Luber Finer filters. Anyone use these air filters? It seems that OTM used it on my coach when they replaced the filter. It is almost half the cost of Fleetwood or Donaldson.....but that isn't the determining factor. I would think that OTM knew what they were doing.....when they were in business!!!??? Thanks
I have for the last 6 years....Oil,Air,Fuel.
Never used them, just got a donaldson p148043 from Ryder fleet products under 55 bucks including shipping. Don't see any problem with luber finer though. Withe that said, I have used all the major brands and the donaldson fits better. But as always DWMYFG 😎🍺
They are good,but not as good as the Donaldson blue,and yes old town was a business but went under for some reason.
If you do not absolutely know that it has an internal screen get rid of it right now. My PO had service done on the coach before we bought it and they put in a cheap LuberFiner filter that failed and caused $28,000 in engine damage.
If you are not sure take it out and put in a quality new one.
Why would you risk your engine to save a few bucks on a cheap critical filter?
So how did the Lubefiner filter fail,was it the air filter,looked at their site and the air filters I saw had the inside metal cage.
They implode, due to inaduqute internal structure. At that point everything on the outside of the filter may be stripped off and carried by a high velocity air rush into a engine high vacuum. Implosion is equally as violent as an explosion.
Explosion is typically followed by an implosion, and vice versa. Not good.
Reply #68 this has been discussed before and the Luberfiner is fine.
Air Filter Element Pricing (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=30544.50)
Answered my question about the filter after reading all the previous posts,Roger's filter got WET and failed,think in this case no
matter what filter he had the result would have been the same.The coaches with the drivers side air intake and the Donaldson
seperator are less likely to have this problem then the ones with the intake by the camera.
Read up on Donaldson air filter products,if you have the seperator with the rubber duck bil device and if it has any wear and or
missing rubber,replace it.According to Donaldson during operation it will expell dirt and water but should be in good working order.
The Donaldson site has some good info and video's on air filtration.The rubber device is called a vacuator,and I found some on
Ebay.
Think if I had a coach with the top vent intake and no seperator I would look into modifying some way.
Wet or not no internal mesh structure on your filter is a disaster waiting to happen. The LF used was $30 cheaper than the best Donaldson. What a deal. Just don't take the chance.
I have a lot of respect for the " collective wisdom" on this forum. There are those of you, in particular, who I pay close heed to. I had ordered the LAF filter from Amazon, as it was $20 cheaper than what I had paid at Old Town Motors, and had a two day free delivery. After reading the above posts, I got sufficiently concerned that I learned how to cancel an Amazon order. The problem I still have is...do you REALLY think that OTM would have installed an inferior air filter in my coach?? I had just purchased the coach and was trying to help them establish a clientele base. Would they have allowed themselves that type of liability?? Now I have a filter that is still in my coach, and I am afraid to look at it. If I had more time, I would simply order a Fleetguard and be done with it, but we are packing up to get on the road. It will now have to wait until I get to Texas.
Good catch
Gleam,I would just take it out and look at it,take a rag and wipe out the inside of the housing,it won't hurt anything.
I maybe new to the site but know a little about preventive maintenance. Back in the day I switched a rather large fleet of heavy equipment and on and off road trucks to Donaldson made air filters. If I remember correctly the ppm of ingested dirt (silicone) from oil sampling went down after switching. Just an observation. Less dirt less wear ie....longer life.
Sometimes the best might cost a bit more but is usually cheaper in the long run.
Glenn, Did OTM give a part number for the filter they installed? They should have in an itemized list of parts installed. If so you can look it up and see what the filter looks like. If it has no internal screen or you cannot tell then get it replaced whan you can. Getting the air filter wet in a big rain storm is more common that you might think. We got caught in what was described as a 100 yr storm south of Prescott AZ. They got 20" of anow at the GC in the same event in just a few hours. It is probably OK as long as you check or change before a big rain.
Somehow filters seem the the last thing I want to save money on when what they protect is worth so much.
Glenn,
As I recall you got your FT a couple of years back. What makes you think you need to change the air filter already? I would do as others have suggested and remove the filter and have a look at it. It may not be so dirty that replacement is necessary and you will know if it looks suitable for your application.
I've tried removing and cleaning but with poor results. The restriction gauge immediately went to past what Detroit recommends so I changed it. Now, after a fairly short time, the restriction gauge is past the limit so I will be changing it again. In trying to clean it, all that I did was create clouds of dust in the air without changing the reading on the gauge much. Too much pressure, especially with a wet filter can damage it. That's a fatal mistake for any pusher diesel. Having a look at it does not give much of a hint of the restriction level.
