Your vehicle has four primary filters that need to be changed regularly. When they need to be changed depends on your automobile manufacturer’s recommendation, which you will find in your owner’s manual. What are these filters? ER Auto Care lists them below and explains what they do.
Air Filter – Engine
Your car, truck, or SUV draws air into the engine through the front grille to help the radiator system keep it cool and to keep the combustion system firing. The engine’s air filter – you have two air filters in your vehicle – cleans the air coming into the engine to ensure debris, dirt, and grime are not introduced to the cylinders and other crucial engine systems. On average, an engine air filter should be changed every 15,000 to 30,000 miles.
Air Filter – Cabin
You also have an air filter to clean the air before it’s drawn through to your vehicle’s cabin. This helps keep your cabin air free of air pollution, dirt, dust, and pollen. If you suffer from allergies, you know how important it is to have clean air in your home – you also want clean air in your car and you can have that with a clean cabin air filter. As with the engine’s air filter, you’ll want to have your cabin air filter changed every 15,000 to 25,000 miles.
Fuel Filter
You know those commercials that tout clean gasoline with agents to keep your engine in tiptop shape? Well, all gasoline has additives in the United States to reduce carbon buildup, a natural byproduct of combustion engines, but gasoline itself is still dirty. Even the purest gasoline contains sediments, and these sediments can damage your combustion system. As such, your vehicle has a fuel filter that should be changed every 30,000 miles or two years.
Oil Filter
Finally, the oil filter is crucial to your vehicle’s engine health. It prevents dirt and grime from reaching engine parts lubricated by the motor oil. If dirt and grime build up on these parts, your engine will breakdown. If the damage is serious, you may have to replace the entire engine. This is why your oil filter should be changed every 3,000 to 7,500 miles depending on your manufacturer’s recommendations and the motor oil you use.
ER Auto Care in Plain City, OH, works on American, Asian, and European automobiles and we’d be happy to put your car, truck, or SUV on a preventative maintenance schedule that includes changing all filters when necessary.
