Well stay tuned folks, My best Bud has an 03 long box quad cab 4X4 4:10 gears with auto and 115K miles with edge EZ and no gauges, in the last couple months he was asking about an oil leak coming from the top of his valve cover, I told him to look at the breather and replace it, he did and it kept on and oil use was getting worse now and he thinks he has more blowby than usual, So with the lack of time for me to look and help him out his dad who has an 05 cummins just borrowed my trailer and hauled it to a diesel shop which prides themselves in Cummins, I know him personally and referred him up there versus a Dodge dealer which he took it to and they didn't even want to troubleshoot it, charged him 160 bucks and told him to just put a new engine in it. , It starts and runs perfect yet too and was not pushing oil out the blow by breather and making a mess yet other than around the top of the valve cover and he checked the turbo on both sides and it was dry and the blow by was not excessive but a lot more noticeable than normal according to him, he did the oil fill cap trick and it wasn't bad enough to flutter it either. So now we wait for the prognosis, The shop based on the description thinks a broken ring, we should know by Monday hopefully what the issue is. He is sick to his stomach at what it could wind up costing him. I told him many times that with a fueling box he needs gauges but this may be his wake up call and he now knows and is going to have gauges installed at this time now too, he pulls fairly heavy as he doubles up regularly in the summer with a 38 foot cougar 5er camper with a 24' triple tube pontoon behind that.

Especially when it cost me about $50 for 100,000 miles!!

do most Napas keep the BHAF in stock? whats the part numbers again?

I ran an AFE stage 2 cold air intake system with dry filter with the nylon outerware on my 02, I cleaned it with a blow gun once a year and it ran over 100K and my oil samples were clean as a whistle after replacing the K&N with it.On the 05 I have the factory air box with the 4" deep pleated Wix filter with the cold air intake mod to the box and the cool blue hose between the airbox and turbo.

A passing filter can dust an engine in short order depending on the environment. I've seen it happen on a tractor out in the fields. One thing about Cummins is they have done their homework when it comes to filtration. In most cases people take a step backwards when they "upgrade" they're air intake system. JR

The shop told him they get at least one diesel pickup in every month with a dusted engine caused by aftermarket air filter systems that were cheap or improperly serviced. In my buddies case he had both a cheaper system and he was not up on the servicing it properly.

do most Napas keep the BHAF in stock? whats the part numbers again?

Take a look here: http://articles.mopar1973man.com/2nd-generation-24v-dodge-cummins/24-air-system/41-bhaf-big-honkin-air-filter

So, is the theory behind the dusted motor being due to an improperly serviced air filter pointing at a lack of filtration and thus dust particles hurting the motor, or a lack of airflow due to a plugged filter resulting in essentially an "overfuel" condition? I kind of had the impression that the dirtier a filter gets, essentially (and maybe only up to a certain point) the "better" it filters (or rather, the more debris will be filtered due to having lesser "unplugged" surface area to make it passed). The obvious drawback being that less and less air can get by the plugged filter, which might directly cause an "overfuel" condition due to a lack of oxygen in the combustion chamber.Kind of makes me nervous about the S&B filter that currently resides on my rig.

So, is the theory behind the dusted motor being due to an improperly serviced oil filter pointing at a lack of filtration and thus dust particles hurting the motor, or a lack of airflow due to a plugged filter resulting in essentially an "overfuel" condition? I kind of had the impression that the dirtier a filter gets, essentially (and maybe only up to a certain point) the "better" it filters (or rather, the more debris will be filtered due to having lesser "unplugged" surface area to make it passed). The obvious drawback being that less and less air can get by the plugged filter, which might directly cause an "overfuel" condition due to a lack of oxygen in the combustion chamber. Kind of makes me nervous about the S&B filter that currently resides on my rig.

It is not an overfuel condition. That would cause melted pistons. The problem is that the filter does not filter good enough and the dust (hence 'dusted') acts like sandpaper and wears the pistons/rings/cylinders prematurely. You are correct, though, the dirtier the filter is the more efficient it becomes. A 100% efficient filter is no good though because it will not even let air through........