Many Foretravels, especially GVs, have an air intake designed to pickup as much dirt as possible with from the intake location at road level behind the rear tires. We go down a lot of dirt roads so ours clogs in a hurry.
Detroit 2-cycles use over twice as much air as a 4 cycle so the filter only lasts half as long. This is why ours comes OEM with a 5 inch exhaust.
Look up the maximum restriction for your engine and compare it to the gauge reading.
Pierce
Roger,
That is point. I first looked up the part number that OTM had installed, from my invoice. I, then, entered it in a google search and found the Amazon price. I then checked it against Fleetguard and Donaldson. Amazon offered two day free delivery, the others could have been two weeks. I have read past posts that say Cummins doesn't like us to reuse filters. The idea of inspection is ok, except I have no place to purchase a replacement quickly. If there is no danger of me doing damage to the coach, I will check the filter tomorrow. Does the coach have to be running to look at the air filter guage?
No, it does not have to be running. As the restriction goes up, the reading on the gauge goes up too. It stays at the highest reading until it's manually reset. If you reset it by pushing the reset button, you won't be able to get a new accurate reading unless you drive it and go to WOT (wide open throttle) as the engine will be quite happy with even a very clogged filter at idle or if you "blip" the throttle. When we replaced ours, there was a definite power increase. Note that a damp filter will cause the restriction gauge to read higher. When the filter dries out, the gauge won't come back down until you manually reset it. Bottom line is that if you have driven in the rain or for some coaches with the next to the ground air intake in wet pavement conditions, you will have to reset the gauge in dry weather and then drive it to be sure of an accurate reading.
Big air filters are not cheap but neither are new engines.
Pierce
Gleam,you probably have a Donaldson filter housing,look around it,it may be on the back or not in plain sight for a label with the
Donaldson filter number,one way to be sure.
Anyone using their blue filter ?
Donaldson blue (https://shop.donaldson.com/store/en-us/product/DBA5029/11831)
What about 2 stage filtration if you were boondocking alot where its pretty dusty?
Using the Donaldson blue.
The Cummins engine tech that rebuilt my engine said if you open the air filter canister, remove the old filter, clean the canister very carefully and put in a new air filter. I have replaced it once since the rebuild with a Blue Donaldson filter and will do it again in about a year. I do not carry one with me. I do this as a regular maint thing. Even still a quality air filter can get to you in two days from Amazon. A premium air filter might take longer. If you have room bring one along.
Every one gets to choose how and when and with what they do this. Its your engine.
Roger,which insurance company do you use,seems like they did good covering the engine?
My filter housing says it's a Donaldson. So....is the blue better than the one they spec ? If Roger has it....I want it too!
Blue only. Ten times better filtration. Increased power. One of the only things Pittsburgh power offered on their web site to increase power on our M11
Come on now 10X better filtration! I think the specs are about the same. Donaldson's site says both are 99.9% efficient. Humm.
They are not 10x better, I is likely not possible. The Blue filters are their better/best filters designed for more challenging environments line off road, construction, mining. They were only $20 or $25 more. Better at finer particulates as I recall. If you are back and forth over the interstates it might be an overkill. But we always seem to end up in some pretty dusty places too.
$30 bucks a year or so (change every three years) for a very high quality air filter? An easy choice for me. One change of fuel filters is more than that.
John44, I have been with State Farm since the 1960's. Added the coach when we got it. Cummins Coach Care stepped up on our behalf and showed SF the failed air filter and the extent of the damage. I had weather reports and newspaper coverage of the storm we drove through near Prescott AZ. They looked at the preliminary estimates for an in-frame rebuild and the value of the coach and gave us the OK. They paid for everything that was done less my deductable which was about the oil and transmission fluid change and filters that I was going to do anyway.
Odd thing was I drove it back to MN via CO and the only thing that was different was blowby out the slobber tube and oil consumption.
I saved some parts if anyone wants to see what a little duat will do to a big engine.
My family owned an auto parts store for two generations. I sold it to another family and it is still in business after 60 some years. I won't get into specific brands but we supplied a lot of gas stations (back in the day) some quick lube places and a number of truck fleets.
We cut a lot of new filters in half over the years to examine. The difference in quality between some major brands was nothing short of amazing. At times the OE brand was the most flimsey construction of all. Some that were supposed to have a bypass feature had none. The micron ratings need to be right for the application and type of service. Just because it will screw on isn't good enough. We also saw oil sampling reveal a lot, including at least one emergency call I remember saying our customer needed to shut down a specific truck immediately and see if the inner air filter had come apart. Sure enough it had and was filling up the engine with air filter pieces.