Car Basics - What is an air filter
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ARTICLE
All vehicles have an air filter
because your car
requires a mixture of air and fuel to run.
Normal air is full of dirt and dust and if this were to enter your engine
unfiltered then it would get damaged over time.
You can run an engine without and air filter, but damage will
definitely occur in time and it cannot be repaired cheaply.
Your cars original air filter will be either round or panel (flat rectangle)
type.
Typically, modern cars with fuel injection use a panel
air
filter, and those running on a carburettor have a round filter.
These filters normally have a
paper core that is folded many 100's of times to give a larger surface area.
The core is surrounded by a flexible rubber type outer frame that holds the core
in place and
forms an
airtight seal inside the airbox or filter housing. The reason that the core is
folded many times is so that
there is a larger
surface area for the air to be filtered through. Standard
paper filters are very good for
filtering
out the dirt and dust from the air that the engine is sucking in. They
are also cheap and easy to replace.
Whatever the shape, it will sit in the engine bay inside
an 'air-box' or filter housing.
This is normally made of plastic and protects
the incoming air from the heat of the engine.
It will also
have pipework connected to it so as it draws in cool air from the front of the
car.
Cool air is denser than warm and is better for fuel efficiency and
performance.
NOTES
Regularly changing your air filter will help it to run more
fuel efficiently and keep its performance up.
It also helps lengthen the life of the engine. Replacement air
filters (same as originally fitted)
are readily available
from most motor-factors and car shops. They are inexpensive and very easy to change.
Paper airfilters cannot be cleaned unlike many aftermarket performance filters.
If you want to gain more
power from your engine, you should be considering changing
your original panel air filter for an
performance induction kit. These kits replace your
airbox with a cone shaped filter.
Other related articles
how to change an air filter
what is an induction kit
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version of this article complete with photos, please visit ;
Tags: fuel efficiency, fuel injection, dirt, cool air, incoming air, surface area, air filter, modern cars, airtight seal