Filtration on cars is getting more and more complicated.

This is predominantly due to the changing of emissions, oil improvements and manufacturers working on producing longevity of engine life.

If your car is not fitted with the correct filtration and oils, it can affect the performance of all the above.

German manufacturers do not develop their own filters, they go to leading filtration manufacturers like Mann, Hengst & Mahle when developing their oil, air & air condition products.

Autotecnic Limited only use Genuine filters or the equivalent from one of the above leading manufacturers filters. These are called OEM filters (Original Equipment of the Manufacturer).

Fitting cheaper filters of less quality can case catastrophic failure in oil performance, fuel performance and cleanliness of cabin air.

Of late, we are seeing performance BMWs in our workshop with the oil filter stuck, almost seized in the filter housing due to overheating.  These oil filters go hard and crisp like, melting the plastic section of the lower filter section onto the base of the aluminium housing.  A nightmare to remove which takes careful extraction.  The old oil is brown, and smells burnt, this is from the filter not doing its job correctly possibly deteriorated from not using the correct specification of oil!

We see the VAG vehicles, Audi’s, Volkswagen’s, Skoda’s, and Seat’s coming in for service with the incorrect cabin (pollen) filters fitted.  Paper elements fitted instead of charcoal filters (paper cabin filters are a cheaper option).  Most German vehicles with climate control cabin filtration systems have charcoal filters and have had for the past 7 years plus.  The last 3 years we have seen these cabin filters upgraded to bio functional filters fitted (green on one side) Mann name these Frecious Plus cabin filters.  Although a little more expensive, it’s important to replace this filter with the correct specification the manufacturer specified, considering the Covid 19 scare of late!

All the German manufacturers have lowered the replacement intervals for their fuel filters. These are normally replaced between 36K – 45K miles now (TBC by reviewing the manufacturer service replacement interval) These are again made by the top 3 or 4 filter manufacturers which Autotecnic Limited uses.

Mercedes-Benz diesel vehicles are fitted with water content sensors in their fuel filters to avoid contamination of fuel in the injectors system.  We have also repaired Mercedes vehicles with air flow problems having the incorrect or cheaper equivalents fitted.  These can block or allow too much air through the air mass sensor enabling more fuel to be increased or causing the car’s EML (Engine Management Light) on.  

These quality filters may cost a little more but a small sacrifice to pay against cheaper filtration products causing engines to run well above their specified parameters, engine air flow systems to run out of specification and furthermore breathing contaminated air into the cabin.

We used to have approximately 3 engine specification oils when we first opened our doors in 2005, my latest count in our workshop was a total of 8 different specification of oils for engines alone and on the increase!  Remember, this is just for German model vehicles.

Gearbox oil is another blog for another time.

On a final note, when shopping around costing your service, check the quality of the filtration components being replaced on your service, more importantly the correct specification oil used. Your car deserves the best.

Autotecnic only use a leading manufacturers oil which has all the leading German manufacturers approval (which are certified).