How Often Should I Clean & Service My S&B Filter?

S&B LogoThe capacity of an air filter is directly related to how often you must service your filter. Capacity is defined as the total amount of contaminants/dirt particles that the filter will hold before reaching its termination point. The termination point is a predefined restriction number that is used as the cut-off point when measuring how much dirt a filter will hold. For typical passenger cars and light-duty trucks, 10” H2O is used at the termination point.

In OE applications, a new filter must be purchased every time the filter reaches maximum capacity. Not only is this costly, but it also creates unnecessary environmental waste. When an S&B intake kit or performance air filter is installed, you simply clean and re-oil the air filter per S&B’s specifications. Keep in mind that the conditions that the vehicle is operated under will determine how quickly it will take a specific filter to reach its capacity. With this being said, you can compare the ISO 5011 test results to find the difference in capacities for the OE air filter and the S&B air filter on the Orange County Diesel website just look up the part and click on the "extended information" tab. If a test has been performed you will find it here. (www.ocdiesel.com).

The spreadsheet below is the Service Factor for each filter, this compares how the frequency of Servicing the Filter is affected. For example, if the S&B filter capacity is half that of the OE filter, the Service Factor is twice that of the OE filter. Simply put, you will have to clean the S&B filter in half the time you would normally take for an OE filter to load.


It is extremely important to clean and oil your filter correctly. Instructions, oil amounts and other pertinent information regarding S&B filters can be seen on the Orange County Diesel website in the description of each filter or intake and can also be found in the manual for the product under the "extended information" tab.

Any questions or comments about the information you just read or anything diesel? Let us know!

Orange County Diesel

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