Is my air filter actually doing anything??

1988 Defender 90 w/ 200tdi.

Hi All,

So i after changing my oil, oil filter and fuel filter today I decided to have a look at the state of my air filter.

I took it out and it all looked in very clean condition. When i put it back in I realized that it doesnt actually fully fill the housing. It's as if it's not tall enough. So instead of air going though the filter and then down the middle. It just goes down the sides and underneath. The filter has a rubber seal on the bottom which I guess is ment to be pressed up against the bottom of the housing when the bolt is tightened, but the bolt fully tightens before the filter is against the base.

Let me know if I'm being stupid, or if whoever I brought this from 12 months ago made an error.

I've attached a couple of pics also.

Ta

Dis you screw the filter down onto that threaded stud then put the housing lid on top and screw that down?

Your meant to screw the filter down tight into the mount in the middle then put the lid on, hat way the air comes in and has no choice but to go through the filter then put the bottom to the engine

Can take a photo of mine tomorrow if you want?

@flat that's exactly what I did, but it seems like the filter isn't tall enough to reach the bottom. Therefore leaving a gap for air to just go arround the bottom.

That would be great @flat, I'll get the tape measure out tomorrow and give it a measure also.

Mine, just pushes onto the threaded section, then you tighten the cap onto it which compresses the rubber section, BUT I did have to add a few extra washers onto the the threads between the tower and the cap to allow for the compression of the filter when the cap got tightened.

Cheers

Will
Measure and take photos tomorrow

Disco and defender air filters are different iirc?
I also recall there are 2 types of disco filter but I might be imagining that.

Flossie said:

Disco and defender air filters are different iirc?
I also recall there are 2 types of disco filter but I might be imagining that.

Click to expand...

Yep, I ended up buying three until I found one that fitted

What happened to good old fashioned oil bath air filters???

Nowt wrong with this one, Good for another 12K Miles.



Cheers

Update:

I've measured the depth of the filter hhousing and the depth of the filter that has been in since I brought the landy 12 months ago, its apparent that the filter hasn't been going all the way to the bottom.

So I'm guessing the engine has been getting unfiltered air this whole time. Oops

LEON_BARKER said:

Update:

I've measured the depth of the filter hhousing and the depth of the filter that has been in since I brought the landy 12 months ago, its apparent that the filter hasn't been going all the way to the bottom.

So I'm guessing the engine has been getting unfiltered air this whole time. Oops

View attachment 176102 View attachment 176103

Click to expand...

Just checked a few filters in the garage, seems they are about 280mm approx outside , not including the rubber seal and 265mm approx inside allowing for the stepped back end, again not including the seal.

Looks like you have a dodgy filter there.

Cheers

Looks like a 300Tdi filter in a 200Tdi housing.

The filters are the same design but the 300 version is shorter.

Retroanaconda said:

300 version is shorter.

Click to expand...

Are you sure? I buy 300tdi service kits and the filter is the long version as measured in my post above, and I have what I beleive is a 200tdi filter with the plastic shroud over the rear end of it and that is the same length as the unshrouded one.

Cheers

I thought those short ones came out of 300Tdis but looking on google perhaps not. I got supplied one in error by a motor factors once and it was labelled as for a 300Tdi Defender. Perhaps there is another application which uses the same design but a shorter cartridge.

Either way its too short. The proper part for a 200Tdi is NTC6660. They’re cheap either genuine or from a reputable brand (e.g. Mahle).

This all assumes the OP is using the proper 200Tdi filter housing of course, given that it’s a converted vehicle.

It’s definitely not the original air filter housing, my standard ‘87 110 with na engine has the air filter fitted into the lid of the housing. Air to the engine comes out the top. Maybe you have a mix up as suggested above

Has the air filter housing got three legs on the bottom?

@lynall yeah

kermit_rr said:

What happened to good old fashioned oil bath air filters???

Click to expand...

They work well with the 200tdi engines.