Actually the washable media filter break down over time with every washing so the filter media tend to allow larger and more debris particles into the engine. It's the whole fact of just washing the filter that becomes the problem. There is no way for a owner to verify the filtration of a filter after washing 10, 20, 50, 100 times if it still meeting the grade. This why I do not suggest washable media filters at all just way to risky for the expense of a Cummins engine to be rebuilt or replaced.

It is the quality of the filter itself mainly, then the lack of servicing or lack of cleaning and oiling it properly, an oiled filter with a lack of oil is basically filtering out the chunks and not filtering the finer particulates that cause the damage to the cylinder walls and rings.If you buy a cheap oiled filter and then do not maintain it properly is like running a screen door screen and no filter. Even if it is a quality oiled filter and it was not maintained properly or an air nozzle was used to clean it an blew holes in it and was not noticed ect.Take a brand new K&N filter out of the box and shine a trouble light inside it you can see the holes in it that will not catch anything fine at all., the filter media is way too course and not consistant.

It is the quality of the filter itself mainly, then the lack of servicing or lack of cleaning and oiling it properly, an oiled filter with a lack of oil is basically filtering out the chunks and not filtering the finer particulates that cause the damage to the cylinder walls and rings.

If you buy a cheap oiled filter and then do not maintain it properly is like running a screen door screen and no filter. Even if it is a quality oiled filter and it was not maintained properly or an air nozzle was used to clean it an blew holes in it and was not noticed ect.

Take a brand new K&N filter out of the box and shine a trouble light inside it you can see the holes in it that will not catch anything fine at all., the filter media is way too course and not consistant.

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNQ6d3ox5Ok

Bad filter...

Wow... I'm going to have to pull my filter and see how bad it is in comparison to the one shown in that video.

When K&N first appeared on the diesel market, they marketed to a local trucking company. Trucking Company ended up buying a bunch of filters and a year to two later needed all new engines that the engine manufacturer would not warranty as the cylinder walls were worn excessively for the hours and miles. The Trucking Company sued K&N and ended up settling out of court, including an agreement that the Trucking Company would not publically bash K&N. Washable filters are outstanding for one application in my opinion, race cars. If you have a desert racer or dirt track car, you can put a K&N with a big pre filter element on a car and run it all season. No big deal, wash the filter each week, and rebuild the engine a couple times a year. However our diesels hopefully don't get rebuilt more than once over the life of the truck, at one rebuild each 500,000 mi or more. DIRT is bad. Paper air filters are cheap.

There is a very specific reason that the only OEM filter on my truck is the OEM one. If I ever go with twins I will keep the OEM box and OEM filter, most the BHAF's that people use are BIG but don't have the sq in of media or flow rates that is required.

There is a very specific reason that the only OEM filter on my truck is the OEM one. If I ever go with twins I will keep the OEM box and OEM filter, most the BHAF's that people use are BIG but don't have the sq in of media or flow rates that is required.

The only reason I ditched the OEM box I know this is a 2nd Gen issue but not sure on 3rd Gen. But the plastic of the stock box will deform over time and allow dust to leaking past the panel filter gasket. The only way to fix this is to grease the seal. Too darn messy for me. Hence the BHAF works awesome. Since I'm not racing I don't think the flow rates are much of a issue.

The only reason I ditched the OEM box I know this is a 2nd Gen issue but not sure on 3rd Gen. But the plastic of the stock box will deform over time and allow dust to leaking past the panel filter gasket. The only way to fix this is to grease the seal. Too darn messy for me. Hence the BHAF works awesome. Since I'm not racing I don't think the flow rates are much of a issue.

It's not a 3rd gen issue that I am aware of. What is your filter part number?

AH64ID, Would you happen to have the measurement of surface area of the oem filter handy? If not, what are its dimensions (L x W) and pleat depth and pleat density (how many pleats per inch)?I took my oiled filter off of the intake system that came with my twins setup, and sure enough, the holes were plain as day once I held it up to the sunlight.For now, I am using a tapered cone filter that has a 6" base diameter, a 5.25" top diameter, and a 9" height. I don't know the pleat depth or density off the top of my head, but want to get an idea of what kind of difference we are talking here in terms of surface area, as that has a big impact on flow.

It has 42 3.75" pleats, and is 10" wide. That's 1575 sq/in of media.

   Keep the filter stock is what I have said time and time again!