04 Monterey Air Cleaner

[Jimymc]

The meter on our 04  40' Monterey Laguna is indicating that the air cleaner is about 25% from needing to be changed.  Is there any benefit to replace it before the meter reaches red?  Would this increase fuel efficiency?  

When I do replace it is there benefit to replacing with a filter that passes more air?  Anyone tried this?

Thanks for any help.

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Have you noticed a decline in fuel mileage? Does the indicator go right back to the 25% setting after a reset?

Going to a higher CFM (cubic feet per minite) filter can help if the rest of the system will allow a larger air flow and the filter is the most restricting part. The net change if fuel mileage would probably be very small.

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

See related "straight through exhaust" post Jan 31, 2009 on this Forum.  Diesels run on air.  More air and less restrictions must be better.

Larry

[Gerald Farris]

An air filter becomes more efficent at cleaning the air as it is used, therfore changing the filter too soon is usually not advisable.  In most coaches, the air filter will flow more air than other parts of the intake system and changing to a high flow air filter will only increase the amount of dirt going into the engine without any increase in performance.  However, a low-restriction muffler will increase performance with no down side except a louder exhaust.  

Gerald