FFH Engine Air Filter, bad news, good news

[VonoreTn]

The bad news is I can't even see it under the hood, much less replace it. The good news is the owners manual says the filter will last the lifetime of the car. Not that I would ever consider it, but drafting a truck in the rain is hard on air filters....

[rfruth]

Not sure how a filter can last a lifetime (after awhile the filter won't be too effective thus causing the early demise of the ICE thus "lifetime") ?

[junehhan]

Ford has been using these supposed lifetime airfilters for a while now. I have one of those on my 2005 Ford Focus. These air filter canister things from my understanding are considered to be a vital component of the evaporative emissions system as they are used and designed to prevent any evaporative emissions to be emitted.

 

On my Focus, I have 77k miles now and it is still doing well. There should be a restriction guage that should indicate when the filter needs to be replaced. I believe the estimated service life of these lifetime air filters is 150k miles on average.

[VonoreTn]

At some point I will figure out how to access the filter, either by removing the battery, or coming in through the wheel housing and removing the plastic wheel liner cover. I did that on my 00 Mustang when I moved the battery to the trunk 2 years ago. If you think of your engine as a giant vacuum cleaner sucking in everything airborn along the highway including dust, moisture, etc. I agree it needs to be replaced or at least cleaned regularly. I like your idea of the gauge. For service, it would be easy to put a capped nipple just past the air filter, and have a specified inches of water vacuum at an rpm in neutral, to determine if you need a new air filter.

 

 

 

Ford has been using these supposed lifetime airfilters for a while now. I have one of those on my 2005 Ford Focus. These air filter canister things from my understanding are considered to be a vital component of the evaporative emissions system as they are used and designed to prevent any evaporative emissions to be emitted.

 

On my Focus, I have 77k miles now and it is still doing well. There should be a restriction guage that should indicate when the filter needs to be replaced. I believe the estimated service life of these lifetime air filters is 150k miles on average.

[junehhan]

At some point I will figure out how to access the filter, either by removing the battery, or coming in through the wheel housing and removing the plastic wheel liner cover. I did that on my 00 Mustang when I moved the battery to the trunk 2 years ago. If you think of your engine as a giant vacuum cleaner sucking in everything airborn along the highway including dust, moisture, etc. I agree it needs to be replaced or at least cleaned regularly. I like your idea of the gauge. For service, it would be easy to put a capped nipple just past the air filter, and have a specified inches of water vacuum at an rpm in neutral, to determine if you need a new air filter.

 

On the 05+ MY Focus' that have these supposed lifetime air filters, there is an actual restriction guage that is hooked into the air filter canister thingie. With 77k miles on my Focus now, the guage shows that I am still doing very fine. I don't see anything in the under hood shots I have seen in the Fusion Hybrids which makes me wonder whether they don't come with a restriction guage. That would make life a bit difficult, although technically the Fusion Hybrids will have their ICE running less frequent anyway.

[VonoreTn]

What does that gaugie thing look like?

 

 

 

On the 05+ MY Focus' that have these supposed lifetime air filters, there is an actual restriction guage that is hooked into the air filter canister thingie.

[junehhan]

What does that gaugie thing look like?

 

 

Here is a description of it that I yanked from a Ford Focus website. It is dark outside right now, but i'll try to snap a picture of it from my Focus sometime this week if I have a chance. It is kind of neat looking and it took me a while to figure out what in the hell it was.

 

The red, yellow, green button thingy is called a vacuum monitor, I think, anyway it measures the life of the filter. The air filter is a huge monster that is located under the driver's fender, and does not need to be changed until that vacuum monitor (if that's what it's called) reads in the red. According to Ford, that won't happen for 100k miles.

[junehhan]

As promised, here is what that air filter restriction guage looks like on my 05 Ford Focus. Just got a shot of it now

 

 

 

It is supposed to be good for the life of the engine according to Ford at 150k miles or greater.

[VonoreTn]

As promised, here is what that air filter restriction guage looks like on my 05 Ford Focus. Just got a shot of it now

 

It is supposed to be good for the life of the engine according to Ford at 150k miles or greater.

 

Thanks! I'm not seeing one of those on my FFH. Will that green and red change color or position somehow as the filter clogs up?

[Oman]

It doesn't have one. I looked at the schematics for the cleaner and it is a pretty amazing contraption. It is huge when you consider that much of the plumbing is actually part of the design. It uses airflow and gravity to do 99% of the cleaning. The element is part of the main airbox and likely contains a more than a few dozen feet of surface area. It looks like the mass airflow sensor is used to tell when it needs to be replaced so you will get a check engine warning. My guess is that even in dusty areas the car can go well over 100K without ever needing it replaced. Remember that this car will consume considerably less air than the average car as well as less fuel so it is easier to design a long life filter system.

 

Jon

 

 

 

 

Thanks! I'm not seeing one of those on my FFH. Will that green and red change color or position somehow as the filter clogs up?

[junehhan]

Thanks! I'm not seeing one of those on my FFH. Will that green and red change color or position somehow as the filter clogs up?

 

 

I guess it sucks that the hybrid doesn't have that guage. It is a really neat guage with those colors in a very monotone engine bay. In the Focus, there is a little plastic thing that moves inside that restriction guage. When it reaches that interval right before the red, the filter then needs to be replaced. It states in my old manual that the filter is considered a lifetime filter with a service life of at least 150k miles under normal conditions.