Your minivan engine really needs clean air to operate efficiently. Let’s go egghead for a minute. For every gallon of gas we burn driving around Los Altos, twenty pounds of carbon dioxide comes out the tailpipe. Question: how can a gallon of gas that weighs a little over six pounds produce twenty pounds of carbon dioxide?
The answer is that the carbon comes from the gasoline, but the oxygen comes from the air. You see, it takes about twelve thousand gallons of air to burn a gallon of gas in your engine. Clearly, your minivan needs a lot of air to keep going in Los Altos. A lot of clean air is better.
You’ve seen the pictures of the crowds in Asia wearing face masks. They want some kind of filter to keep unwanted pollution and germs out of their lungs. Well, your minivan also works better when its internals are clean. When your minivan air filter’s dirty, it simply can’t trap any more dirt, so the dirt just passes through into your air intake system. From there it can clog your fuel injectors and even get into the engine itself. And burning dust and pollen in your minivan engine does you no good.
So, we’re talking potential damage for Los Altos drivers. But another big thing is wasted fuel. Your minivan engine management computer tries to mix the correct amount of air in with the fuel. If the filter’s clogged, there isn’t enough air for the optimal fuel to air mix and that really messes with fuel efficiency.
In fact, replacing a dirty air filter at Allied Auto Works can improve your fuel economy in Los Altos by up to ten percent. At today’s fuel prices in Los Altos, you should be able to pay for a new air filter before your next oil change.
The verdict: When your minivan engine air filter needs to be replaced; it needs to be replaced. How often depends entirely on how dirty the air is where you drive in Los Altos. A simple visual inspection at Allied Auto Works will tell you when you need a new engine air filter.
When you look at the air filter on your furnace at home and see it’s all clogged up with dust and dirt, you don’t hesitate to replace it. When your Allied Auto Works technician brings out your nasty engine air filter, you now know why you should go ahead and change it out.