Turbo air filters stressing the engine

The air filter on my 200tdi is up for replacement.....a friend of mine has got rid of the defender air filter boxing and has put in a sports air filter with a separate oil air filter, looks very smart and he says that it gives him that little extra boost when driving longer distances. Will this put a lot more stress on the engine and cause a shorter engine life or does it not really make any difference?

any guidance greatly appreciated.

pointless and the biggest waste of money if thats what ya want..

take it you dont take it offroad then

the filter cost £6 much cheaper than a land rover one, just want to know if it will cause any harm to the engine?

People will come up with theories to back either end of the argument. Personally, I'd suggest that a K&N like filter, or a sports filter as you call it will in fact put less strain on the engine. The standard fitment air filtration system has been designed to serve three main functions; one of which is to thoroughly filter the air, the second being to reduce engine noise created by a less restricted air intake system. The third main function is to seperate any water / moisture that is drawn into the filter housing, which will then settle and exit the filter housing via a water leak off before it is drawn into the engine. Obviously, noise reduction (just like in your exhaust system) comes at the expense of power, as does a more thorough air filtration system. If you were to fit a sports filter, you'd probably notice a slight gain in power, because the filtration of the air is not as thorough and as such, the engine can draw in more air per cycle. You would however, also notice an increase in engine noise, because the air induction is increased and more 'open'. You should also consider the fact that for more air, you need less filtration, so the air that your engine is drawing in, isn't going to be as clean or as well filtered if you like, as the air that the standard system provides. Theres also the chance that it will draw water straight into the engine, or at least with a lot less effort than the standard filtration system.

I have a K&N like filter on my 200tdi because it was an easier option to fit when I did the conversion. I'd rather have the standard air filtration system in place however, because I'd rather have the extra filtration that it provides, along with the induction silencing. It's purely a matter of personal opinion.

The standard system is by no means over restricting. If you remove the filter element from the filter housing, you'll notice that it has an array of fins around the base of the filter cartridge to help the air flow as its been drawn through the filter. They've been clearly thought out, certainly a lot more so than a sports filter which effectively allows your engine to draw in a lot more air with a considerable amount less filtration. You might as well just place a hair net over the end of your air intake pipe! That said, they do filter the air more than adequately if you're only using your landy on the roads. As soon as you're exposing it to muddy, sandy or dusty environments, you'll definitely want the standard system.

-Pos

thanks pos for you help.... at last a informative response. That is a great help so basically using the defender as a normal car that gets used for towing horse boxes etc but primarily on road use a sports filter is ok if you don't mind a slightly nosier engine/more powerful engine? Do you know anything about the turbo gauges? what are they used for? and how do they work? are they a good thing to have? they seem to be more for racing cars etc?

Thanks again .....very helpful.

G

Boost guage just tells yu how much pressure ya turbo is at. and on a tdi disco int really necessary but look good if ya like that sort of thing

ok, so how much pressure does a turbo on a defender 200tdi normally run at? would the air filter alter the pressure at all?

thanks for the quick reply

Buster wrote up a guide explaining how to fit a boost gauge to a Defender here:

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f41/fitting-turbo-gauge-60825.html

Personally, I'd have no use for, or see the purpose of fitting one, besides the advantage that you get to see how much boost your turbo is producing (measured in BAR), and I suppose you could then use it to identify boost problems should you have running or power problems in the future. I suppose they're also an attractive gizmo to have sat on your dash too. That said, I think I've just convinced myself to put a boost gauge on my Christmas list reading that guide.

As for the effect that a sports filter would have on the boost, it's totally irrelevant. The standard air filter system will easily allow the combined 'suction' effort of the engine and the turbo to draw in enough air to produce the boost pressure required for the engine. A sports filter will just allow the engine to draw a bit more air in at that time, but it doesn't mean that the turbo will increase the boost. The compression rate is a pre-defined setting that is adjusted by screwing the waste gate in or out on the waste gate adjuster which is part of the turbo system - if you can understand that!

From what I've found on the tinterweb, a Defender 200TDi produces 0.84 BAR as standard, with a maximum capacity of 0.86 BAR. I dont know whether or not it's any different for a discovery 200 TDi engine - I doubt it will be.

-Pos

Thanks again Pos, You seem to know a hell of a lot about this sort of stuff!!! But that is great and all i needed to know for the time being. Thanks again. im sure ill be seeking more advice soon. Cheers for now.

G

No problem. If you put your mind to things like this it seems quite logical. Obviously your turbo relies on an increase in exhaust gasses in order for the compressor to spin up and compress the air from your intake. If your air intake is less restrictive, the time that your turbo will require to compress the air is going to be marginally lower than that with the slightly more restrictive standard filter system, and then of course the volume of exhaust gas cycles are going to increase and the turbo will spin up quicker, thus your turbo will provide its maximum boost in less time. That said, with your land rover, the standard system is equipped to provide a more than adequate amount of air to the turbo at any given time, so the theory doesn't really apply here. At least that's what I can figure out with my partially scientific mind. I might be totally off!

-Pos

If the race air filter was £6 less than the Landy standard filter I would say that it won't filter anything, thus cause the engine to wear out much faster from particulate ingestion.