This week I will walk through an air filter change of base. Clogged filters can affect performance, cost at the pump, and even shorten the life of the engine. It’s fast, cheap, and through his car.

Change your air filter should be a familiar and comfortable, if not, you’ve reached the right place. It is cheap, easy and can play an important role in vehicle performance. You are probably wondering, “But how will I know when to change the filter? Mechanic I’m not!” Well puzzled reader, a good rule of thumb is once or twice a year, or about every 12,000 miles. But note that your environment can affect this. Obviously a day driving dirt road that is required to replace the filter more often than driving Sunday in the city.

If nothing else, learn to change your air filter. It is so easy and saves you money.

Remember your last visit to Jiffy Lube for an oil change? These guys always hit you with the patented, “Do we really need a new air filter” line. Left and you’re asking, “Do I really need a new one? What should I do? Can I really trust this guy?” If you crash, which completes “Ok,” the mechanic then adds another set of rates for labor , parts, and a new air filter, whose trademark is usually a mystery.

Now you can paste it to the man and simply say “No thanks, I’ll do it myself.” That is if, in fact, actually be done.

It is time for down and dirty. Park your car in a shaded area and let it cool for a few minutes, you do not want to work with a steam engine that you can record is, do not change the filter after a journey of six hours by road.

You need very few tools for this procedure. If you can take two medium-sized screwdrivers, a Philips and a standard.

The air filter is typically enclosed in a black plastic casing near the top of the engine. In larger vehicles, it can be to one side. It is usually the largest you can not see the erection of metal, about the size of a bread box.

Most of the air boxes are held together by a pair of large metal clamps to the side. Whether or pop clips of the overall presentation of the head between the casing and the clip and the clip outside meddling. Sometimes the top is maintained by several long screws, in which case simply unscrew to access the filter.

Pop air out of the upper and expose the secrets of the box air all powerful. Basically, there is the air filter-riveting, I know. It is usually bright yellow or orange or red, to see better dirt collected.

Out. It is typically one foot six inches and has rubber edges on the bottom.

To check the cleaning, hold it and fold again, so the role of the ridges of the filter as fluttering pages of a book. Now look in the eye and cracks in all the dirt and grime left by entering your engine. Pretty cool, huh? Keep the filter on the length of his arms and look ahead. If the role of color is mostly dirt in the center that it is time to replace it. Guess how much this will cost – about $ 5, much less than Jiffy Lube.

You can pull the old filter in a plastic bag and bring it to your local store by car to ensure that they obtain the right of substitution. Or, you can save time by ordering a new line. You can now say with pride and confidence, “I know how to control and change my air filter.” And damn it feels good.

The Summer Solstice has just pasted and summer is in full force. The days are long, the nights are short, and there’s just too much fun to be had. But before you start romping around and taking the obligatory road trip to the Grand Canyon, consider the health of your vehicle. You want your car or truck to be in peak performance so you don’t have any unexpected breakdowns and delays.

1. When was the last time you changed your oil? Heat makes oil less viscous, which means that the oil can’t protect your engine as well. Essentially, heat makes the oil thinner which in turn makes it run off the engine components quicker. If you are truly concerned with the oil in your engine, you can try running a heavier weight of oil. I stepped up to a 10w-40 from a 5w-30 in my Subaru when I was competing in SCCA run Autocross events two years ago and it was one of the better decisions I made that summer. If you aren’t running your car very hard or if you live in a place where it doesn’t get over 90 degrees, you’re probably fine running whatever your vehicles manufacturer recommends. Plus, a heavier weight oil will have an effect on your MPG’s and with gas prices over $4.00 a gallon, it wouldn’t be worth the switch unless you were really pushing your car’s limits.

2. When was the last time you changed your air filter? Air filters let your engine breath clean air and when it becomes dirty, you choke your engine and lose power. I live in San Diego and last year a significant part of the county caught on fire due to a drought (although there was some suspicion of arson). I volunteered my time at the CDF camps to help the cause and one of the things they had me do was move around light towers for them. They used the light towers at night to help coordinate fire fighting efforts, but they need to be moved around a lot. I now drive a Ford F-150, so I was able to hitch it up to my handy-dandy receiver hitch to move them around. I was surprised though because the engine seemed sluggish. After the fires were put out, I went in to get my oil changed to see if that was part of the problem. I was near my 3,000 mile interval anyway, so it seemed to be a good idea. The mechanic pulled out my air filter to check it and a ton of ash fell out. Where I live and worked, the fires didn’t make the air visibly dirty, but engines consume such a huge amount of air that the microscopic amounts of ash was able to literally clogged my air filter. The effect was dramatic on my engines power, but she felt good as new after I put in the new air filter. The point of this long-winded story is that you never know how your air filter is doing unless you check it often, say once a month. So it doesn’t matter when you last changed the air filter, just pop open that hood, stick your head in there and see how your air filter is doing.

3. Cruising at highway speeds gets you where you’re going in a hurry, but it’ll also make a mess of your car if you live anywhere that has summer swarms of bugs. A bug deflector will help keep your car looking its best and save your paint at the front of your hood. They are easy to install and usually inexpensive. If you want to keep your car clean(er), this is a good first step.