what you guys think about blowing air in air filters to clean

It is always better to have maximum air flow (New) --it wont damage your truck but just impede airflow.
Can you pull it out and hold it up to a light or the sun ? Just see if you can see light through it and if you can its clean enough to use till you get time or get a new one.

 

Just leave it in there and change it the next time, using shop air to clean a filter is a bad idea, you can weaken the paper element and allow dirt to pass thru it into the engine.

 

very bad idea. it will loosen all the dust particles & they WILL get into engine.

 

If one is bound and determined to blow air to clean an air filter, the best way I have seen that does a decent job and will not risk damage to the filter is using one of those cans of air you can buy at Walmart in the electronics section. Shop air is too high pressure, unless you can get it down below 20 psi. I have several air filters in other vehicles/equipment, that are designed to be cleaned out a couple of times before replacing. The maker recommends using air pressure lower than 20 psi. I find the canned air works pretty good for that purpose. I just tap the filter to loosen up the stuff between the pleats and then blow it out with the canned air.

 

My opinion is it's a good idea to blow out air filters. Not instead of replacing, but in between when in dusty environments. True, if the filter is full of dirt you will damage the paper trying to blow it out. That is when you should be replacing filter.

However, whenever you go through a dusty environment there will be much dust simply sucked to the outside, not permeating the paper. A quick blow from the inside out and a few quick strokes down the outside will get rid of 90% of it. Do not blow from the outside in, do not hold air too close to paper.

Personally, I would prefer that dust to be left on the ground rather than caking the outside of my filter and I believe you can do it safely. I know plenty of farmers who do this on a daily maint procedure in dusty fields and have not heard any account of damaging engine. I believe that is a line told by folks who sell filters.

 

In the military we were taught to do this often, especially in desert environments. I worked for a sod company here in AZ for years and we were loading off of farms in central AZ every day. The dust down here is a very fine powder and would clog air filters almost daily. It wouldn't make sense to replace them on a weekly basis so every week I would remove the filters and blow them out with shop air. I would notice a substantial increase in performance after blowing the filters out. I see no problem doing it as long as you are careful.

 

Bear in mind every time you remove and and clean the air filter then reinstall, it is hard on the seal. I have seen more engines dusted by too high of air pressure tear the element or it was blown out and reinstalled till the seal is no longer tight. If a restriction indicator is used and maintained you know when to replace them. I have been on jobs the air filter in the machines were replaced every other day it was so bad. When we got the pencil pushers to listen and we quit blowing them out we quit losing engines.

 

Blow the filter from the inside out.

Better yet, find a level and clean surface. Tap the filter on the ground, then rotate a little, and keep repeating. You won't need any air. Most of the dirt will fall out

 

This is why it is a good practice to rub a little vaseline on the seal of the air filter before you mount it. Goes on easy, prevents damage to seal, seals better than the air filter seal by itself, and makes it easy to remove.