During most of the car maintenance visits that you make to your service center or your local garage, air filters usually go unchecked. It’s not because they don’t check it, but it requires replacement after 50,000 kms. Most manufacturers recommend replacement after 50k kilometers, with some you can run the filter till 80k kms. You may require a change of filter earlier if you drive in dusty or heavy traffic areas.
You can tell by looking at the condition of the filter if it needs replacement of not.
| Condition | Change |
| Clean and White | No |
| Slightly Dirty | No, most efficient |
| A lot of dust and dirt | Change |
At times, the filter begins to work better with some dust stuck on it as it helps trap dust particles of smaller size. But if you think the filter is clogged with dust. Its better you get it replaced. Filters of most cars is easy to access and can be located through the owner’s manual. Changing a filter is no biggie, you can do it yourself if you want to save a few bucks.
A clogged filter doesn’t have any major effects on the car nor does it reduce fuel economy. What it does do is reduce acceleration. But since this happens gradually, you wouldn’t be able to tell the decrease in the cars acceleration if you drive it every day. And if you love to use the pedal a lot, it’s better to replace the air filter from time to time basis.
An ideal time would be to change it along with your oil change day, so that way you won’t have to remember when the air filter needs changing.
Read about when you should rotate your cars tyres here. link