I bought my truck with an AFE intake/filter setup. Obviously, I didn't have the truck before but I feel like it adds to the power and the sucking air sound is cool when I get on it...

Now it's time for a filter cleaning and I'm wondering if I should clean the filter I have or start with a fresh one. AFE says not to bother cleaning it until you can no longer see the metal mesh but that seems like it would be an excessive amount of dirt.

Is there a less expensive "disposable" filter that would fit this intake?

I've read some old posts that say the K&N cleaner works better than the AFE and some people just use Simple Green with seemingly OK results.

Any ideas? Is there a more commonly available oil than the AFE brand that will work (I would like to pick something up at NAPA or locally)?

Thanks!

 

first thing the oiled filters are destroying your engine at a rapid rate. the afe intake is total junk and decreases power and mpg. you need to fill out your sig so we can give a more detailed answer. basically the afe let's hot expanded air in and this reduces turbo compressor efficiency. the oiled filter is dusting the engine and if you look at the compressor wheel you can see pit's in it from dust or oil hitting it. for two decades now cummins has had warnings out about the damage they cause. we have trucks with over 1,000,000 miles on them and very little oil usage. k&n is worse than afe. i will bet the damage these filters have caused will exceed $100,000,000 on the cummins alone.

 

just seen you posted in the 3rd gen. afe had several options on that pos. if the stock tube is still with the truck, get a stock air box from a 6.7 and add a psm kit to it. if you have the afe turbo to air box tube you will need to add a T.A.G.to the tube. here is pix of one mounted on a 5.9

 

The truck is a 2003 HO 48RE, pretty much stock drive train so if the intake isn't helping it's probably unnecessary. I should be able to find a stock airbox around here cheap. I'm not familiar with a PSM kit - I've got a bit of work to do. I've thought about ditching the AFE kit before actually because I've never been a fan of K&N filters and kinda feel like this is the same thing...

 

I do not use any oiled air filters in my trucks. I've sucked an AFE that wasn't near dirty inside out. I saw EGTs jump and lost boost. Popped the hood to see the filter in wadded up in the tube. To the trash all of them went. I use BHAF on any of the trucks that's aren't using stock boxes. The paper is much better filtering and it last a long time.

 

The AFE intake tube is like a 6" diameter... Does BHAF make a filter that fits this? It might take me a little while to locate a stock air box and I'd like to get some sort of dry filter in the meantime.

Does anyone have any sort of solution to keep running the AFE intake, or should I just scrap it for stock? Is it really that bad if I ditch the oiled filter (just looked at mine and it might actually be the dry... hard to tell because it's dirty and I can't see any parts numbers anywhere).

 

Due to the posts above I recommend taking the free internet advice for it's value...

With that being said I'll add my $0.02. I've been running an aFe set up since 12/2006, my charger isn't trashed yet. I used the filter that came with the CAI kit for a couple of years and then changed to the upgraded filter. I recommend changing to the pro dry x or whatever it is called and running a prefilter.

I clean my filter once a year and replace the prefilter every time. I also get an oil analysis every time I change the oil (every 5k) and it has yet to state anything about increased silica in the oil.

 

+1. I have had my AFE StII PG7 with pre filter on since the truck was new, & have 97K on it now with the HTT 62 on it since about 12K with 0 problems. I clean the pre filter every oil change, & the filter itself every other yr. IMHO people that have problems with an oiled filter are over oiling them, & not allowing it to dry properly before installing them. My .02

 

I took mine apart yesterday - not a trace of dust/grunge inside the intake tube. The filter is a PG7 and could use a cleaning. After pulling up old threads and doing some research, I think I'm going to replace the filter with an Amsoil EAA filter and a pre-filter. Hopefully that keeps me good to go for a while. I'm going to follow up with some oil analysis to monitor things starting with a baseline before I change the filter.

 

Just now getting around to buying the Amsoil filter and pre-filter... the 6" flange filter comes in 8", 7", and 6.5" lengths I believe. Does it matter which one I go with? The AFE filter is about 8.5" long and a really tight fit in the box. Would it hurt to get one of the smaller sizes for better clearance? I'm pretty sure I'll be getting tons more air than needed for my current setup.

Thanks!

 

I agree with the other posters about having positive experience with AFE Filters. I have an AFE stage 2 Pro-Guard 7 and it's been on my truck for about 160K miles. I'm at 180K miles now. I have had no problems with it whatsoever. The intake tube is clean as a whistle. My oil reports come back 4 ppm or less of silicon (dirt) in the oil every time. It was 8 ppm with the original stocker.

Im still on my stock turbo and dyno in the mid 500's. I've run a Smarty on my truck since 50K miles. I've drag raced a few times, sled pulled a few times, and dyno'd quite a lot. And, I tow my toyhauler with my truck. The AFE has been great. Looks cool, sounds good, filters great and minimal maintenance....what more can you ask for.

AFE filters are fine based on my experience with it. I don't recall ever reading a bad story about them until I read the two negative comments above in this thread.

..

 

Is a "pre filter" the nylon type material bag thing that goes outside/around the open element ?

 

Yes - it's supposed to extend the life and protect the filter itself. It's also easier to take off and clean.


I really like my AFE setup, but after some research I decided I'm going to upgrade the filtration on it a bit. I don't seem to have any issues with poor filtration using the PG7. I'm mostly just changing it for my own piece of mind.