Hairy1

Changed stock air filter a month ago......been 1000 miles.....Happened to look at air filter minder today.... showed restriction of about 90%......wow? I did run in torential rain for about 41/2 hours 3 weeks ago........I think it must have got real wet and that's when it was restricted.......I reset the minder today and will give her a drive tomorrow and then recheck it.

Does that sound right to any of you guys? The only thing I could think of that would cause it...........

SuperGewl

Have you performed any airbox mods How deep was the water you were running in and how much of the water do you think was hitting the front of your truck
All these things need to be taken into consideration. It does sound like you sucked in some moisture which would cause the filter get dirty real quick once you hit some dust. Just get a new one and replace it. Maybe you concider getting a foam drop in filter by AMSOIL or True Flow air filters

BPD239

I had the truck one day and saw that the filter minder (which never moved on my 2002) was pulled down about 1/2. I had the truck about a week and it was continuing to pull down. At this rate I figured I would have to replace the air filter about once a month. I read a lot about the airbox mods, but decided I didn't want to remove the factory air dam that is attached on the 4.5, to get air in from the front. I ended up drilling some 1/2inch holes in the bottom of the box where there was already small drain holes in the box. I ran the truck and there was less of a restriction, so I pulled the box and basically drilled 1/2 inch holes in a checker board type pattern in the squares molded into the plastic.

I have found that the filter minder is drawing about 1/5 of the distance now. We had some pretty heavy rain this last week and I drove about an hour on the highway in the rain. I was concerned that the holes may have allowed water to enter the box and soak the filter. When I got the truck home, I looked in the box and it was bone dry, with no water found inside the box. I am going to leave the box like this until I can make an aftermarket change.

SuperGewl

Alot of the Filter Minders were defective, actually they figured out that for the 03's and above the old ones they were using on the 02 and older could not be used. The air draw was too great on the new trucks. I could put in a new filter reset the minder and take off from a light and it would pull down to 65%. I had them replace it and now it takes aqhile to pull down

Hairy1

Lets see.....stock air filter means no mods!
Torential Rains...not floods!
All of the rain hit the front of my truck!
Have not driven in dust!

My point was....would the paper in the stock filter swell under heavy rains to restrict air flow!!!

I had a 318 V8 that almost quit on the way to Fla. one year because the filter got so wet..........

xyzer

It is the minder.......I can put in a new filter pull a load and it will show it dirty in no time.....but haven't been in the rain or dust! The minder is just not right and there are probably some airflow restriction....my 99 never even budged......It just pays to look at the filter and use your own judgement.

Geico266

Try a K&N filter. I've never had my minder even register. Breath free is my motto.

BPD239

I see what you are saying about water soaking the filter, but when I checked my filter the box was dry and the filter minder was still not pulled down that far with the holes in the box. I think that the factory box is too restrictive. It has to be, all I did was drill the holes and take if for a test ride and the filter minder showed less of a restriction.

Dodgezilla

Mine still pulls down to 65% even with the AFE and 4" hole cut in the bottom. I'm getting a BHAF and I'm not going to worry about it anymore......

Hannibal

Yeah the '03s have a too sensitive filter minder. There's a TSB on it. The new one looks different and doesn't move much unless you put your hand over the intake. I kept mine the way it is and I change the filter if it pulls down past 65". Once at 15k and then at 39,354 miles. Not too bad.

Hairy1

Just changed filter again put in a stock Mopar # 53032700AB.

The one that restricted up was a Fleetgaurd AF26106 only 2000 miles.

Now she is fine again.......full pull only shows 35%.. I guess I'll stay with the Dodge Filter for now. About $ 28.00 compared to $ 14 or so for the Fleetgaurd.

The Fleetguard had something like a sponge rubber layer on the very bottom and the Mopar filter uses a fiberous web type stuff.........that may be the difference!

ttreibel

My stock paper filters have been letting dirt by so keep a close eye on them. They seem to be good for a max of 10K in my environment. I have one more stock filter to use then I am changing to an AirAid drop in or an entire new intake. I don't have a heat issue but I do value good filtration!

Hairy1

It may have been restricted from the day I put it in.....maybe the rain had nothing to do with it........I never really checked it? Why would you ?

The original equip filter is doing fine now............

Nevada

I love the TSB on this one. I have an early build '03 with the "defective" filter minder.

Let's see here, if D-C discovered that they had designed an overly restrictive filter assembly, what would be easier and cheaper? Put a heavier spring in the filter minder, or redesign and replace a lot of filter assemblies? I obviously have no way of knowing if this is the line of thinking that led to the TSB, but I can tell you which side my money would be on.

From day one, I could pull my filter minder down 2/3 by simply running the engine up to 2,500 rpm. Didn't matter if the filter was new or not. I replaced my paper filter with a drop in aFe (old style, not proguard 7) and my filter minder hasn't budged in over 30K miles. I have made no other modifications to the box. I have not yet cleaned the filter. There is no oil residue on my intake tube. The silicon number in my oil analysis averages 3.

I am pretty sure that my original "defective" filter minder is just fine.

Hairy1

Anyone got the link to this TSB?