Air Filter Q's, ETC

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:31 pm

This AM I have had a little quiet time for the first time in perhaps 6 months to I popped the hood (bonnet for some) on the CRD to check out the air filter box. That prompts some questions.

> First, I don't have a lot of trash or junk in there as others have found. There was one small chunk of dry grass. It did look like there had been some moisture as there was some dust on the sides that looks mixed with water in the past.

> There are a ton of things between the air box inlet and the front of the Liberty and no where near the possible air flow and capacity of just the inlet. It amazes me the thing can breath at all. It looked to me like on some of the CRD's it was pretty much plumbed directly into the from grill with little cover and constriction. Was I not seeing this right or have there been changes?

> The air filter is very dirty and black. Obvioulsly it was not replaced two weeks ago during the scheduled maintenance. (I will be having a talk with the service department about the difference between a service agreement and an oil change agreement). Where is the oil or soot coming from, the emmissions system?

> The cover is really hard to get on and off with barely enough room to slide out the filter. Then of course getting it back on is a challenge because of the power steering res. Which brought me to another concern. The power steering fluid is barely showing at the bottom ot the white plastic part when cold. Seems too low, what do you think?

Thanks in advance

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:48 pm

The Power Steering Fluid is wild on the KJ...Look at it when your CRD is running. The fluid spins to the top of the resevoir like a little tornado. Just keep it at the correct "FULL LINE" or you might get fluid everywhere.

alljeep · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:50 pm

DarbyWalters wrote:

The Power Steering Fluid is wild on the KJ...Look at it when your CRD is running. The fluid spins to the top of the resevoir like a little tornado. Just keep it at the correct "FULL LINE" or you might get fluid everywhere.

Yeah! DITTO!!! Mine cold was not to the cold fill line, so I topped it to that point - wish I had not as it is just as you describe!!!

retmil46 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 2:34 pm

Little tip on changing the air filter -

Look at the A/C line that runs across the top of the filter housing, and then across the fan shroud. On the fan shroud, it's attached to two tree fasteners with zip ties. If you cut these two zip ties, the A/C line lifts up and out of the way.

Once done with the air filter, just get two more zip ties and reattach the A/C line to the tree fasteners. You can see the rub marks on the hard line where the old ties were, no problem getting it back in the same position.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 2:53 pm

All that black grime is what's getting sucked into the grille, road debris basically. Dirt, oil, tire spray from the vehicle ahead of you on a wet road, etc.

That's the thing, have never seen an air filter, even on a diesel, get this dirty this fast, such that I would consider changing it out even more often than the 12K recommended in the maintenance schedule.

RFCRD · **Posted:** Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:50 pm

Cowcatcher wrote:

The cover is really hard to get on and off with barely enough room to slide out the filter. Then of course getting it back on is a challenge because of the power steering res.

Be gentle with the cover. I have taken mine apart numerous times messing with the whole sewer pipe thing and found this can be a stinker. Found it easiest to assemble by first slipping the hose connector together, then wiggling the tabs into place and closing the front of the lid. Sometimes I have to get my hand around the back of the box and pull forward lightly to clear the P/S res. I can see where it would be easy to snap a tab if you get too rough. This is one of the reasons I installed the constriction guage. Need to put this in set-it and forget-it mode, will probably become the best $13 I've spent on this vehicle.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 06, 2006 11:25 am

Something to check on the lower part of the air filter housing -

It has 3 plastic feet that slide into rubber grommets on the body itself to hold it in position. If it's properly seated, it should be fairly solid and stable. If it has a lot of play in it, slides back to hit the PS reservoir when changing the filter, or you have clearance problems between the outlet tube to the turbo and the A/C line, it may not be seated correctly in the grommets.

Had this problem on mine. When installed at the factory, one plastic foot, instead of going thru the grommet, was pushed in between the grommet and the body. Once I had it mounted correctly, changing the filter became a 5 minute evolution.

Easy way to tell - if you pull straight up on the bottom part of the housing with a fair amount of force, it should easily pull up and pop out of the grommets so that you can remove it from the vehicle. If it comes up part way and hangs, doesn't want to budge, you've probably got the same problem I had. DON'T FORCE IT!!!! You can break off the plastic mounting feet (been there, done that). You'll have to go underneath the vehicle and try pushing the grommet itself out of it's hole. If that fails, better have a tube of superglue handy to reglue the mounting feet to the housing.

Air Filter Q's, ETC

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