Hi all,

Our 2013 Fit has been on the road about two years and 12,000 miles. Use is mostly short in town drives of ~ 5 miles at a time.

Somewhat surprising to me, the engine air filter was already fairly dirty, and has grease like stains. Our Prius filter has double the miles and still looks clean so this is not environment per se.

Normal for the Fit and our use ? I don't care about the filter replacement frequency, I'm asking in case the filter is capturing something I should know about wrt to the engine or other systems under the hood.

Thanks!

 

Do you take your car somewhere to change the oil? That's probably where the grease stains came from (if that's what they are).

 

DIY oil change.

I don't understand though why an oil change would cause a greasy residue on the oil filter.

 

That's normal, our two fits do the same. You are right about the Toyota filters. I change them every year in early May.

 

Thanks!

Do you know where the grime is coming from ?

 

Welcome . I believe it's road grime collected over a period of time . Moisture related ? I've never seen a car filter do this in my 30 years of car maintenance of different makes and models . I'll try to remember to get a pic of a dirty filter later on . The Toyota filters could be vacuumed out on the side facing incoming air with a crevice tool and used for much longer . The HONDA filter pleats are to tight and firm to vacuum out .

 

Photo of filter --

 

Looks normal, my original one looked exactly the same.

 

Thanks for the data point

 

I change the air filter on my 2010 with a WIX filter every year in march. oddly after a year and about 12,000 miles mine doesn't look that bad. maybe just the environment. I am in michigan

 

Mine was surprisingly clean when I bought the car, hasn't changed much in the last year, about 3500 miles is all though..

 

My filter looks about like that when I change it. I change it according to the maintenance minder. I've never checked it early before.

 

Changed mine last Monday. Car is a 2014 with 33k km. And my OEM filter was even dirtier then your picture...with the same black stuff that looks a bit like tar.

 

When I bought our 2009 Fit with 110,000 miles, the previous owner had not changed the air filter for about 30,000 miles.

It looked a lot better than yours. The previous owner drove almost all highway miles, so that is probably why it looked so good.

 

Just occurred to me, while working on the fit, I have the whole front bumper off right now,, the intake is above the left front tire on a GD3, it could be tire and brake residue being sucked in around the fender liner if the liner is not properly secured.

 

I checked ours after two years; was very clean. Checked it again at four. Looked very dirty - like the picture. Replaced ASAP!

 

Fender liner is held in by the same worthless plastic gadgets that don't hold the under tray on.. I'm suspicious..

 

I agree with this theory, Air intake sucks in air from engine bay between the battery and brake fluid reservoir. Also no belly pan on this car so road + driver front tire region will kick up dust / debris all into the air intake feed. There is an air flow box mounted on the hood but just route air to that general open area. Doesn't prevent dirt entry from other sources.

A closed tunnel routing to a cleaner location probably result in cleaner intake air like many other cars. For this Fit, obviously very reliant on the air filter with so much dirt coming into the air intake box.

 

Have never had a vehicle exhibit this kind of buildup, but suspect the environment the vehicle is exposed to can have a lot to do with it.
All personal owned vehicle intakes are from the grille or under hood area which gets airflow from front area. However, some vehicle emissions are plumbed so as to direct air back into the intake system, but usually downstream the filter.
Specifically 2nd gen Fit, air intake nozzle left front near brake cylinder, in owned Fit, there was (past tense) a ducting attached to underside of hood that scooped air from upper left grille portion that was ducted out above brake cylinder.

 

Interesting, you are saying there was a ducting piece that "sealed" the underhood air scoop to the air box snorkel opening? I've never seen that in any pics + videos.

Honda parts listing shows no part between cooling duct ( PN 17245-RP3-A00 part #1 in pic ) and Tube Air In ( 17243-RP3-A00 part #20 in pic )