BroncoHound

Well, curiosity killed the cat. I went by the dealership this afternoon and paid the $25.38 after taxes for a stock air filter for a 2007 5.9L CTD. This is the difference between the two:



I drive about 70-80 miles a day and will be pulling my trailer to Houston and back this weekend (~250 miles one way), so I should be able to post my results then. As a baseline, my truck is an '08 6.7L QC SB G56 with a level lift, 325/70R17 tires, and 3.42 gears. My ECM is reflashed to believe I am running 285/70R17 tires and have 3.21 gears so at 70mph indicated I am travelling 73.8mph (verified by GPS). I use the indicated numbers to calculate my fuel mileage so as not to add any guessing error. Hand calculated, I am averaging 15.5mpg strictly highway, 14.5mpg 60/40 mix, and 13.3 pulling my trailer. Probably I am getting about .5mpg better in actuality but won't know this until someone comes out with a module that can correct the speedometer (i was the first to buy the ReSpeed from TS Performance but it malfunctioned and, after sending it back a couple of times, returned it until they can get the bugs worked out of it). I have 9100 miles on the truck, so it was about to be time to change the air filter anyways; figured I would do it before this little road trip to the races this weekend so I can get some relatively quick feedback from the truck. I will post my results regarding my daily commute for the remainder of this week and my road trip when I return Sunday evening.

donaldej

Since everyone seems to hate fram, what would be a good brand air filter to change to. I would like to see if this really does help.

DJ

HOHN

I'm not a particularly rabid fan of Amsoil, but I *will* put in a good word for their EA air filters.

The media in the filters is the advanced Donaldson nanofiber media, far more sophisticated IMO than anything else on the market.

They should filter EXTREMELY well for a given flow rate-- typically 99.99% SAE Fine.

AMSOIL has EA filters for a lot of OEM applications, and a couple universal filters.

*I don't sell the stuff, and I don't care if you ever buy anything from them*

jmo

Hounddog

That BIG filter in the photo is hardly dirty or used.Looks like a LOT more miles left in it.

GMScott

Looks like mine when I change them at 10k miles. I feel that they could probably go a little further and I'm just wasting money changing them but am reluctant to take them over 10k miles. They feel the same weight when new and after 10k miles but you can't see thru them at 10k miles like you can when they're new. I'll be due for a change in less than 3k miles and I think I'm gonna give the 5.9L filter a try. Like I said earlier, 330k miles on the 04.5 using NAPA Gold air filters which were the same size as the 07 5.9L with no problems. Hope I can pick up a mile or two m.p.g.

Hounddog

Filter efficency gets BETTER with dirt and dust.Then it hits a PEAK and flo starts to fall off.Looking at the filter posted your no where near peak filter efficency.Your money.Maintance book says filter life up to 30,000 miles.If the ones you change look like the one in the photo you could sell them on EBAY.LOL

jkitterman

The filters in the picture appear to have about the same surface area of filtering material. It appears the 6.7 filter has less but deeper pleats. It would be interesting to compare. On air filter dust tests, I believe they stop the test after 10 in h2o of additional restriction. I haven't tested the stock Filterminder in my 2003 to see what the scale actually reports to on restriction. I really can't see much difference in how the two filters would perform in the 6.7 air filter box. Has it changed much from the 2003-2007 5.9 box? It would take a sensitive vacuum gauge to see if there is much difference during operating conditions.

GMScott

I think the box itself is the same. The 6.7L filter is way heavier than the 5.9L with the longer pleats. With my 04.5 I would pull the foam stuff off the bottom of the filter before installing it. I'm definitely gonna have to give this a try. Wish I had a EGT guage to see if it would run cooler EGT's while towing with the 5.9L filter, which is when my truck's fuel mileage sucks the most. My filterminder never moves.

george colvin

Thanks for the K&N heads up feedback.

I was considering a Banks powerpack (50 percent increase in HP and torgue) for my 01 5.9. Banks installs a K&N with almost all of the 5.9 upgrades.

