Just bought a 2007 Ford Focus 2.0L automatic as a cheap commuter. 154,000 miles. Going through the maintenance items, found that Ford has a "lifetime" engine air filter with an attached air flow meter on this car. The air filter is supposed to last the life of the eninge. Never heard of such a thing, doesn't sound like a very good idea either. Kind of a pain to find a replacement filter component. What is your opinion on these lifetime filters?
there's no way they mean that you never need to touch it.
I've seen reusable filters, but you have clean those out every so often.
Filters get full of dirt. Engines don't run well when you strangle them.
That's what I was thinking. The conical air filters for cold air intakes are labeled as reusable, not lasting forever.
It is likely washable and reusable. I'm running a lifetime AEM dry filter in my Ridgeline. It will last forever BUT you need to clean it every so often to keep the filtration system working correctly.
Oil bath oil cleaners were lifetime filters but they still needed to be cleaned out periodically. They were common in 1930s and 1940s vehicles and were pretty much phased out by the 1960s. I doubt the Focus has one of those.
