For a myriad of causes, my each day driver Nissan went from racking up a thousand miles a month…to lower than a thousand miles a yr. And admittedly, one of many unwanted effects of this dramatic lower in mileage is that I’ve been lax in my common automobile upkeep.
…Which I used to be reminded of after I seen some odd burbles, hesitation, and erratic idle habits from the engine.
I summarily popped the hood and found that the air filter component on my aftermarket efficiency air consumption system had decayed considerably, proper underneath my nostril.
The issue stems from the truth that the consumption was a real “Chilly Air” design from Nissan’s efficiency division, Nismo, which put the filter outdoors of the engine bay, behind the entrance bumper. That meant that, with the intention to visually examine the filter, I needed to take away the wheel, come out a bunch of plastic rivets, and pull again the interior fender splash protect—not a fast or enjoyable job.
Worse but, though I had been strict about recurrently cleansing the air filter component whereas the automotive was consuming up miles on a prolonged commute, now that it’s semi-retired meant that it’d been effectively over a yr since I final inspected the air filter.
So I summarily yanked the wheel and pulled the fender liner again to find that the filter’s rubber housing had deteriorated right into a crumbled mess.
Worse but, the fatigued materials had really torn a gap on prime of the filter’s rubber housing, permitting unfiltered air to bypass the filter totally.
Suffice it to say, no quantity of cleansing would carry that filter again—I yeeted that sucker into the trash.
The excellent news is, I didn’t must look very arduous for an appropriate alternative. In actual fact, after taking a number of key measurements, I used to be capable of finding the very best alternative air filter to match the unique one which got here with the Nismo consumption package from Nissan.
Seems, Summit Racing has a lineup of Reusable Air Filters and it’s received one which’s near-identical.
You might respect this text: The right way to Measure an Air Filter Ingredient to Discover a Substitute One for Your Air Consumption System
Swapping the consumption component is as simple as undoing a hose clamp. That stated, I additionally eliminated the consumption tubing and cleaned the Mass Airflow Sensor as effectively.
As soon as put in, the engine fired proper up with not one of the hesitation or poor idle points that started this saga.
A couple of weeks price of driving have confirmed that these points are actually resolved. Admittedly, I didn’t do any superior diagnostics, however my shadetree opinion is that these issues have been a results of the ECU reacting to erratic MAF readings as a result of inconsistent airflow via the crumbling filter (particularly, the large honkin’ tear on the highest).
…However let my story of woe encourage you to examine, clear, and substitute your automobile’s air filter recurrently to keep away from these complications earlier than they begin.
