I was under the hood working in something else not long ago and had to remove the intake tube between the filter and turbo and saw this. I am now concerned that somehow dirt or fine particles are passing through to the intercooler and engine.

 Is there a way to clean this wheel without complete disassembly?

 I would assume it's the filter letting this pass. It's a fram, not sure of the part#. It was in there and new when I bought the truck. Clamps and such were tight so leaves me to blame the filter. Thoughts????

 

Picture is very out of focus so can't really tell what is going on

 

If it was sucking dirt/dust the leading edge of the vanes would be slightly marked or shiny where the dust impacts

I'll have to try to get a better pic.

Mine looks similar but its more of an oily film not so much dirt.  I am also starting to get some movement out of it.  I figure its time to either replace it with a something better or rebuild it.

 I tried to see if there was any movement, didn't feel any. Tried side to side and in/out. Didn't feel anything noticable.

 I did notice the fram filter is starting to get pretty dirty. It isn't registering anything on the filter minder though. Maybe it don't work? 

 May be time for a BHAF.

I'm not sure what the quality of the FRAM filters are.  I would suggest going to a BHAF.

 Been looking at them. I have the filter and filter wears cover in my list on amazon. Lol

 

I believe Fram filter is about to worst one out there, bhaf and don't look back

I have heard the oe air box tends to deform with age and can let dust in. I have not experienced that just read it. I took mine off many years back. My blades have similar color the best I can tell from your picture, though it is defintely out of focus.

I just took a turbo off of a Bobcat S185 to do exhaust manifold gaskets (horrendous job) and the vanes are black but black all over and no shiny edge

 That's kinda how mine are. Don't appear to be a shiney edge but definitely turning a blackish color.

Little bit of black is fine, this bobcat is really black....... as I said ..... shiney edge is dust as it polishes the black off of the edge

 

Get a clearer picture just to be sure but I wouldn't be overly worried 

It’s also possible the previous owner had a K&N type filter in it and pulled it when it was put up for sale. I ran the Donaldson BHAF the first go around. The BHAF sat on top of the studs for the factory air box. I put some small vacuum hose over to protect it. I replaced it with a Wix BHAF. It is a little smaller. It fits between the studs with no chance to hit them. The air box I was going to build is on the back burner now. 😂 

 

I use the smaller BHAF also and it resides in the area of the of the oe box. I took a piece of flat aluminum and made a cradle for it and attached it to the oe box studs.

3 hours ago, dripley said:

I use the smaller BHAF also and it resides in the area of the of the oe box.

 

Any chance you might know the brand and part number maybe?

@dripley, like the cradle you made.

 Brand and part # of filter?

This is what I have. I thought it was the same filter that I had purchased at NAPA. We were discussing the smaller ones in another thread a month or so back when I notice the part # on mine is different. I went on Donaldson's website and keyed this part# in they recognize it. It is different part# from what I used in the past. I waiting on a response from them to see what I really have.

 

I went back on Donaldson's site and it still did not recognize it so I chatted with them. According them this is for an OEM appication and not available after market, though I managed to buy 4 of them. He could not tell the application but gave some info. Reading this, this filter maybe a bit restrictive. He said it woud be close to the ECB filters listed begining with 08. The first few run from 175 cfm to 280 cfm. There is one odd ball further down the list rated at 970 cfm. 

20519_jQjM9OQvUkG7g_Ipeu1eZA_Duralite+Air+Cleaners.pdf

I have noticed a little drop in boost and that could be filter clogging up. Thought I had a small boost leak. Felt more like the engine defueling a bit at higher rpm. Got about 50k on this one and will throw a new on when I get home. So all in all I still pretty much dont know what I have. Maybe @AH64ID might know a lot more than me. But since Donaldson cant tell me anything it, who knows.

Edited March 25, 20214 yr by dripley

@IBMobile put together a list of different BHAFs in this article.  

I went with the WIX 46637 when I replaced mine.  

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CSD3QS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

 

Edited March 26, 20214 yr by hdpwipmonkey
Added pictures

Surface area of the BHAFs in the article:

1. 12.38"h x 8.5"d = 330.59 in²
2. 10.50"h x 10.5"d = 346.35 in²      ~ 04% larger than #1
3. 11.88"h x 10.5"d = 391.87 in²      ~ 18% larger than #1    ~ 13% larger than #2

Edited March 26, 20214 yr by IBMobile

 Any benefits to having one of the filter wears pre filter covers on a BHAF? Or is it just to have a bit of color under the hood being they're available I'm several colors.