CAT 3126B air filter change intervals - NOT what you may think
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2022 8:18 am
I was looking around for how often I should change my air filter given they are around $200 a whack now. Not sure if I can trust my visual filter indicator. “Spike45” (Gary) on IRV2.com is a retired CAT and Fleetguard field engineer spending close to 25 years in his field as a coolant specialist. While he has some excellent articles on coolant, his advice here seems sound.
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/what-s ... 95059.html
I’ll not paste his whole dissertation here since you can go to the link above for yourself but I’ll paste some interesting info from it here for your air filter edification…
“… most MH operations do not achieve sufficient run time and miles to bring on air filter plugging. If you check your restriction indicator, you may see little movement and conclude that it does not work. This is a common but unfortunate outcome even for large on-highway truck fleet operators who commonly put on 125,000 plus miles per year. For them, with their miles, they frequently change the air filter yearly, whether it is needed or not. For them, that works as they generally keep their units for 4 -5 years then trade them off.
For the MH operator a yearly air filter change is much less desirable as the miles involved are few. Air filters will pass dust when first installed. Usually, it will be during the first 25 hours of normal operation. New air filters are usually 99.3% efficient but after the initial 25 hours the efficiency goes up to 99.8%+ and remains for the duration until the 25 inch restriction limit is achieved. Fewer changes will equate to less dust ingested due to filter service. Any ingested dust is cumulative. Eventually, with enough changes the accumulated dust will reach 4 - 5 ounces, enough to cause cylinder bore and ring wear on a midrange size engine like a Cummins C, ISC, ISL, Caterpillar C9, C12 and comparable engines from International and Detroit.
My air filter was changed around 5K miles ago at the CAT dealership service department. All my trips were on interstate highways and paved campgrounds. I already have a Donaldson air filter on backorder for my CAT 3126B and I will tuck it away for some date far into the future. If anyone else is looking for non-China air filters for their rig, skip Amazon and hunt one down. These are getting difficult to find in stock including the WIX variation.
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/what-s ... 95059.html
I’ll not paste his whole dissertation here since you can go to the link above for yourself but I’ll paste some interesting info from it here for your air filter edification…
“… most MH operations do not achieve sufficient run time and miles to bring on air filter plugging. If you check your restriction indicator, you may see little movement and conclude that it does not work. This is a common but unfortunate outcome even for large on-highway truck fleet operators who commonly put on 125,000 plus miles per year. For them, with their miles, they frequently change the air filter yearly, whether it is needed or not. For them, that works as they generally keep their units for 4 -5 years then trade them off.
For the MH operator a yearly air filter change is much less desirable as the miles involved are few. Air filters will pass dust when first installed. Usually, it will be during the first 25 hours of normal operation. New air filters are usually 99.3% efficient but after the initial 25 hours the efficiency goes up to 99.8%+ and remains for the duration until the 25 inch restriction limit is achieved. Fewer changes will equate to less dust ingested due to filter service. Any ingested dust is cumulative. Eventually, with enough changes the accumulated dust will reach 4 - 5 ounces, enough to cause cylinder bore and ring wear on a midrange size engine like a Cummins C, ISC, ISL, Caterpillar C9, C12 and comparable engines from International and Detroit.
My air filter was changed around 5K miles ago at the CAT dealership service department. All my trips were on interstate highways and paved campgrounds. I already have a Donaldson air filter on backorder for my CAT 3126B and I will tuck it away for some date far into the future. If anyone else is looking for non-China air filters for their rig, skip Amazon and hunt one down. These are getting difficult to find in stock including the WIX variation.