouble – not worth it!

So we have established that you should keep on schedule for changing your air filter, now let’s see where these air filters can be found.
It is not surprising that many car owners do not know about what the engine air filter does, or even where it can be found. On today’s typical car or truck, air filters can be shaped like a square, a rectangle, or some other trapezoidal shape, unlike the old days when they were a thin circular shape sitting prominently on top of the engine. The old style round air filter was the first thing you would see upon opening the hood of a car. It was easily found, and cheap and easy to replace. In the past, you could unfasten one wing nut, lift off the cover, pop in a new filter, and you’re done!

Round Engine Air Filter
Round Engine Air Filter
under the hood-old school
Under the Hood – Old School

On most modern cars and trucks today, the air filter is located within a plastic box-like structure which may even be covered up by another plastic engine cover or other vehicle parts, making identification and changing a more involved process. Look at this modern engine bay:

stock engine airbox and filter Jeep
Stock Engine Airbox and Filter Jeep

Even worse, here is the engine bay of a 2016 Porsche 911 (991). Can you find the air filters? There are 2 of them!

Porsche 991 engine bay
Porsche 991 Engine Bay

Don’t feel bad if you can’t see them, you need to REMOVE THE REAR BUMPER to access the twin air filters! Seriously!

991 air filter change
991 Air Filter Change

Once we actually get to the engine air filters, here are some pictures for you to compare a used, dirty filter with a new and fresh one. You can see how dirty and restricted these filters can get with even normal vehicle operation:

dirty and clean engine air filters
Dirty and Clean Engine Air Filters
dirty and clean engine air filters 2
Dirty and Clean Engine Air Filters 2

How about the cabin air filter, what is the deal with that?

Well, your cabin air filter does just what it sounds like: it resides in the ventilation system and it filters outside air entering the cabin. Does it get dirty? Take a look at these pictures and see for yourself:

dirty cabin air filter
Dirty Cabin Air Filter
Dirty cabin air filter 2
Dirty Cabin Air Filter 2

Your cabin air filter traps dust, pollen, hair, particulates, pollution, exhaust fumes, animal waste (yes, animals like to reside under your hood sometimes), basically all manner of substances that you do not want going into your nose, mouth and lungs. Think of your cabin air filter as an investment in your respiratory health, because that’s exactly what it is! Here is a fresh cabin air filter, wouldn’t you rather be breathing air that passes through this?

Clean cabin air filter
Clean Cabin Air Filter

Here is a smart-consumer suggestion: When you take your vehicle in for service, and the shop or dealership recommends new air filters, ask them to send you pictures of the air filters in your vehicle, so you can see for yourself before authorizing replacement. You can also ask them to keep the old filter for your inspection. At Midwest Performance Cars, we take pictures of all relevant vehicle conditions like these and send them to our customers along with our service recommendations. We do this because we want our clients to feel completely assured that what we are recommending is what truly needs attention, repair, or replacement.

We hope this article has “cleared the air” for you regarding the air filters on your vehicle and the need for good maintenance.
Bookmark this blog page, and follow us on the social media tabs at the top of our website, for regular updates of information and education about vehicle repair and maintenance.

MPC visits Porsche Experience Center Atlanta

One of our Porsche technicians was recently traveling with his spouse to Atlanta, when he messaged me that the Porsche Experience Center had a few openings on the day he would be there, and that he was going to drive the new 718 Cayman on a track, skid pad, and various other drive challenges.

It took me all of 30 seconds to start checking airline schedules, reach out to my own better-half control tower for clearance, and then contact the Porsche Center to book an appointment. What a great opportunity to spend some quality time with a new Cayman S in the company of a Porsche driving instructor, as well as have a blast challenging Brandon, our water-cooled Porsche tech, to some driving skills competition!

It was an early start, catching the 5:20 am flight from Chicago to Atlanta, but there was not much sleep to be had, given the anticipation of driving as well as touring the Porsche museum displays afterward. One uneventful flight followed by a 10 minute Lyft ride from the Airport and I was at One Porsche Drive, Atlanta GA.

This is a helluva building they have constructed, on a perfect patch of land next to Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport, and Porsche clearly put their sound absorption expertise into the project, because when inside, you would never know that a mere 1000 feet away is the flight path for departing jetliners.

Setting foot onto the expansive outdoor patio and viewing area, I was welcomed by the sound of a silver GT3 ripping through a wide sweeper and competing with the departing Boeing Dreamliner screaming overhead. It was a gearhead’s dream. A quick coffee from the Porsche Center café, and it was on to meeting up with my driving instructor, Aaron.

Aaron was a very nice kid, half my age, athletic and quick. I call him a kid, but he has been racing since before he was of age to get a license, so the “kid” part is only in relative terms. On the way down to the car at trackside, we talked a bit about what I was expecting and looking to get out of the driving session. The Cayman S sat there awaiting our arrival, already running and checked out by the crew, in the shade as well which was very nice since the late morning temps had climbed into the upper 80’s by now.

As an aside, I was very aware of just how fortunate of a setting I was in: here I am, about to pilot a pretty close-to-new Porsche Cayman S around a purpose built facility, next to an experienced racing driver and benefitting from his real time advice and guidance, all while luxuriating in ice-cold A/C keeping the cockpit uber comfortable. Thank you Jesus, I’ve arrived.

When booking these appointments, most people probably think that 90 minutes is a little meager, I know that was my thought. Eighty-eight minutes into my drive circuit, with my left leg almost permanently frozen into position on the dead pedal in order to keep myself centered in the too-comfortable-to-be-track-supportive driver’s seat, I turned over the wheel to Aaron for a couple of hot laps. Suffice it to say that the grin on my face was just as wide as when I was driving, probably more so because I no longer had to maintain focus and concentration, I was only charged with enjoying the ride.

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire program here at Atlanta, from the progressively hotter laps, to the slide-inducing kick-plate track, through the dry slalom and the low friction drifting circle, everything was geared towards exploring the performance that these incredible vehicles are capable of.

After the driving portion of the day, it was on to the Porsche Heritage Center and Classic Gallery, followed by a stop at the Classic Car Workshop.

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I highly recommend a visit to the Porsche Experience Center for any owner or enthusiast of Stuttgart’s greatest offerings. I am already looking forward to my next visit, when I will go to the facility in Los Angeles, which has an even larger handling circuit track and several additional features. For L.A., I am going to have to opt for the GT4 or maybe the 911 GT3. Go big or go home, right?

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