Air Filter CH10929

All filters have the same primary purpose – to keep unwanted debris and other material out of the working parts of the engine. Any material not caught by a filter can potentially damage the engine and, at the very least, compromise its efficiency.

Within your engine, there are three important filters designed to prevent debris from entering the engine along with the media that needs to go into it.

In many cases, filters are small and inexpensive but, in common with anything to do with regular maintenance, servicing them is vital. Each engine will come with its own schedule of how often they need to be changed, based either on running hours or the length of time since the last change.

Progressive decline
The consequences of not changing the filter regularly are initially seen in poor engine performance and this is a progressive path. Eventually, unchanged filters will fail and the substances you have been trying to keep out of the engine will enter it, causing damage that will cost many times the sums you may have saved by not changing the filter.

Filters fit into three broad categories:

Air filters keep the air entering the piston as clean as possible. This is important in the combustion process because you need to gain the maximum power output from every compression cycle, and especially important where dust and grit is in the atmosphere, such as quarries and enclosed spaces
Fuel filters work in a similar way. They ensure that the diesel fuel coming into the engine is free of contaminants. This is especially important when your machinery is operating remotely in sites where it cannot meet forecourt standards of cleanliness
Oil filters work within a closed circuit of the oil in your engine. They trap any unwanted particles in a fine mesh that still has enough space to allow the rest of the oil to flow unimpeded.
Your local distributor is a good source of information on filter maintenance regimes and can provide the latest updates on product improvements along with general advice on keeping your filters operating to their maximum efficiency.