Guess I should just stay with the factory OEM filter, even with a Banks upgrade.

mastercaster

well, after reading this, i just had to order a 5.9 filter and try it. i have 5000 miles on my truck. have not had one single issue with it(no codes). i installed the new air filter this afternoon, and went to pick my daughter up from school (around 2 miles round trip). worked fine. second trip, started the truck and got an engine light. checked the code, and it was the 2262 (turbo back pressure). did a couple more trips with it this evening and the light came on every start up. took out the 5.9 filter and put back in the stock one. guess what..... code went away!? can the air filter affect pressures that much? i find it far too much of a coincidence that i got the code right when i changed the filter, and it went away after changing it back and going for one drive. again this truck has been flawless to this date. not even the slightest hicup.

myfirsttruck

I have over 10K miles since I changed the filter and no codes. I check frequently, both with the key method and the code reader I bought.
Filter should have no effect on Turbo back presssure in my opinion. maybe a tech can jump in?????

RiddlerLS1

i agree that the theory of the filter affecting back pressure is absurd! In my opinion, "Turbo Back pressure" would be the pressure that is against the outgoing air of the turbo, not the incoming air. I would think a better term would be "turbo air restriction low" if it is indeed the air filter causing the problem.

MasterCaster, either way i agree with you that it is too big of a coincidence that it only happens with the filter in and goes away when you put the original filter back in place. These trucks monitor so many dang things that it doesnt surprise me.

GMScott

Uh Oh - So what's the verdict!!?? Go with a 5.9L filter or continue using the monster 6.7L filter?? Mastercaster, if I experienced the same result as you, I would have to do a number of tests to rule out any/or all such coincidences. I guess I'll adopt the wait and see approach. I've been a DC lab rat for awhile now, how 'bout someone else stepping up to the plate?? 1 - 2 m.p.g. increase is VERY attractive, especially with such a low risk/low cost mod. I don't need to add another reason for a CEL. Actually my CEL just went out last week for no apparent reason and has been off for the last 3 trips. Woo woo. As stated earlier, had no problem using OEM paper filters with the 04.5/5.9L for 330k miles.

mastercaster

i spoke with my (very good) diesel tech at my dealer today, and he said the air filter would almost certainly not be the cause. he made an appointment to replace the turbo on monday. i will try the filter again after that. my dealer and particularly my tech, are awesome. i called my tech (he had given me his cell after the g30 recall, and without ever looking at the truck because they are about 50 miles away, he said i may as well have it replaced as they have one in stock and the code will most likely return. he said that of the 6.7's that he's replaced the turbo on, none have been back in. i'll let you know what happens.

Scotty

Just did another run. Empty I was netting a decent 15.8 with the cruise set at 70 mph. However, coming back I was hauling a 30ft toy hauler 5th wheel.
Since the trailer before was a 34ft with four slides and I got decent MPG [see previous posts] I expected similar if not better mpg. Not so. I found that this trailer pulled like a brick the first couple hundred miles so I started checking the trailer. Sure enough...[not surprising either LOL] the space between the wheels on the passenger side was 1/2" greater then the space on the drivers side. Can you say SCRUB? LOL Then as I checked closer I found some wiring issues and everytime I came up to a stop I could here a brake howling. I was getting a calculated 7.9 mpg. There was next to no wind on the way back...nice for a change. While fueling, I noticed that the wires on the break away at butt connectors on them...so I traced them and sure enough the wires got reversed along the line. I cannot say for sure that this played a role as I always thought the break away was seperate to my battery in the trailer. After reversing the wiring, the howl in the brakes stopped, the mileage calculated jumped to 11.2 and at that fuel stop I found that my trailer battery was dead. Perhaps the brakes where on with the wires reversed and it killed my already weak battery hence no real braking? I am thinking that is what happened. Since I do not pick up at the plant and it got dragged over to the yard I pick up at...I think the brakes had taken their beating at that time as well.

Whats this got to do with the air filter? While at my fuel stop in Minot and figuring out all the variables, theres a guy there with a 6.7 that was hauling a 26ft travel trailer netting 8 mpg. He got himself another filter in Minot, met me at the Duty Free at the border and told me he was up in the mid tens!

At first I thought so much for the filter improvement but I still believe its helping. Next is my off road exhaust system.

I have not had any engine lights since I changed the filter. Strange how these trucks flip the CEL or MIL at random for us. LOL

Scotty