Watch out for air filter restrictions indicators

[Whitedog]

Hello, first post here and I thought it would be good to post something useful.

I was helping a guy service his Western Star with a DD13. This truck has a metal air filter housing mounted under the hood and when I pulled out the air filter, I noticed an odd pattern in the housing. Closer inspection found that the housing was cracked around where the air filter restriction indicator was mounted. What's more is that when I was welding it back up, I went to remove the adapter and the spot weld broke off. Close inspection there showed that the spot weld wasn't even 100% of the way around. So, crack welded, hole filled, inside smoothed out, part removed and life is good.

One other thing that I noticed was that the boot was pushed up pretty tight against the adapters there and I think the clamp was even pushing against it. The whole assembly even with the adapters is still pretty light so I kinda doubt the weight of it caused it to crack, but maybe the boot pushing on it did the job.

Anyway, I figure that with DPFS, DOCS, ERG, EPA, MPG and whatever else isn't causing you enough stress, I'd give you another thing to stress about and look at. It could save you from dusting your engine.