New technical advice for independent garages and workshops replacing the air filter in up to five million Ford-engined cars in the European car parc has been published by MAHLE Aftermarket.

Supplied by the company’s Stuttgart-based parent company as original equipment for Ford C-Max, Focus and Kuga models using 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0 and 2.5 litre engines from the 2007 model year, plus Volvo C30, C70, S40, V50 and Mazda 3 models with Ford engines, MAHLE’s LX 1780/3 air filter is tailored specifically to suit these engines.

If independent garages chose to fit a cheaper product rather than like for like replacement, it will not have been made to the same technical specification. The MAHLE air filter has a unique patented aligment lug that fits exactly into ther recess of the filter housing. This ensures that the filter element is always inserted in the same pre-determined position in the housing and can no longer rotate once inserted.

MAHLE says that cheap filters without this lug have been known to cause problems with the mass air flow sensor due to increased flow resistance around the pleat joint. This can lead to incorrect air flow data being supplied to the engine management system, preventing the engine from running optimally. If the recorded values deviate heavily from the norm, the driver will be notified via the on-board computer to take the vehicle in for repair, possibly incurring high consequential costs.

The company has also published a technical leaflet for the aftermarket covering product modifications to the KL 431 fuel filter supplied as OE for 1.6 TD engines fitted to popular Ford and Peugeot cars. The revised specification features new heater unit O-rings, plus installation benefits, and is known as KL 431D.

Both technical bulletins can be downloaded from the MAHLE Aftermarket website at www.mahle-aftermarket.com